# How do you kill that which cannot die.



## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

Duckweed. It haunts me in my sleep. I have found it in my shower. I have found it in my sink. It. Is. Everywhere. I am going to attempt to get rid of it again tonight. Every time I think I have it, there is some piece in some unseen corner of the filter, wedged between the leaves of some plant, maybe clinging to the side of a fish, I don't know. WHAT IS THIS UNHOLY CREATURE, AND WHY WON'T IT DIE!


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## moogoo (Dec 7, 2007)

haha... and to think i thought i might get someone when i was first thinking of a floating plant. but since i've read more ... i'm glad i didnt! 

sorry fishscale. maybe there is a duckweed eating fish/animal that will seek and destroy?


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## Blackthumbwoes (Feb 27, 2007)

i actually like small amounts in my tanks but in my 75 planted its kinda like fleas you get rid of all but one and they come back in force. in literally a week i'll have about 1/8 of the surface open to full light penetration. So I hook up my overflow and start flushing it out into a net for goldfish to eat. I know your pain and I'm trying to remedy mine as well. I wish you luck .

Jason


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## dr.tran (Oct 8, 2007)

hahaha! i can't stop laughing, in you shower?

well i once tried to grow duckweed when i learned that goldfishes love duckweed. it ate every last peice in 2 days. 

that and pond snails. 

it might cause more problems if u add these 2 things to ur tank but maybe just one big pond snail?

or u can do it manually and net them all out.


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## Minsc (Jul 9, 2006)

Net and patience. And more patience. And more netting. And some screaming. And more netting. Every Single Day.

-Sean, duckweed free for a year and proud of it.


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## Minsc (Jul 9, 2006)

Search the board for duckweed eliminator for a classic thread...


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## susankat (Oct 14, 2007)

Use a shop vac when you are doing your water changes.


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## pranks (Apr 9, 2007)

Wha...? I love duckweed - it adds a little roughage to my diet as
it seems to stick to me and then my food.

I have it in my washing machine, in buckets outside, growing in my garbage can...

But most importantly - it's like a little egg timer for water changes - for a 10 gallon it takes exactly 7 days for it to go from dollar size float to covering the tank - time for a water change!

I literally throw out a 2 gallon bucket of the stuff every week.

I sometimes get dressed for work - stick my hand in a tank to fix
something on the way out - and take my duckweed on drive. People
are not sure what to say..Uh you have something growing on your arm...?


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## Riley (Jan 24, 2006)

A net and sponge. Get every bit of it out of there. If there is a small dead leaf on the rim of your tank, scrub it off. Underneath the rim of the tank scrub,scrub,scrub. Just clean everything really good....and you should get rid of it. Mine just came back but I am on it again. Its a never ending battle.


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## mrbelvedere (Nov 15, 2005)

Buy a surface skimmer. Enough said.


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

Seriously, there was some clinging to the sides of my shower this morning. I did a water change last week.


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## loachlady5 (Dec 9, 2007)

Wow. I had thought about getting duckweed - not now!


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

You'll get it anyway.


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## BiscuitSlayer (Apr 1, 2005)

fishscale said:


> You'll get it anyway.


Just don't shower at fishscale's house or get to close to his aquarium.


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

Would you like some seasoned java moss :icon_twis 

It looked clear last night, but I guess somewhere along the line, a couple more leaves floated up. I will be at it again tonight.


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## tazcrash69 (Sep 27, 2005)

perseverance. I've gotten it in my 125 on 3 occasions, just make sure to check behind any equipment especially behind the intakes, and outflows.


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## pweifan (Nov 2, 2006)

I guess I was lucky when I had an infestation, it took only 2 tries to eliminate it completely. All via the old-fashioned manual removal method.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Spray the top of the tank with Excel. do not sniff it.
It should kill most floating plants, net and persistent netting will get rid of it.
Nail it before it gets bad.
Also, allows you a chance to get any other dead leaves etc out of the tank.

regards, 
Tom Barr


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## frozenbarb (Dec 16, 2006)

Its easy to kill something that you say "cannot die".
get a gallon of bleach and pour it into your tank. Your duckweed problems will be gone, so will your fishes and plants. But its better then getting haunt by duckweed when you shower ,wash your face, in your ceral, in your breakfast bowl,in your toilet.


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

I'm pretty sure it's immune to bleach, fire, and holy water.


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## BiscuitSlayer (Apr 1, 2005)

fishscale said:


> I'm pretty sure it's immune to bleach, fire, and holy water.


And evidently body odor and nakedness


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## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

Oh yeah, moss makes it almost impossible to get rid of duckweed. The slightest bit of swirling, and you get all the weed stuck down in there. FWIW, I frequently got rid of the stuff with (breeding sized) angelfish. If you "starve" them, they gobble it up.


