# Is this clado ?



## JenThePlantGeek (Mar 27, 2006)

Can you add fish to eat it? 

Try black mollies or rosey barbs. Those will snack on it and keep it trimmed down like a carpet. Is this an option for you?


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## kenneth_kpe (Jan 25, 2005)

hmm do mollies touch it ? never tried mollies or rosy barbs. hehehehe


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## jgc (Jul 6, 2005)

looks kind of neat...


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## JenThePlantGeek (Mar 27, 2006)

In my experience they will eat all the longer strands but not totally get rid of it, so it ends up looking like a nicely trimmed, tightly packed little carpet. I personally think it looks really nice, especially on driftwood that makes a tree-trunk effect. The clado ends up looking like lichen or moss on it.


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## turbosaurus (Nov 19, 2005)

Cherry shrimp LOVE the stuff..


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## endparenthesis (Jul 13, 2004)

I want to trade cherry shrimp then... my worst clado infestation was IN my cherry shrimp tank... ravaged my moss... I shudder just looking at some of those pics...


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## kenneth_kpe (Jan 25, 2005)

yeah i have cherry's and they dont touch it... Il try to borrow a few mollies and try that out... hmmmm 

its neat but it gets dirty and clings to everything !!

I was advised to increase N and K to battle it ? also decrease lighting a bit


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## Ryzilla (Oct 29, 2005)

yeah my cherries do not even look at this stuff.


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## John P. (Apr 10, 2004)

Nothing will get rid of it short of a total bleach nuke.


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## kenneth_kpe (Jan 25, 2005)

arghhh its really getting on my nerves !!! im really planning on bleaching everyting because of this


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## John P. (Apr 10, 2004)

Yep, it's the only way. Make sure you keep an eye for it next time and squirt Excel on any affected areas & remove as soon as you see any branches of it.


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## Ryzilla (Oct 29, 2005)

is this stuff really that parasitic? There is no known cure for it? Will a peroxide treatment work?


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Cherries will eat it, but due to their small size and the speed of clado growth they don't win the battle.

I suggest AMANO shrimps, if you can get your hands on them. Not sure what size your tank is, but I think one shrimp per 3-5 gallons should be able to take care of it.

Other than that... keep CO2 up, and a close eye on macros so your plants win the battle.


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## endparenthesis (Jul 13, 2004)

I hope that's true... I tried putting amanos in with it and it's still there, but a few pieces of it seem to be shorter at least. Trying to get more of them.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Give 'em some time. The best is to include a few when setting up a tank, or when you see the first strands, then it will never get bad. If you have a full blown infestation, you will need more shrimps or patience.


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## Ryzilla (Oct 29, 2005)

i got a decent source for amanos by me. $3.99 each or 3/$11. I have clado in a 2.5g.. How many amanos can I put in there?


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## kenneth_kpe (Jan 25, 2005)

aw.. i wish amanos were easy to get here   

i can fill the tank with cherries ! hahaha


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Ryzilla said:


> i got a decent source for amanos by me. $3.99 each or 3/$11. I have clado in a 2.5g.. How many amanos can I put in there?


Depends how bad it is, how fast you want them to eat it, how much you like shrimp, what else is in there.

I'd say 1-3. One might be able to sustain it's shrimpy life without much added care by you. 3 will clean the "tank" quicker, but then would need some food added. Of course there is always the possibility that one dies, one climbs out, and one is left. Or something like that.

Don't expect any miracles... but I have become a big friend of Amanos after witnessing how they go after algae.

Now to propagate them... that's another project.


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## Ryzilla (Oct 29, 2005)

kenneth_kpe said:


> aw.. i wish amanos were easy to get here
> 
> i can fill the tank with cherries ! hahaha


Yeah but you have the most beautiful women in the world.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Ryzilla said:


> Yeah but you have the most beautiful women in the world.


Do they graze on green algae though?

Sorry, that's OT.


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## kenneth_kpe (Jan 25, 2005)

LOL hahahaha

in any case would mollies do damage to the clado ?

its really making me angry ! i even have green dust right now ! but in any case all the plants seem to be pearling haha


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## John P. (Apr 10, 2004)

No animal is going to get rid of it if you have any significant amount.


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## Ryzilla (Oct 29, 2005)

John P. said:



> No animal is going to get rid of it if you have any significant amount.


Dont freak us out man. We need hope here even if it is false.


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## aquanut415 (Jan 21, 2006)

I think the best thing to do is remove all the infected leaves, remove all visible algae, and do a water change, maybe 10?hahahah. Up the CO2, keep the ferts in check, and in a few days manually remove the infected leaves and algae again, then repeat.... its a PITA but........


