# arg...Selaginella and creeping fig keeps dying.



## zaroba (Apr 8, 2006)

2nd time its happening now.

the first time it happened was then the 48" lights in the tank failed while on vacation. i then replaced the lights with 10x 1600 lumen CF bulbs (the tank is 6ftx2ftx4ft from lights to substrate) and got new plants from blackjungle.

amogn the plants were Selaginella gold tips and plana, and 2 oak leaf creeping fig.
i left the plants in there pots in the tank where i was going to plant them for more then a month to make sure they would do well where i wanted them, and they were all healthy, green, and growing. so i planted them. now they are slowly dying.

1 of the figs has completely died, the other only has 1 small green leaf left on it. the Selaginella plana is drying up, and the gold tips although mostly alive, is starting to get brown.

the humidity and temps in the tank are nice and tropical. at the bottom of the tank where the plants are, the temperature is always over 80 and humidity always around 90%. theres no misting system in the tank but the ground stays quite moist but no way near saturated, even without manual misting (i only spray it once a week or two)

since they were doing fine before planting, i don't think it would be the lighting, temps or humidity. could it be the substrate? i'm using a mix of pine bark, spagnum, and organic top soil. the pond system and reservoir are filtered with an external canister filter.

theres almost 2 dozen other low and medium light plants in the tank that are doing wonderfully. kinda makes me think it might not be the substrate either.

theres no animals in the tank yet, but now that the local pet shop has leuc's, i'm hoping to get some soon.


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## MonopolyBag (Jun 3, 2007)

Yeah, my oak leaf creeping fig died too.

First, Selaginella gold tips likes less moisture. So I would stay away form this. I plan to use mine in my vivarium with screen top and fan for RETFs not PDFs.

The Oak Leaf Creeping fig I have yet to discover my problem.

Mine all leaves turned brown. I salvaged some small pieces and am in the process of rooting them and reviving them.

I think my problem was as follows.
1. Planted it too densely, and not enough air.
2. Over watered due to the fact it is low growing.
3. Need to spread it out more thinly, and slowly let it adapt to environment and grow in itself.

So, I would buy another one.

Get some sphagnum moss and place a layer where you plan to place you creeping fig in your tank.

Wash off the roots, separate it out into smaller bunches of creeping fig.

And just place them on the sphagnum moss. Try not to bury them too much. I think this induces rotting too fast.

Try all of this, and look for an alternative moss for undergrowth.
- Try Java moss
- Or ask people who have already got moss going in their tanks and had it adapt already. I got some in mine that I took a pieces from outside, but it took a month to adapt well, and it still has yet to spread, so I only have small pieces.


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## harrywitmore (Feb 9, 2004)

I have found that this creeping fig, Ficus pumila quercifolia (I think), loves high humidity and it does not need air flow to prosper. I had one very small pot I placed in a 10 gal terrarium with nothing but LFS. Slapped a virtually air tight top on it and ignored it and it filled the terrarium in 6 months. I only opened it to check the moisture levels. Only added water maybe twice. It will grow if it finds conditions it likes.


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## Mikee (Oct 23, 2007)

I have to disagree with the comment about the Selaginella gold tips. I have 1 in my viv and my humidity never drops below 85% its usually between 85-100. It has been in my tank for about a week and is already thriving (nice and green and i notice growth!  )


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## Mikee (Oct 23, 2007)

Monopolybag if I remember correctly.. was it you who had spider mites :?: . I was wondering it we both got them from the outside moss. I noticed they were all over my baby tears so i took it out and now i am misting more often. Just wondering if it was you and what did you do to get rid of them or do you still have them :?:


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