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Clado, Tare Tank Down???

5K views 15 replies 11 participants last post by  hambone870 
#1 ·
Hey TPT,

From what I gather I have gotten Clado algae from a Marimo Ball I bought a while back, and now I am torn on what to do!!!:mad::angryfire:confused:

First off am I correct that clado algae STINKS???

If so that is for sure what I have!!! When I remove the tufts of algae and I squish it between my fingers it has a STRONG RAW SEWAGE SMELL!!!

SO IF that is what I am dealing with, and it is a pretty bad infestation, what would be my best course of action??? When I say pretty bad, I mean it has taken over most of my Staurogyne sp. Portovelho, it is on most of my stems of Limno. aromatica, It has to be in the crypts ans sword that have grown in a big mass in the back of the tank. It is also on my heater ( quarter size piece), on my Drop checker (between the fluid reservoir and air chamber, and 1 of my intakes to my 205s ( again about the size of a quarter):icon_excl:icon_excl:icon_excl So that only leaves my C. wendtii "mi Oya, and Bacopa Carolina without the DAMN CLADO!!!!

I was planning to install my new intake/spraybar sets on Monday, and I was also planning on removing the plants to remove some of the Black Beauty blasting grit/sand, because I put too much on top of the soil when I capped it!

But IF I do all of that work and install the plants that don't have the clado on them I think I will be dealing with the clado again in a short time! Correct?

So IF I understand it correctly the only way to be 100% sure to get rid of it would to be take the tank all the way down, boil the Driftwood, trash all of the plants, bleach the tank, and filter systems, heater, and every other piece of equipment that has been in the tank, and start from scratch!

I have a 20g I can put my fish in while the tank cycles again, BUT will the fish introduce the clado back into the aquarium after it cycles? I know they probably don't eat it, but what if they did???

:help:pLEASE HELP!!!:help:

I would hate to install all of this new plumbing, reactor, and a few other things I am working on only to get the CRAP again!!!

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and help if you can!!!
Drew
 
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#3 ·
There are some "fake" marimos sold that break apart and infest your tank with caldo. I had one... Thankfully it was in a small tank so yanking everything infected wasn't a big deal.

If you don't have inverts in the tank repeated doses of algaefix may slow down the clado growth.
 
#4 ·
Here is a few pics.

My Marimo never broke apart, but I believe the invasive clado was mixed in with it! I threw out the Marimo ball a long time ago, but the damage was already done!

Again this algae STINKS!!! Mix of Sewage treatment plant and a Skunk! NO FOOLING!!! It is also kind of gritty when ya rub it between your thumb and fingers too.





It doesn't get any longer than that! Those tufts were there for about 2 weeks. A few weeks before the pic was taken I had removed as much as I could from both spots, and it grew back that fast, but then doesn't get any longer, but will get bigger in diameter!!!


One thing I thought of was to remove the fish and some of the Rams Horn Snails to the 20g I have up, running, and empty, THEN treat the 55g with the AlgaeFix to see if it will kill the crap!!!

To answer the invert question all I have in there are Rams Horn Snails and a Bazillion pond snails!

For fish I have:

3- Ottos
11- Golden Pencil Fish
6- Rummy Nose Tetras
1- Betta
6- Albion Cory Cats

BUT CATCHING them without removing all of the plants would be very Improbable!

The Betta would be NO PROB., but everything else??? Heck I can't ever find all 3 of the Ottos at 1 time when not trying to remove them!!!;)

What do Yall THINK???

Thanks,
Drew
 
#5 ·
I can get more pics tomorrow after the lights come on if needed!
 
#7 ·
I had/have clado in one of my tanks and I like it. Every now and then I pull it out by hand and put it in my shrimp tank.

They love the stuff. it starts out looking like your clado, I just squish it into a ball before I give it to the shrimps. Also in another tank of mine I have some red claw crabs and they also like the clado balls I make.
 