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## Trace63 (Dec 23, 2007)

I think you need a young priest and an old priest


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## Blackthumbwoes (Feb 27, 2007)

I went to battle with mine last night while planting some newly arrived plants. I got the majority of it out and this time i'll stay on top of it for awhile. The down side is that its managed to infest my Riccia grow out container in my tank (a fish breeding trap i use to keep the the Riccia contained) and now i'm more or less screwed to get rid of it completely or start over with a small duckweed free sample of riccia. And yes the moss i have makes it a night mare as well.

Jason


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

I never had any problems. I got some duckweed from someone, which grew well. I use a turkey baster to suck out snails and got tired of the duckweed catching on my arms and the turkey baster, so I netted most of it out. The next day, I netted the rest. I haven't seen any more growths since.


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## crazy loaches (Sep 29, 2006)

crazie.eddie said:


> The next day, I netted the rest. I haven't seen any more growths since.


Was this just yesterday? :hihi: 

I've only succesfully been able to eliminate it from my brackish tank, and that was probably more the salts doing than mine. Yup, been a couple years of netting out duckweed every pwc.


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## BTDarters (Dec 30, 2007)

fishscale, You are one funny dude! Oh, and BuscuitSlayer, I like that last post! I am almost hesitant to post that I am currently culturing a non-standard species of duckweed. It's called Forked Duckweed. The scientific name is _Lemna trisulca_. It differs from standard duckweed in that it floats _under_ the surface of the water, not _on_ it. It also has a "rowboat and oars" shape and is forest green in color. See pics below. I am keeping it isolated in it's own tank right now and it doesn't seem like it would be invasive. Based on my experience with regular duckweed, though, I am going to test it slowly. I don't want all of my tanks overrun with a duckweed of a different color. I'll try to post updates as I go through this process. Anyway, enjoy the pics and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Brian


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## LS6 Tommy (May 13, 2006)

I got some in my 58 as hitchhikers. Interestingly enough, I also have one or two bits floating around the shrimp tank, but it hasn't grown much. It gets mildy annoying, but using a net as a pool skimmer works. It really doesn't get that annoying for me. Really. Not at all. Nope, not annoyed.... 

Tommy


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

i used it in a tank of betta fry. it hitchhiked on nets and hands too all my other tanks (i could swear it has spores!). now i just redid the tank into a 10 planted, there are still a few peices but i will remove them with a net (scope along surface and pull up sharply). it takes forever to get the last few. it was great for getting rid of nitrates though, every day i would scope out a handful; it grew back in 24 hours.


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## NeverEndingNinja (Jan 4, 2008)

I feel like I'm going to get duckweed in my tank just from reading this.:frown: I feel so...dirty...all of a sudden!


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

it is dirty, you cant get it off your hands after you do something in the tank.

you wipe it off, it stays; you wash it off, its in the sink so you go to take it off and its back on your hands.


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

I have a special bucket to wash my hands into. It gets bleached, then dumped into the toilet after a day.


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## crazy loaches (Sep 29, 2006)

I had to reach into my tank again today... the duckweed were fierce, it was hard but I managed to get my hand back out.


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## frozenbarb (Dec 16, 2006)

Hey cool they came out with a new Chia Pet designs, A hand


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## frozenbarb (Dec 16, 2006)

You could grow that submerge to make a grass type field. I saw it on Fishforum.net




BTDarters said:


> fishscale, You are one funny dude! Oh, and BuscuitSlayer, I like that last post! I am almost hesitant to post that I am currently culturing a non-standard species of duckweed. It's called Forked Duckweed. The scientific name is _Lemna trisulca_. It differs from standard duckweed in that it floats _under_ the surface of the water, not _on_ it. It also has a "rowboat and oars" shape and is forest green in color. See pics below. I am keeping it isolated in it's own tank right now and it doesn't seem like it would be invasive. Based on my experience with regular duckweed, though, I am going to test it slowly. I don't want all of my tanks overrun with a duckweed of a different color. I'll try to post updates as I go through this process. Anyway, enjoy the pics and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
> 
> Brian


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## BTDarters (Dec 30, 2007)

frozenbarb said:


> You could grow that submerge to make a grass type field. I saw it on Fishforum.net


frozenbarb,

How do you get it to stay down? Even though it is submerged, it still "floats" and it has no real structure, like _Riccia_ for example.

Brian


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

I think you should grow it in a bucket of bleach.


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## NeverEndingNinja (Jan 4, 2008)

From the sound of it, it probably would grow in a bucket of bleach.


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

I hope not, otherwise I've been infecting the water supply.


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## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

fishscale said:


> Would you like some seasoned java moss :icon_twis



Hahaha, NOT funny. I saw some on some HM I bought awhile back. I silently gasped. I cleaned and washed and cleaned and washed before putting it in my tank. It looked spotless. Guess what I have now?  I just don't think it will go away, no matter what I do.


