# Can't get rid of the cladophora



## fishboy87

I have done excel on it and it works but I also had it in my moss and I killed that area so dose it in your opinion as little as possible so it's just enough to kill it but so it doesn't kill too much of the moss. It takes a day or 2 to kill it and sometimes portions are still alive but connected parts turn whitish green that are dead. To be sure, spend as much time as possible after dosing the excel manually removing dead parts of the clado. Along with clado in my tank, I have gsa and both algaes can be signs of low flow rate. I have dosed more phosphates to slow down the growth of the gsa and it works slightly with clado too in my opinion. I have gotten the clado under control and I manually remove any when I see any. 

Hopefully this helped and good luck!


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## fishbguy1

Clado is the stuff that's like long pieces of thread algae, right?

if so, I have it it my moss and I'm using H2O2 without issues, and it seems to be working.


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## Renegade545

fishbguy1 said:


> H2O2


Simple translation for those that failed chemistry class. Hydrogen peroxide. You can get it almost anywhere.


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## jaidexl

fishbguy1 said:


> Clado is the stuff that's like long pieces of thread algae, right?


No, it's small clumps similar to course carpet bunnies.



jaidexl said:


> carpet bunnies


Simple translation for those that failed at life and/or vacuuming. Balls of loose carpet. You get them under the couch.


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## stargate_geek

fishbguy1 said:


> I have it it my moss and I'm using H2O2 without issues, and it seems to be working.


Can you elaborate on this? Do you does the whole tank; squirt it on the affect areas with a syringe; are water changes required after (besides the normal schedule)?


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## fishbguy1

I turn the filter off, and spot treat it with an eye dropper.

H2O2 is basically water, just with an extra O atom. So it turns into water. Thus, no additional water changes are needed after a treatment. It does not kill plants, though I do use it excessivily, and it browned my peacock moss, howeve rwithin the week, the moss was turning green again. It has not affected my other plants in the least.

You will know if it's working because the algae will bubble, much like if you put the H2O2 on a cut.

You have to keep up with the dosing however. It will not kill the algae after just one dose. You have to manually remove anything that you see every day, and dose at least twice a day, every day, for 1-2 weeks. It's a long process, but it works, and it won't hurt plants or fish.

I am using this, because I don't want to accidentally dose too much excel and kill the plants and fish, which excel can do.

hope that helped a little bit.

~Andrew


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## eyebeatbadgers

I'd like to chime in, and say that I've used H2O2 on clado as well, and it worked wonderfully. I used a child's oral syringe, and dosed directly on the clado (and works great for BBA) with the filter off, and after a few dosings, the clado just dries up. I slowly squirted the 5ml onto the algae, then let the tank sit still for a few minutes. In a couple days, the algae was gone. To keep it from coming back in the future, make sure to keep up on tank maintenance, like regular water changes, remove any dead leaves, and clean that filter! I clean mine once a month now, and it's made a huge difference. All I do is squeeze the pads off in the sink at water change time, and the water is very clear, has no odor, and best of all no clado. 

HTH

Note: Simple translation for those who failed at forum speak or nerd acronyms class is "hope this helps".


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## bradac56

Tom Barr has an article for using Sodium Percarbonate:
[ http://www.barrreport.com/general-p...algae-killer-chemical-yes-its-very-cheap.html ] 
for killing just about anything but GW.

I've got 4lb's of the stuff on order.

- Brad


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## zzyzx85

Good tips. I have a clado problem and have only been manually removing it with a toothbrush. I have a good selection of syringes and I have plenty of hydrogen peroxide at home. I'll give it a shot (pun intended).


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## waterfaller1

I have clado in one nano tank, and I kind of like it. Sunday though, I noticed the amount of it was less for some reason, and what is there came off with ease. As if it's being out-competed all of the sudden. I have a couple pics fishbguy, if you want to see.


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## plantbrain

Please be very very careful with percarbonate!!!
It has not been tested in aquariums, like the H2O2, folks have killed their fish, like overdosing Excel, folks have killed their fish.

To use it, or any algicide, you should first always try and correct the parameter/s that caused the algae inducement/germination.

Then, if that did not correct it and stop the growth where manual removal is not too bad etc, then you might resort to other measures.

Bleach will not kill or cure it, nor will KH2O2, it will only kill it where it is, it will slowly come back.

