Plants dying how to get them thriving

[Hypanheaven]

Well I'm in a bit of a pickle, I have some java fern a few different varietys and I can't get it to live. I have an air pump running and my spray bar splashing the water due to there being 6 x 5-6th L333s and a breeding pair of whiptails (and there fry in a saver) so I'm tryIng to keep the water aerated but the Plants can't thrive in these conditions, there were installed about 4 weeks ago.

Whatcan I do to get the plants going with out killing my fry or really losing any oxygen in the water? I use seachem flourish once a week aswell but hasnt done anything yet.

 

[Lornek8]

What size (dimension) tank?
What lighting?

Have you kept them long & they just started dieing or are they new intros that are dieing?

 

[Hypanheaven]

all the plants are all 4 weeks old in my tank, the tank is a 4x 2 x 1.5 (h)
and i have a 4 ft T5 hi-glo light and a 4 foot T8 fluro light

 

[macvsog23]

Java And Pakistan fern like to have dark water so not a lot of light
I never plant mine in the substrate but tie them to a bit of old sponge from a used filter and the jam them behind rocks or bog wood.

I also find a very slow water flow helps.
I feed once a week if not in a Co2 tank

 

[Hypanheaven]

the lighting isnt that strong IMO, and they are all sitting in bog wood etc.

 

[chris oe]

What are your water parameters? Java fern start getting black patches if the water quality isn't great. Ammonia, ph?

 

[Hypanheaven]

Ph is 7.3, Ammonia and nitrates are 0, nitrites are 0 water is perfect, whiptails are breeding and L333's are thriving

 

[chris oe]

So much for that theory, your water sounds great. Are the rhizomes buried? If so, I'd unbury 'em. I've seen java fern do fine even with the leaves half out of the water, so long as the rhizomes weren't buried.

where on the plant does the rot start? Is it black or brown? IMHO there's no such thing as too much light, but low light doesn't bother these guys. Even a leaf that is partly rotted can still give rise to a new plant if you let it float in the tank, just trim the unhealthy parts of the leaf away and let it float, don't even try to anchor it. These plants are very tough, they can even adapt to brackish, and grow and thrive in an unfiltered unlit betta tank, so we ought to be able to get them going in your tank.