Algae. Looks like Cladophora.
Something like moss in my shrimp tank..?
Help!? I have this thick mat of something that resembles a tight wad of green hair that gets thick and heavy and has grown up into, over, and thru my baby tears (it's even taking over the sponge filter). Any ideas on what it is? Please help - it's taking OVER the shrimp tank and all my beautiful baby tears 
The weird stuff can be seen here (best pics we could manage): http://s194.photobucket.com/albums/z245/gametrailgirl/Aquarium misc/
Thanks in advance for your help!
The weird stuff can be seen here (best pics we could manage): http://s194.photobucket.com/albums/z245/gametrailgirl/Aquarium misc/
Thanks in advance for your help!
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Is it rough like a brillo pad? Not slimy at all? Then I'd agree it's clado. If so, it's a different species of clado than the marimo balls, so will act different of course.
Sorry for the bad news, but that's about the best idea. I've heard that amano shrimp eat it, but I haven't tested that out yet. I plan to try them as I've got some of it in a tank of mine.
For now, I just pick it out by hand and tweezers. Some of it is easy to get out ~ comes out in long, thick strands and doesn't adhere to the plants or anything else in the tank. It's like getting a long strand of hair untangled from something. Really simple. But some of it, not much, is in some pellia and has started growing on the individual "leaves" of the pellia, adhering to it. I just take those pieces of pellia completely out. I go over my tank with a keen eye about once a week, looking for more of it to pull out. This has kept it in check for sure ~ nobody else notices it as it doesn't grow enough to notice. And this is a shrimp tank, so people are always staring at it for extended periods (caught my MIL staring at it the other day even! LOL!).
It sounds tedious doing it this way, but it's not that bad. Keeping an eye out for clado has allowed me to notice other small things going on in my tank that I'd have otherwise missed. It keeps you "up close and personal" with your tank. Nice side effect. :biggrin:
Algaes are everywhere. They're on rocks, plants and even in the air. No telling for sure where it came from. My eldest stepsons have aquariums and have gotten all their plants from me. Neither of them has ANY plant in ANY of their aquariums that didn't come from me. Yet only Jeremy has staghorn algae in two of his tanks. Neither Mark nor I have any sign of it and neither do the rest of Jeremy's tanks. Weird, huh? No telling where it came from in Jeremy's. Could have been on a tank, some of the hardscape, maybe on a piece of equipment, from the air. It could even have come in on some plants and just found the perfect growing conditions in those two tanks, yet not liked the conditions in my tanks, Mark's or the rest of Jeremy's, hence none in any other tank.
Pick it out by hand.
Sorry for the bad news, but that's about the best idea. I've heard that amano shrimp eat it, but I haven't tested that out yet. I plan to try them as I've got some of it in a tank of mine. For now, I just pick it out by hand and tweezers. Some of it is easy to get out ~ comes out in long, thick strands and doesn't adhere to the plants or anything else in the tank. It's like getting a long strand of hair untangled from something. Really simple. But some of it, not much, is in some pellia and has started growing on the individual "leaves" of the pellia, adhering to it. I just take those pieces of pellia completely out. I go over my tank with a keen eye about once a week, looking for more of it to pull out. This has kept it in check for sure ~ nobody else notices it as it doesn't grow enough to notice. And this is a shrimp tank, so people are always staring at it for extended periods (caught my MIL staring at it the other day even! LOL!).
It sounds tedious doing it this way, but it's not that bad. Keeping an eye out for clado has allowed me to notice other small things going on in my tank that I'd have otherwise missed. It keeps you "up close and personal" with your tank. Nice side effect. :biggrin:
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