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

crazy loaches said:


> Was this just yesterday? :hihi:
> 
> I've only succesfully been able to eliminate it from my brackish tank, and that was probably more the salts doing than mine. Yup, been a couple years of netting out duckweed every pwc.


Nope. Several months ago, during the summer. I received the duckweed in addition to some RCS I sold locally. I removed them back then and I haven't seen a trace of it since.


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## OhNo123 (Jan 8, 2008)

I loved my duckweed while it lasted.. for about a week? I had a good amount to cover a 5x5" patch. Everyday I saw less until i wanted to find out what was going on. So I watched my Apple Snails roam around until they went up to the water line and opened their mouth and sucked in duckweed! Didn't spit it out either. So I guess they ate it all. Oh well, they had a healthy snack.


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## TigerLilly (Oct 11, 2004)

BTDarters said:


> I am almost hesitant to post that I am currently culturing a non-standard species of duckweed. It's called Forked Duckweed. The scientific name is _Lemna trisulca_.


.

Oh no! You're fostering the next generation of invaders. 



BTDarters said:


> I am keeping it isolated in it's own tank right now and it doesn't seem like it would be invasive.


.

Is that what **it's** been telling you?

I bet when you go to sleep at night it creeps out of the aquarium in a mushy clump, slugs itself across your floor, climbs up into your bed, onto your pillow and whiskers its evil little secrets into your ear while you sleep. 

Next thing you know you wake up in the morning and feel a strange need to culture a new species of duckweed. Common sense would tell you not to, but strangly you can't resist. 

Next thing you know you are broadcasting your plans over the net in a aquatic plant forum. 

You look over your shoulder at the duckweed, motionlessly floating in the aquarium, you go on typing and it laughs a teeny tiny diabolical laugh of victory over the human race that is just out of your range of hearing. 

Duckweed wins again.:eek5: :eek5: :eek5:


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## BTDarters (Dec 30, 2007)

:icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol: :biggrin: 

Brian


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

Do apple snails reproduce sexually or asexually? 

I feel your pain about the HM. It got into my emersed HC. I'm screwed.


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

fishscale said:


> Do apple snails reproduce sexually or asexually?
> 
> I feel your pain about the HM. It got into my emersed HC. I'm screwed.


Apple snails reproduce sexually. Male and female needed.

See: http://www.applesnail.net/content/care.php#breeding


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

I had apple snails and duckweed... I didn't see them eating the weed...
I guess they would only eat it if there's nothing else to eat. Maybe it depends on the species too.. Apple snail is a general term for lots of species.

I just got sick of the duckweed and spend 50 minutes fishing it all out if a net... it's doable.


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## Darkness9876 (Nov 6, 2008)

I hate to ask but would btdarters send me a couple leaves of that in a ziploc? I would love to have that in my paludarium.


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## Allen121 (Oct 22, 2008)

This thread should be called "How Duckweed ruined my life"!! LOL!! Some funny stuff here!

There is this "stuff" growing on the surface of a semi stagnant creek a ways down the road here that I tried in my tank, but my filter grabbed it off the surface and started swirling it around in the water. Looked like crap so I took it out. I'd SWEAR it was duckweed having seen pics of the stuff afterward. Never had a problem with it coming back though.


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## Walking_Target (Jul 16, 2008)

Maybe i'm crazy, but I don't mind duckweed. 

Two minutes with a net every few days and you're just throwing built up nitrate out of your tank. For those of you with high light setups, I can understand, but for all my lower light tanks, it doesn't bother me. My bettas love it too, they hang out under it, i suppose it makes them feel safer than sitting out under open water.


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

It's still there. I'm going to try to get rid of it and replace it with frogbit.


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## James From Cali (Dec 15, 2006)

I cannot keep duckweed alive. It jsut dies on me. Maybe its because of too much surface agitation but it just does not live in my aquarium.


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

Perhaps your tank is filled with holy water?


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## Sounguru (Jul 14, 2008)

I have it 2 inches thick in one of my tanks.... Every week I scoop out a big net full ramshorns and all and move it over to my 75 for the silver dollars to eat.

I love duckweed and it's larger cousins it has really helped to keep the nitrates under control.


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## coley24 (Dec 10, 2007)

I'm with James on that one. My tank has high surface agitation and the duckweed disappears. In my tanks with sponge filters i can't get rid of it. My big tank has been exposed time and time again and not a single piece lives through it. Might be worth a try?


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## daFrimpster (Mar 7, 2005)

a feeder goldfish or two will eradicate it from your tank in a week. If you don't get it out of all your tanks it will slowly find it's way back to all of your tanks.
I dunno how it does it but it does.


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## taekwondodo (Apr 16, 2006)

Sounds just like a STD - If you put your things in unknown places enough times, eventually you will catch it.

