[freph]

This stuff is literally intwined in every nook and cranny of my mixed carpet. It's definitely a bladderwort but I have no clue what it is or how to deal with it/get rid of it. I think it came in on some riccia or something a few months ago...It's literally gotten so bad that it looks like my carpet is infested with spirogyra but it's actually the filaments of the bladderworts.

Does anyone have any experience with this horrible stuff or known of any way to get rid of it? Is it detrimental to the aquarium as far as shrimp babies or is it beneficial for controlling numbers of other microorganisms?

 

[HybridHerp]

I have that same thing in my 5.5
No idea how to get rid of it, it's honestly worse than duckweed.

 

[freph]

I have that same thing in my 5.5
No idea how to get rid of it, it's honestly worse than duckweed.

Right? At least you can scoop off duckweed. This stuff is just constantly there and the only bit you see is when you do trims or when something dislodges it.

 

[HybridHerp]

Not to mention it becomes a tangled mess if you leave it alone. It grew in my wisteria, creeping Jenny, and my filter.

 

[13B-RX3]

Had the same thing in a bunch of plants i got from the LFS. I actually thought it was some sort of hair algae. I picked out the majority before it took off.

 

[freph]

Not to mention it becomes a tangled mess if you leave it alone. It grew in my wisteria, creeping Jenny, and my filter.

Oddly enough it's restricted to my carpet. I haven't seen it in any of my stems (and my D. diandra patch is quite bushy).

Had the same thing in a bunch of plants i got from the LFS. I actually thought it was some sort of hair algae. I picked out the majority before it took off.

I tried picking it out as well. The bad part about it is that apparently even a small section can turn into a full-grown nightmare.

 

[steven p]

It got into 3 of my tanks and it took me months to rid of it

 

[somewhatshocked]

Looks like U. gibba but can't be certain without better photos.

Not harmful to your tank, shrimp or other inhabitants. It's just an annoyance.

On a surprising note: it's become my most favorite plant to use when shipping shrimp. It can look really cool if you attach it to wood and allow it to bunch up.

 

[freph]

It got into 3 of my tanks and it took me months to rid of it

How'd you go about getting rid of it? I've tried to pick bits of it out but as dense as the mixed carpet of hairgrass, glosso, hc, riccia scraps and h. tenellum is I can't even put a dent in it since it's almost all at the substrate level.

Looks like U. gibba but can't be certain without better photos.

Not harmful to your tank, shrimp or other inhabitants. It's just an annoyance.

On a surprising note: it's become my most favorite plant to use when shipping shrimp. It can look really cool if you attach it to wood and allow it to bunch up.

I found this thread so I'm sure you're correct that it's U. gibba. I remember reading about it a while back. Good to know it's not detrimental to the tank. I just hate that it looks like I have spirogyra.

 

[GeToChKn]

I just nuked 2 tanks of beautiful driftwood with nice mosses on them because this stuff infected them and just about every other tank I have. I have 1 tank that doesn't seem to have it that I harversted more moss from. The stuff is a pain though. Those little balls are like spore balls and you try and pull it out of your moss and one of those opens or falls off and it's back in a week. Worst. Stuff. Ever.

 

[keithy]

can it survive a dry start/emersed environment? Reason I ask is because it may be worth a shot to salvage carpet by growing emersed to kill them and then returning them to submersed once its done. Just a thought....

 

[somewhatshocked]

Yep, it survives in emersed setups. Thrives.

 

[keithy]

Yep, it survives in emersed setups. Thrives.

darn. Never mind then.

 

[HypnoticAquatic]

staying on top of it and remove anything u see any time seems to be the fastest way to get rid of it, i got it as a hidden gift from someone and that was the best way for me to clear it out. cleaning out thick overgrowth will really help so it has less places to hide then pick pick pick at every strand u see.