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## Ryzilla (Oct 29, 2005)

aquanut415 said:


> I think the best thing to do is remove all the infected leaves, remove all visible algae, and do a water change, maybe 10?hahahah. Up the CO2, keep the ferts in check, and in a few days manually remove the infected leaves and algae again, then repeat.... its a PITA but........


yeah but clado doesnt really have a faforite host. I have notices that it like the slow growers more so but it will grow on rocks, glass, and my hygro even.


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## aquanut415 (Jan 21, 2006)

yeah... if it is everywhere, you gotta remove it. period. no shrimp works better than fingers/scissors on established thread algae.


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## kenneth_kpe (Jan 25, 2005)

its kinda hard to remove since it took over my glosso, elatine and HC hhehe really crazy looking


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## aquanut415 (Jan 21, 2006)

I know what you mean about its hard to remove, but better to protect the uninfected plants than to let it just take over. Ive tried all the tricks to beating that stuff and time and time again I have learned it is just best to remove it, enitre plants included.
In a few of the earlier aquajournal mags I have which are translated into english, Amano talks about the removal of plants near, and or infected by the plant/wood being attacked by algae as a treatment method. Then ofcourse you need to try and figure out why it is showing up in the first place....but one thing at a time. 

it might not be fun, or easy, but give it a try and I bet you will be surprised.


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## John P. (Apr 10, 2004)

Ryzilla said:


> Dont freak us out man. We need hope here even if it is false.


That was funny! 

Water changes and ferts only help clado. My own experiences with it and research into this algae/plant lead one to understand that it loves everything plants love. So ... the logic of treating it like BBA, hair algae, etc. doesn't hold true.


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## kenneth_kpe (Jan 25, 2005)

i hate clado 

hmmm il probably nuke the entire tank and watch out for it next time !!!!!!


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## Ryzilla (Oct 29, 2005)

Hey, you know what. I have clado in my 2.5g with a ph of 7.5 and its filled with Hc from my 30g, but there is none in my 30g that has a ph of 6.4. If you have clado, what is your ph?


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## kenneth_kpe (Jan 25, 2005)

Hmm ryzilla could the reason be because your 30g has more co2 injected compared to the 2.5 g ? 

My Ph is 6.5 - 7... somewhere in that range.. (stupid liquid test kit!)


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## Ryzilla (Oct 29, 2005)

well I added 2 ammano's to my tank and I can clearly see a haircut. The clado has a nice buzz cut and I will probably add another amano this weekend. The floating clado that is over taking my floating HC does not get touched. I think with 3 amano's and 5 female cherries in my 2.5g and feeding them NOTHING I might get the clado under control. oh yeah I treated it with x3 excel and nothing happened. The HC that isnt infected loved it though and got real fluffy and grew a little more vertically.


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## John P. (Apr 10, 2004)

Squirt some Excel on it directly & it will turn brown & die.


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## Ryzilla (Oct 29, 2005)

John P. said:


> Squirt some Excel on it directly & it will turn brown & die.


im not so sure about this but I will give it a go.


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## endparenthesis (Jul 13, 2004)

I think I finally have some solid evidence that this stuff really gets eaten. I put 70 (yes 70) amanos in a temporary holding tank that had a bunch of clado-infested plants in it. I can't find a trace of the clado now. I loathe the stuff... good to finally know there really is a solution, albeit an extreme one.


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## Cardinal Tetra (Feb 26, 2006)

endparenthesis said:


> I think I finally have some solid evidence that this stuff really gets eaten. I put 70 (yes 70) amanos in a temporary holding tank that had a bunch of clado-infested plants in it. I can't find a trace of the clado now. I loathe the stuff... good to finally know there really is a solution, albeit an extreme one.


So all I have to do is get more amanos...


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## Ryzilla (Oct 29, 2005)

endparenthesis said:


> I think I finally have some solid evidence that this stuff really gets eaten. I put 70 (yes 70) amanos in a temporary holding tank that had a bunch of clado-infested plants in it. I can't find a trace of the clado now. I loathe the stuff... good to finally know there really is a solution, albeit an extreme one.


how big was the tank?


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## Betowess (Dec 9, 2004)

endparenthesis said:


> I think I finally have some solid evidence that this stuff really gets eaten. I put 70 (yes 70) amanos in a temporary holding tank that had a bunch of clado-infested plants in it. I can't find a trace of the clado now. I loathe the stuff... good to finally know there really is a solution, albeit an extreme one.



LOL, May I ask what you were doing with 70 Amanos? Maybe holding them for Scolley? I gotta admit, I'm jealous of anyone who has the keys to 70 Amanos. That is one sweet algae battalion.

