# Is clado a death sentence?



## takadi (Dec 13, 2010)

So when I started to see wisps of this stuff floating across my java moss, I knew it was over. I've heard horror stories about this stuff, how people have literally had to get entirely new tanks in order to make sure it was gone. Bleach, peroxide, excel, nothing works. So I convinced myself to calm down and just wait a while, pulling out the strands and cleaning things up. A few months later, it looks like the there are spider webs all over my tank.

So tell me straight up, is it over? Am I done?


----------



## Dempsey (Oct 27, 2009)

First, figure out why you keep getting it..... Get you ferts, lights, circulation and co2 right. If you are running co2.

A good defence for clado is Amano shrimp. They eat up quick. They love the stuff. Keep pulling what you can. The shrimp will keep it at bay.


----------



## DarkCobra (Jun 22, 2004)

Any chance you can post a close-up photo, so we can make sure it's really clado?

Because if it's _really_ clado, it's generally considered to like the same things as plants, including Excel. So improving tank parameters won't help. You have it simply because it was added to your tank, and it will continue to grow no matter what, until it's 100% removed.

Concentrated Excel/H2O2 spot treatments may help, but it's more resistant to both than most algae. I've heard mixed reports whether Amanos will eat it or not, but have never kept them; so I can't speak from experience.

So unless Amanos work, getting rid of a widespread infestation can be a long battle, chipping away at it bit by bit.

The only thing I've found that reliably kills it is Algaefix. I don't recommend ever using it in a tank. But a three-day dip at recommended dosage completely kills clado. It may look unaffected, but it's dead and will disintegrate over the next week. I found this treatment when faced with the same initial problem as you, clado in java moss.


----------



## duff (Feb 26, 2006)

+1 long battle here... Amano shrimp have proven the best for me in keeping it in check - that and pulling out every last little bit of it when I see it. 

From this:









to this in a few days


----------



## willbldrco (Mar 24, 2007)

One way to tell is to smell it. It smells atypical of any aqua plant/alage to me. Also, check out this thread to see if you have Clado (contains Clado close up pics on first page and pics of Clado clumps on second page):

I battled it for 3/4 year, but finally got rid of it. In the end, after many lost battles, it was a multi-pronged attack which worked for me:

- Pull any large clumps you can (lucky that it's somewhat easy to remove)

- Yank any bushy plants which allow clumps of it to form (for me, that meant chopping up a huge, lovely 1' clump of blyxa japonica and planting it more sparsely where the Clado couldn't form a mothership clump

- Weaken any bits that remain: 5 day total black-out (completely wrapped tank with black plastic with only an aeration hose feeding O2 to the tank)

- Perform frequent water changes (I did 50% changes every 5 days for weeks until it was gone). Clado seemed to dwindle with great (not just good) water quality for me (others say this doesn't affect Clado)

- Spend 10-15mins a day looking for any sprigs in your tank - Pull any bit you see! Seriously, if you're walking by your tank, and see a bit on the substrate or floating around, stop what you're doing and pull it from the tank! I had a long pair of tweezers next to the tank for about 6 weeks for this very purpose. 

I also had success spot-treating a patch which was embedded in my HC carpet with Excel. I used about 40ml via a syringe on a 2-3" patch of HC which had some Clado growing through out it. While it killed the Clado, it also took some color out of the nearby HC, but that recovered after a couple weeks.

Good luck!!!

Will


----------



## chicken (Aug 22, 2007)

The only tank I ever permanently eliminated it from was a 2.5 gallon nano. It was growing in the HC foreground. Every day I used tweezers to pick out any bits I could find, did a huge water change, then squirted about 1-2ml of Excel onto the HC. It took at least a few weeks of this before the clado disappeared for good. 

I have a 10 gallon that I've halfheartedly tried to do the same thing to now and again (using H202 instead of Excel, because of vals and anacharis in that tank), but all I've ever managed to do is keep the clado somewhat at bay. Oddly, I just realized that even though my daughter used plants pulled from that tank for her science fair experiment, she never got any clado in her tanks. I have no idea why.


----------



## Abrium (Jan 7, 2011)

Man, yall make me glad that I don't have this type of algae. I have read that it is harmless as far as algae goes because of its ease of removal. I never thought about becoming infested with it though.


----------



## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

I shouldn't have read this thread. The clado I have had never became much of a nuisance. Now I am doomed!


----------



## Abrium (Jan 7, 2011)

I know, the same thing I was thinking. I look for it now everytime I pass by one of my tanks.


----------

