# yellow plants



## finfollower (May 27, 2004)

So, I've had my 10 gal planted for about 2 weeks now. Some plantlets have started to grow on one of my java fern leaves, but I've also noticed that my java ferns look terrible. The leaves are becoming semi-transparent/yellowish and have lots of dark patches on them. Also, on my petite anubias I've noticed that some of the leaves that are at the bottom of the bunch near the rhizome and under a few of the other leaves, are turning yellow. How can I correct this? Here are pics of them.
java fern:









anubias:


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

Are you adding a fertilzers of any sort, though generally you wouldn't need to with these plants. 

They could just be adjusting to your new tank, and the changing water conditions and lighting conditions. If so new growth should come out looking normal.

-John N.


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## finfollower (May 27, 2004)

yeah, i'm using a dose of flourish twice a week and 2x dose of excel every other day. And I've also upped my lighting to 4wpg with 2 20W CF bulbs (yay wal-mart). so maybe that could be it.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

Now that you mentioned lighting. I had nice green leafy Java fern that I moved into a higher light tank 3.5+ wpg, from 2.0 wpg. In the new tank, the leaves started to turn yellow, brown, and overall just began rotting. I didn't want to see my java fern turn to mush, so after two weeks under high light, I moved it back and now it's back to normal, and lush green. I removed the dead dying leaves, and then leaves popped back ever so slowly. So I'm leaning towards the light.

-John N.


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## finfollower (May 27, 2004)

welllll....i dunno what I should do now. I don't want to go back to my old lighting because it has a really low color temp of 2760K and a trip to wal-mart is 30 mins away and gas is crazy expensive as my parents don't pay for my gas anymore . Maybe I could put one bulb the 20W CF and the other my 13W CF (2760K), but I doubt that would work as only one side of my tank would get the 6700K light and one side would get the lower temp.


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## finfollower (May 27, 2004)

I think the problem with my plants are that they aren't getting enough nutrients cause of the increased lighting according to this site:
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

The extra lighting does increase the plant metabolism and makes it hunger for additional nutrients. So you're right, adding additional nutrients would benefit the plants. During this, I wouldn't stagger the light bulbs with different watts in your case. One side of the tank will continue have problems, since the bulbs are localized. 

Specific ferts: additional KNO3 and Trace elements will help remedy the nutrient deficiency. Good Luck. 

-John N.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

At 4wpg you need some sort of carbon supplementation, be it with CO2, or Excel. I didn't see in your posts whether this is so or not. Keep in mind high light is like a race car - everything needs to run smoothly or you end up against the wall.


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## finfollower (May 27, 2004)

yeah, i'm overdosing excel by twice the recommended dosage. should I dose more? Also, I am using just normal Flourish about twice a week. According to the site I have iron and/or potassium and nitrogen deficiencies. thanks for the advice guys.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Unless you're dealing with algae issues, I see no need to od Excel, just dose according to directions and it's fine for carbon supplementation. As you have discovered, you do need to dose the macro elements to your tanks along with the micros, which you are adding with the Flourish. Check out the sticky in the fert forum for some basic guidelines to start you out with.


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