But back OT. I think I have some clado in my 65 gallon. Never really dealt with it before. It actually grows in/ontop of my Flourite substrate and in some establishing HC and on driftwood. I gotta buy about 10-15 Amanos, I guess. How many do you think? I hope my big peaceful Apisto viejito doesn't eat them at $3 per. There isn't any Clado in my 90 gallon with a bunch of Amanos in that tank (about 10 shrimp there).


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## Cardinal Tetra (Feb 26, 2006)

No wonder I have clado... I only have 2 amanos in my 20...


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

The stuff in my tank only grow exclusively on moss, so I have no real objection on them doing so. If I keep them in check, they actually look quite nice, forming moss - like carpet with very soft threads. I had almost eradicate them when I decided to prune all my moss very short. Now, some 3 months later they bounce back (and also did the moss along with it).


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## endparenthesis (Jul 13, 2004)

To answer questions, my amanos are alone in about 20 gallons with a bunch of plants. It's where I toss trimmings and such. I wanted to try my hand at breeding them and was tired of always waiting for eggs.  The price is somewhat tolerable in bulk (I actually ordered 100... I have 30 more coming to me as part of a live arrival guarantee).

Now that I have them I may sell off some males... haven't decided.

But that same amount of clado I had stuck around for quite a while when I only had 6 amanos in there. So I guess I can vouch for 6 not being enough to make much of a dent.

I also had a ton of clado in a tank with at least 50 cherries... they didn't seem to touch it.

I had also tried excel and H2O2 and the stuff kept growing like nothing happened.


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## Ryzilla (Oct 29, 2005)

endparenthesis said:


> I also had a ton of clado in a tank with at least 50 cherries... they didn't seem to touch it.
> 
> I had also tried excel and H2O2 and the stuff kept growing like nothing happened.


I can vouch for the cherries not touching it. I have 5 adult female cherries in my 2.5g that is thriving with clado, they didnt touch it. I added 2 amano's and I can see they have worked on it as well as I have seen the picking at it. If the cherries do touch it was not enough to see a difference.


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## dhavoc (May 4, 2006)

got it in my 15g and simply pull strands with a tweezer when they get long enough. crs and cherries dont touch it and no amanos avail here so basically pulling strands forever.... not bad, though kind of like a stress relief at the office, and i get to watch the shrimp while pulling the stuff. it does look neat growing on drift wood but is a PITA on crypts.


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## Cardinal Tetra (Feb 26, 2006)

I wish I could afford 70 amanos...


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## endparenthesis (Jul 13, 2004)

Cardinal Tetra said:


> I wish I could afford 70 amanos...


They're cheaper than most of the stuff we have to buy in this hobby...


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## Betowess (Dec 9, 2004)

Was the Amano shrimp source through a LFS? I'm curious what a bag of 100 goes for, not that I'm planning on buying that many...


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## endparenthesis (Jul 13, 2004)

Nope, online.


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## fresh_lynny (Mar 9, 2006)

ok well, I have it now. This thread is infectious! grrrr
I have 10 Amanos in my 90 gal and it seems to be growing only on my dward hairgrass and my mosses. My CO2 is always up...sometimes too much and I dose EI, so I am not sure where they came from. Maybe a plant someone sold me 
Anyway, I have some now, so i guess I will first try to add 10 more Amanos and not feed everyone for a while. Maybe my swordtails will go after some too. I thought it was thread algae, but it looks kind of like that pic first posted, but also similar to Spyrogira.


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## Cardinal Tetra (Feb 26, 2006)

This algae was never a problem for me until about a month ago, it appeared out of nowhere. Now it's all over the place, especially on my moss and driftwood. I hope my lfs got in more amanos.


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## Ryzilla (Oct 29, 2005)

I have 2 amanos in my 2.5g and I can see they are eating it, but not eradicating it. Today I am going to get 3 more amano's at the LFS. 3 for $11 not to bad. I am going to move my female cherries that were previously in there into my 30g. So I will have 5 amanos in a 2.5g, it will be like wrestle mania in there but its worth a shot to see if I can get rid of it.


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## Lissette (Apr 2, 2005)

I've had clado algae for quite some time. I've been able to eradicate most algae issues with co2, etc., but this algae keeps coming back. I always wondered if maybe I just have way too much light over this tank (which I do). At this point, the lights hover about 5 inches above the tank.

I'm almost about given up on this. I know it's not lack of co2. I've raised it to the point that the fish start gasping, but this thing doesn't give a fig, it still shows up.

It's pretty, but I don't want it. It tends to hide in the grass (a lot). Removal is nearly impossible unless you comb it out. Sometimes it floats and has long tendrils that attach themselves to plant leaves. What a PITA.


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## fresh_lynny (Mar 9, 2006)

OK "phew' Tom said it wasn't Clad...it was likely Rhizoclonium....Clad branches out, I believe.


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