If I keep "hookin-up" on S&S, eventually the odds will turn against me and I'll have it forever


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## Farmboy (May 18, 2008)

If you think that duckweed is a problem (it's really not) don't get any guppygrass!


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## LeTigra (Nov 25, 2008)

I have to say - this is the thread that finally made me ACTUALLY register on this forum rather than just lurk! This is hilarious!

As for getting rid of duckweed, my filament barbs did a pretty good job - cleaned up a whole batch in a matter of hours. At that point I did WANT DW in my tank - a friend had mailed me some, but they wouldn't leave it alone. And now my Bala Sharks attack it every so often and keep it in check. Although they don't touch any of my other plants for which I am very grateful
Thank you Bala Sharks


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Surface agitation has taken care of mine over time. Strong surface agitation, that pushes the duckweed underwater repeatedly and finally kills it. Can't keep any floating plants alive with that much agitation, though.

I still have it in my 46gal... so taking care of that tank is next (I've finally eradicated it from my 90gal and my 29gal, though. :thumbsup


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## connordude27 (Jun 14, 2008)

can it grow in next to no light? if so i want to try this evil stuff in my betta tank


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## Tinanti (Aug 25, 2005)

There is worse. _Wolffia_. It's related to duckweed, but much smaller.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

connordude27 said:


> can it grow in next to no light? if so i want to try this evil stuff in my betta tank


Yes.

If you're serious, LMK I've got plenty to spare... :icon_roll


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## TheCryptKeeper (Mar 9, 2008)

take a shower about 10 times.. get a large tarp and cover the tank up. on the other side of the room set up a new tank and just pretend that the other one doesn't exist :hihi:

hope you get rid of it!


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

tinanti said:


> there is worse. _wolffia_. It's related to duckweed, but much smaller.


....

Ahhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!


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## Aquarist_Fist (Jul 22, 2008)

Get a big duck. That should do the trick.

If you don't want a duck, I've had good experience with competing plants. I've had a little duckweed for months without any major outbreaks. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the handfuls of red-root floaters I have to remove from the tank every week. At least they look nice and have pretty little flowers.


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## Kris (Feb 27, 2004)

i have duckweed in my pond outside and two tanks with hideous algae/bacteria blooms inside. 
since it eats nitrates and since i already have some...
maybe it'll eat the bacteria blooms too.


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## secondaccess (Nov 30, 2008)

I actually killed frogbit and duckweed. It just melted away day after day..


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

I put frogbit in my tank to combat the duckweed. No luck so far. They are both growing. At least frogbit is easy to find.


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## psybock (Jan 12, 2007)

Have you called a priest or shaman to exorcise the demon from your tanks yet? Seriously though, I never could figure out why duckweek thrived in my 10 gallon but disappeared in my 29 gallon until last year. Current, it seems that the current from my canister filter pushed my duckweed into a meltdown, even now if I put a handful of it in there within a week all of it will be gone...of course I also have a butt load of plants in the tank and they generally outcompete the duckweed for nutrients, I almost never have readable nitrate in my tanks b/c the other plants suck it up so fast. Anywho, try inducing more current if you can. It may involve taking out CO2 for a few days but whats a little stunted plant growth over the riddance of this demonic plant?


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## Walking_Target (Jul 16, 2008)

Heh.

Duckweed isn't evil. Manual removal, while a pain in the butt, will get rid of it. just be very thorough and check every day for a couple minutes. It will be gone within a week. 

I kinda like it, but i'm thinking i might move to water lettuce or some red root floaters.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I think fishscale should plant some in your shower. :hihi:


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## spinjector (Mar 20, 2005)

I was at the LFS today and when I was looking at the plant tanks, I could hear teeny tiny little voices all chanting, "brains! brains! brains! brains! brains!".


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## spinjector (Mar 20, 2005)

1) Draw the drapes & turn off all the lights in the room.

2) Turn off the lights on the tank, remove filters, powerheads, airstones, and any source of surface agitation.

3) Put the tv & dvd player next to the tank.

4) Put in a John Tesh holiday special dvd, and play it on continuous repeat.

This should kill the duckweed in a few hours. However, the drawback is that your fish, snails, and shrimp will need psychiatric treatment for a few weeks. If they are not insured as dependents with mental health coverage and you cannot afford a therpaist, just pop a Valium in the tank every day for a month.


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## kid creole (Dec 25, 2008)

This is one big benefit to a wet/dry filter. No duckweed. Period. I've seen stragglers make their way in, but they all end up in the filter within a few minutes.


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## Riiz (Apr 30, 2008)

Its funny, in one of my large planted tanks, I have a large blue gourami that eats it. I regularly drop in a netfull and within a week its gone. I might have to rent him out to others for duckweed removal.


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## spinjector (Mar 20, 2005)

I still think he should try a duck. :biggrin:


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