Slightly lower than optimal CO2 and higher light seem to be good parameters.
I've repeatedly induced nice Caldophora many times in well cycled aquariums, dropped the nutrients down etc, basically, left the tank alone for a week or more and let the CO2 drop off a little.

Each time I had a nice mat of Caldophora do very well.
I remove any traces I see in any tank and always bump the CO2 a tad higher, trim and make sure there's less plant material to tangle up more algae.

But when the CO2 is good, it rarely is even an issue.
Just trim off and toss the moss, Riccia infested etc, these plants grows fast enough anyway, not worth trying to save.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## jaidexl

plantbrain said:


> Bleach will not kill or cure it, nor will KH2O2, it will only kill it where it is, it will slowly come back.


This is why I never opted to use chems, it takes so much less effort to just reach in and pull the clado out. It has to be the easiest algae to manually remove as well, IME anyway. I've never really seen it fragment much when yanked, seems to hold together like a little brillo pad, very strong.


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## Ryzilla

Bleach works on areas that are infested. The issue that you have will be where will it pop up next. In a large tank it is immposible to rid unless you tear the tank down and start over. I dont even like to buy plants anymore from anywhere. I am so tainted by clado that I refuse to get plants from anyone unless they can claim they have no clado. Then I put the plants in a holding tank for a LONG time. I had moss sitting in a container in the sun for 3 months while slowly killing the Clado in it until it never came back. 

I had to bleach the the moss in several stages. First I bleached it for 75 seconds. That killed the mother clump of clado but little particles survived. Then a month later the clado grew back, but it was much less. Then I took the moss and divided it into many pieces and bleached each piece seperatly for 105 seconds. I then kept it in the container in the sun for over a month and no clado came back. I then bleached it again for 90 seconds in portions to put the nail in the coffin. I have tied it to rocks and put it in a quarantie tank with medium lighting. It will reside there for a few months until it grows out and no clado turnes up. 

I have a 5g that is clado free and I will never introduce any other plant in it.

Clado IME can withstand bleach dips upto 90 seconds. It is importante that when you dip your moss the moss is spread out to increase the contact area.

Your ot


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## plantbrain

Which is why a more logical approach to algae is the wisest solution, not 101 methods to kill what is there, only to have it grow back shortly thereafter.

I've long argued against killing methods and focused more on what induces new germination/growth, what helps plants grow better. 

Still, if the algae killing methods also help the plants, say adding Excel(not Od-ing Excel), then it's okay to combine those with the environmental improvements.

I do not expect a single large hammer to do the trick for any resolution.
Rather, go after why the algae is still growing andf infesting, then go after it with other methods after that issue is addressed.
Problem is, many think they have fine CO2/nutrients, when they do not.

Algae are a better test kit than just about anything else, there's no assumptions, calibrations, ppm's for their presence.

And and little experience and observation is pretty telling.
I've "cured" more than one species and particularly this one mighty easily time and time again using CO2 and normal care. 

I've added really good cleaning, pruning and picking to the agenda as well, then it's not an issue.

Still, I would not mind something like the percarb where I can toss it in and kill the algae, much less labor. But I am not sure it will not burn some plants and also harm the fish much/not at all.

I think bleach is a very poor method for algae control.
Might as well trim off the leaf IME. After bleaching, the leaf is 1/2 dead and does not contribute to the overall health of the plant. You also typically have to remove and uproot the plant. If you are going to uproot and remove the plant, might as well trim off the algae, improve conditions and wait for new growth.

If spot treatment is the deal, do a large water change to exposure the plant, rock, wood etc to air, then spray on the Excel at 10/1 dilution, wait a bit, then refill. Or add the dry fert salts on the infected areas.
Careful not to burn the plants. You can also make concentrated sprays for larger areas using the fert salts, which are less harmful that say Excel/cheaper etc.

You can use at full strength for rocks, wood or equipment and allow to sit as long as you want the tank at low water during the change.

I've dealt with algae like everyone else. If you garden well, take care of the plants, use moderate to low light, watch that CO2, take care of things somewhat consistently, the algae is rarely an issue and if so, not for long.
I know it's insanely frustrating and folks get desperate, but the same old things that got me through years ago still apply to myself and anyone else.
Most reasons for algae are fairly straight forward, do not be too confident about the CO2 and use less light.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## zzyzx85

So if one keeps up with their ferts and CO2 and improves the water movement in the affected area(s) of the tank, then Clado can be kept at bay?


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## eyebeatbadgers

Yup.


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## herns

a 7 year old thread worth reading on clado war.


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