#8 ·
I don't think clado sheds as many spores/frags as other types of algae. So if you can eliminate all existing patches, then wait for a bit and quickly eliminate any that reappears, there's a fair chance it will be gone for good.

Plantbrain says he's had no luck with Algaefix on clado in-tank. I did, but only on with a three day bucket dip in the dark; and have not seen anyone else verify that this works. So Algaefix is iffy.

If it were me, I'd remove the fish and a fair number of ramshorns to the 20G. Then try the "One-Two Punch" repeatedly, with three days between each treatment. I know it will harm true Marimos (still a type of clado), especially if subjected to intense and direct flow during the treatment. And suspect that repeated treatments will be an effective clado killer, even without direct flow.
 
#9 ·
Thanks guys!

I think I am going to do the DarkCobra "One-Two Punch"!!!

I am going to remove the plants that are infested that I was going to get rid of anyway! Then I think I will be able to catch the fish! ;) Also remove a few ranshorn snails, as I like them. Then "One-Two Punch" the CRAP OUT OF IT!!!!

I have some Albino Cory Eggs in the 20g now that Big Momma laid 2 days ago, so I am going to wait till they either hatch or don't the next few days, then I will ATTACK THE CLADO!!!

Again THANK YOU ALL FOR HELP!!!!! YOU GUYS (Women included;)) are what makes this site the BEST ON THE WEB!!!

I will let Yall know how it goes and I will take pics too!
Drew
 
#10 ·
P.S.

After having the Clado crap, I LONG for the days when all I had to deal with was BBA!!! And I NEVER thought I would ever say that!!! LOL
Drew
 
#11 ·
Well I still haven't done the "one-two punch yet, because I was waiting on new RO prefilters, and now I have 121 Albino Cory Eggs in a DIY egg Hatchery! I did remove the tops of the stem plants that had clado on them, and I haven't seen anymore growing on any other plants, YET! BUT what was on the drift wood and heater has GROWN BIG TIME!!! I am still pretty sure that it is Clado, but for s#!Ts and Grins here are some pics from tonight so you can see how it has grown! And like a few other have said it doesn't look too bad on the driftwood, but I KNOW IT WILL spread again to the plants, so I WANT IT GONE!!!!! Also it has started growing other places on the drift wood too! Mostly along the bases.









Thanks for looking as well as the Help!!!
Drew
 
#12 ·
Clado is a bi- to get rid off. I had it for a year, ended up tearing up the tank. The thing grabbed onto my gravel and I would never get it off it either. Wasted so much gravel cause of it. Excel spot treatment works but the problem is, there are tiny strands of it everywhere, so eventually it will grow into clumps. Try the h2o2 method, it might work. Clado is more like a healthy plant, it needs healthy conditions to grow. So if your plants are growing good, so will it.
 
#13 ·
What the Problem Is? Personally I think it looks awesome in your aquarium (especially growing on the log). I like algae because it is a great refuge for micro-fauna. If I cant beat it I figure out how to use it. Now don't get me wrong if it starts going after my plants or stinking up the fish room then by all means get rid of it.
 
#15 ·
Cladophora isn't impossible to get rid of IF you stay patient. I've had and have been able to fight it off. Spot treating with peroxide and Excel work fine....I would recommend doing this twice in a row, followed by a large water change and a four day blackout. After the blackout, water change about 20-25% and spot treat anything else that you see, even if it looks dead. I would then do while tank treatments of double Excel followed by 2mL/gallon of peroxide drizzled slowly around the tank. Do the whole-tank treatments twice with a day off in between. Do a small water change at the end of the whole tank treatments. Small, frequent water changes seem to keep cladophora at bay.

DIYER is right though....it is kinda cool looking. I've seen tanks where the only thing growing is Clado on hardscape, and it looks pretty neat if kept trimmed. You could consider doing that, Drew.....if you can't beat 'em, etc. :D
 
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