What have i been growing!!

[Phil63]

Hi Guys, I need some help. I have a high tech planted tank and we've certainly had our ups and downs. Recently (the last 6 months) everything has been fine. I have a large piece of vertical wood positioned in the center of my tank and I had what I thought was some moss growing on the top. It actually looked ok, almost tree-like. So I kept it, trimmed it occasionally and let it grow.
Now about a week ago, while performing a water change I disturbed it and it broke up and dispersed into the tank in tiny hairlike pieces. Now it's growing....everywhere!! I'm beginning to think it's not moss after all....oops.

If anyone can have a look at these pictures and advise I would be very grateful. I'm thinking I might have been unknowingly cultivating a tank full of hair algae!?

Thanks in advance

Phil

 

[amberz]

It looks like cladophora algae - similar stuff to a moss ball. I have it also, and I wonder if it's because my moss ball began to fall apart because that's when I got the clad algae. It now thickly coats my driftwood and outcompetes the moss. Small pieces float off and start growing in clumps on other things too. For how to remove it, I have no advice I'm afraid, as I just try and keep it down manually.

 

[Matt @ ScapeEasy]

Agreed, I do know that spot dosing excel works.

 

[Phil63]

Cladophora algae, I've not heard of that before. I'm going to struggle with the spot dosing as my tank is fitted into a recess so access is a pain. I'm trying to get the most I can out by hand which is again difficult due to access. I've also been out and purchased some Amano shrimp in the hope they will help me in the war .

Will more water changes help me out? I already change 1/3 every week. And what about turning my lights down for a while until I get it sorted?

Thanks

 

[Matt @ ScapeEasy]

both are probably a good idea. do water changes after any maintenance to stop it spreading.

 

[three-fingers]

Cladophora - I have the same stuff that loves to smother my Anubias, Bolbitis and even water lettuce roots.

I don't mind it too much, although it is a bit time consuming picking it off leaves when I do a water change. I started to get it after adding several Marimo "moss balls" too, so I presume it hitch-hiked on them (Marimo is actually a different species, Aegagropila linnaei).

It responds to trace element fertilisation faster than my aquatic plants, with visible growth spurts within 24 hours, but doesn't grow very much compared to stem plants like Hygrophila or Hydrocotyle unless I fertilise multiple times a week.

I don't have many tips for controlling it other than 1) fertilise less if your aquatic plants aren't visibly nutrient deficient and 2) while this is probably not helpful for most people, goldfish LOVE to eat it (I often dump it in my goldfish tank , and there was none visible when I had goldfish fry in my main plant tank).

 

[Matt @ ScapeEasy]

Interesting regarding the trace element fertilisation, thanks for that, ill try dropping my dosage

 

[Phil63]

Well I tried the excel spot dosing trick and you're right, it absolutely nukes it! I emptied half the tank and dropped some on the exposed wood where some was growing and left it half an hour. Within 2 days it's white and dying. unfortunately for me, it's still growing like mad at the bottom of my tank where I can't reach it. I'll keep trying to get it out when I do a water change but I don't think I'll ever be able to manually remove it.

 

[Phil63]

Ok, quick update. I've sorted it. I spot dosed the bits I could get too and they died off pretty quickly. The rest of it was eaten by a little army of 10 baby amano shrimp I added. I've read that this doesn't work for everyone, but it certainly sorted out my problem. Cheers for all the help guys.