Odd growth on plant

[Ganymede]

Bear with me here, I'm not very good with plants.

Around December I received an old 10gal from my aunt and uncle that they used to winter their koi in. I cleaned it thoroughly and made sure the cycle was completed before buying plants for the tank.

I believe this plant in particular is an amazon sword, though it's been a while since I bought it and I may have it wrong. It's got some weird sort of brown and green threads coming from the tip of the largest leaf (which is about 5 inches tall). I do 50% water changes every Saturday and use 5ml of Leaf Zone plant food. Every other plant in the tank is doing fine. The tank is divided into two 5gal segments, but the betta belonging to this half (Drift) is in quarantine for a fungal infection. The only inhabitant of the segment right now is a golden mystery snail, and he's not shown any interest in any of the live plants.

Can anyone help me figure out what this stuff is, and how to deal with it?

[sandybottom]

looks like java fern. those are plantlets. let it grow and eventually it will detatch itself. this is normal reproduction for java fern. can you take a pic of entire plant? also what light are you running? and is it planted,or attached to something?

[Ganymede]

The lights are the backup ones that came with my other Aqueon 10gal. Not sure on the wattage. It's planted in the gravel.

Here is the plant, plus Wing.

[sandybottom]

you do have java fern. i would recommend attaching it to either a rock or driftwood. you can plant the roots,but not the rhizome.if you plant the rhizome it will eventually rot. if you don't like how they look,you can pinch them off now. or you can wait until they get a bit bigger then detach them and tie or superglue them to a rock etc.

[Ganymede]

I see. I have a decorative plastic rock tunnel in the tank I use to hold down the airstone; will this work?

[sandybottom]

sure, as long as it has a bit of texture to the surface so the roots can eventually take hold. i use black colorfast thread. it dissolves over time.

[LadyVictorian]

Java ferns rock, those things grow fast. Once the planet detaches you can put it in Tupperware and grow a new plant from it.

[MollyJean]

Congratulations, it would seem you're doing something right, Ganymede ;)

[Ganymede]

My friends are convinced that I got that tank from a pimp or something because everything in is is either reproducing, or trying to. Maybe I'm just incredibly lucky...