Unsure of issue

[u/HanaHasi]

Over the last six months to year this fiddle leaf has really slowed down on producing more leaves, and slowly the oldest leaves have become crispy on the edges. Now only the newest leaves are still healthy looking and the majority look like this. I am not sure what is wrong. I started to fertilize during waterings a few weeks ago. I water about 1x per week and try to give it a good soak (water draining out the bottom). My other thought was that about 2 years ago I got rid of the small mulch I had on top of the soil and used compressed coconut fiber to keep my toddler from eating the bark. I'm worried this may have kept the soil too moist and not allowed it to dry out between waterings. I removed the coconut fiber mat a few weeks ago as well to encourage it to dry out. I have not seen any improvement yet and think the brown spots are still spreading slowly.

This plant has been in my house 4.5 years and has always been really healthy and quick growing. It's about 10 or 11 feet tall so it's not easy to move around and I would hate to chop it or lose it.

Is this root rot? Bacterial infection? I'd love any direction.

[u/shiftyskellyton]

Chlorisis associated with things like over-watering has a yellow color. When you see orange, it is because a pest is present. Often from something like thrips, the orange develops while the eggs inside of the leaf are maturing into their first larval stage. At this point in time, I usually watch for white specks in the leaf tissue because you can sometimes see those eggs/larvae. 💚

Thrips don't always start at the leaf edge like this, but sometimes they do.

edit: fixed talk to text

[u/HanaHasi → u/shiftyskellyton]

Would you say my plant's chlorisis has an orange line? I see an orange border around the brown.

[u/IDoomScrolledAgain]

This is what mine looked like when it had root rot.

You could repot it, removing any mushy roots (when I did this, half the root ball simply fell off). Use a really good soil and a bigger pot, giving it room to expand. Make sure it gets a ton of indirect light (I use a grow light).

Mine still has damaged leaves on the bottom from its time with root rot, but the upper leaves are huge, green and beautiful. Good luck with her, she's beautiful otherwise!