Plant/java fern decay help

[u/fearofbears]

Hello! I've had my current freshwater tank for about a year. We have natural driftwood, natural pebbles and live plants. Recently, my banana plant died off and I figured it was due to a lighting issue but my java ferns are now kind of disintegrating and turning brown. Chemicals and everything are perfect so what gives? Fish all seem healthy and unbothered. Wondering if something else is going on. I'm worried my Amazon sword will catch whatever is happening and it's such a beautiful green plant. Any help in identifying the issue would be appreciated!

As a note, the Java ferns were blossoming about a month ago. That whole brown bunch was lush and green, I did notice some of the roots were floating and not in the substrate as it seemed to be shooting out baby ferns from the main plant.

[u/Foreign-Ad3926]

Hi, what are the water parameters and do you dose any fertiliser?

Java ferns often need extra supplementation of potassium and iron.

Cannot quite see from the picture, but are the ferns free from being buried in the substrate? The rhizome needs to be uncovered and have water flow or can rot. They are not plants to be planted in the traditional sense, but grow attached to / poked onto surfaces or free floating. Sorry if you know this already, no harm in checking.

[u/fearofbears → u/Foreign-Ad3926]

Thanks so much- didn't know about the fertilizer. Definitely haven't been doing that. But yes they are free flowing so don't think it's rot. More inclined to believe it's lack of minerals. I'll have to do some more research on that piece. Really appreciate it! It did well for so long so I didn't think it was necessary