# Is this Clado?



## Jadelin (Sep 30, 2009)

This has been in my tank for a while; it came in with an order of flame moss and Fissidens. It took a while before it grew much, and it hasn't really spread to other plants. But it's growing more in those two mosses, and I'm getting sick of it. Also, it started out only as really long, thin, slightly curling filaments, and I assumed it was hair algae. It was only recently that I noticed any branches on it that made me think it was Clado.

Should I chuck out those mosses? It would make me sad, especially since the Fissidens is doing so well. 

This tank is low tech, low light, so upping CO2 is not an option. I could try increasing my dosing, which is a bit of macros and micros every week or two (as per Tom Barr's non-CO2 method). The lighting is 2 wpg compact fluorescent in a 10 gallon. I have Excel I could dose, but it's a RCS tank, so I'd rather not. 

The tank is about 4 months old, past the first flush of algae and onto the second (slowly developing some BBA on the rocks as well).

The plants are mostly mosses with a couple stems of water wisteria and some frogbit (that grows like mad).

Advice? Suggestions?


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

hmm. Not sure what it is. Does it have a smell?
From what I can remember, clado is more wiry.


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## doubleott05 (Mar 16, 2010)

def looks like clado. you dont have to chuck the fissidens. you can lightly brush the fissidens with a soft toothbrush and it should slowly pull off. orrr if your brave enought you can use tetra algae destroyer. i used it on my tanks it is plant safe. if you have inverts i would not recommend it. however i did use it in conjunction with my CRS and non died. i treated the recommended dose for like a week and my clado turned white and died off. 

Thanks
Elliot


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

doubleott05 said:


> def looks like clado. you dont have to chuck the fissidens. you can lightly brush the fissidens with a soft toothbrush and it should slowly pull off. orrr if your brave enought you can use tetra algae destroyer. i used it on my tanks it is plant safe. if you have inverts i would not recommend it. however i did use it in conjunction with my CRS and non died. i treated the recommended dose for like a week and my clado turned white and died off.
> 
> Thanks
> Elliot


I would go so far as to say if you have fish I wouldn't use that product. Remove the fissidens outside of the tank if you are going to use tetra algae destroyer. Too many reports of fish death to risk it (at least for me).


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Rub it between your fingers.

Smooth and slimy? Or rough like a brillo pad? If rough, it's clado.

No way other than manual removal and flagfish or in my case, a ton of amano shrimp.

Good luck, it's the devil's algae.


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## Jadelin (Sep 30, 2009)

mistergreen said:


> hmm. Not sure what it is. Does it have a smell?
> From what I can remember, clado is more wiry.


Hmmm, it does seem to have a bit of a smell; kind of a lake smell, although all fish tanks smell a bit like lakes. It does seem slightly different and stronger than the normal tank odor, although I can't really describe it.



epicfish said:


> Rub it between your fingers.
> 
> Smooth and slimy? Or rough like a brillo pad? If rough, it's clado.


It's definitely not smooth and slimy, but it's not really rough either. It's like . . . well, it's sort of like rubbing the ends of your hair when it's wet, but a little softer.


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

Its clado for sure. It has a wet earth/ fresh rain smell. Country wet not city street wet. The best ive found for it is to put it in the dark for a week (outside of the aquarium) and it will die back. I use tweezers whenever I see a hair poking out so it doesnt get too thick. Welcome to the hatred for clado club


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## Heartnet (Sep 13, 2009)

Once it's in the tank, it's pretty much there forever in my experience. No other algae rivals it in terms of tenacity. 

You can keep it down by physically removing any you see with a brush, and a slightly larger than recommended amounts of H202 and excel can also work. 

But it's still pretty much a PITA.


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## chicken (Aug 22, 2007)

Only tank I was able to remove clado from permanently was a 2.5 gallon. Every day I picked out any bits I could find, then did a huge water change, (almost fully draining the tank). I'd put in about 1ml of Excel, and then refill the tank.


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