Cladophora sp eating shrimp or fish

[mtwalkert28]

Does anyone know of a shrimp avaliable in AU that will eat this stuff im loosing a never ending battle with the algae

or even fish that eat it

[Chazzam]

Its one of the toughest to get rid of, My CRS and RCS as well as Oto's wouldnt touch it. I eventually got rid of it (Mostly) by Spot treatments with Excel (Some people say this doesnt work but it worked for me), Also i did a huge rescape of my tank, and got rid of all of the infected plants, as well as boiling the driftwood and rocks in the aquarium. I have a little bit left, but not enough to make me worry yet.
Alternitavely you can bath your plants in Excel, which shouldnt be your first option, but i have heard of it being done, not by me personally though. To do this i think the ratio is 1:1 of Excel and tap water....
Do you have shrimp in your tank already? If you dont, then a big dose of Algae Clear should kill it off....
Hope this helps!

[mtwalkert28]

Hey ya

thanks for the reply. ive considered the bleach treatment, but that would mean a complete trear down of the plants for a quick dip. tried a test on a offcut on the weekend with unwelcome results.. too long in the dip..
lol spent a couple hrs pulling bits of the fluff algae out, little bits everywhere .. arch. the HM seems infested. spot treatment may be an option.

no dont have any shrimp in there, just a colony of guppies, a couple gouramis and a pictus catfish.. oh and the kuhi loches

Tony

[Weq]

The thing about clado, is that i found once u have it, you will also get other kinds of filimantous algea too.. TBH, excell didnt do anything but slow the growth rate me. But i think im overcoming the battle now with an army of glass shrimp who were brought up in an environment where this algea thrives. They seem to have a taste for it, and are ridding my tank of the infestation.. http://www.aquariumlife.com.au/showt...-native-shrimp

The only really way to battle this stuff is to give everything else in your tank a good chance at life. This algea will attack plants that ares struggling for whatever reason it may be. For me, it was a combination of a plant needing more room to grow and excess light.. Because i couldnt change the light intensity, i was kind of stuck with it... until i found my shrimpy companions *fingers crossed*. To give you an idea of how bad my festation was, at first i would pull out a golf-ball sized clump every month. THen it was every week. It got to the point of about a golf ball every few days at its worst as the infection spread to the rest of the tank. It would grow in cycles and then kind of stay dormant for a bit, then start again...

[mtwalkert28]

yea i know what you mean .. ive taken who knows how many golf ball clumps out over the last month im sick of it.. finally down to a few
strands, i would live with it if it wasnt for the fact i know it will spread faster than duck weed lol

might give the glass shrimp a go. would much rather a natural defence than throwing chemicals at it. it seems the amano shrimp are $$ each if you can even
find them for sale that is. they are ment to be great at combating the algae plague

Tony

[DiscusEden]

Does anyone know if Darwin Algae Shrimp are any good with this stuff?

[Plantnut]

This thread contains some very good info on how to get rid of clado. --> http://www.aquariumlife.com.au/showt...ght=cladophora

[BettaBetta]

Right, I've bounced from link to link & back again & my girlie brain is like scrambled egg now - I'm not one for caluclating measured dosages, and all this localised squirting bits & pieces here & there, nevermind the massive amounts you miss, gaarrgh. How's about if I take out algae affected plants & soak them in a solution of strong Hyd Perox (like a whole 3% bottle in an 8 litre bucket) or solution of White King bleach, rinse off well with dechlor'd water & then just replant?

At least that's not going to affect any livestock or damage any filter bacteria!!! If the plants melt & die, so be it, some of them are sooooo hideously encrusted it would be a blessing to put them out of their misery but, on the other hand, if they can be cleaned up, so much the better.

The tank that is algae infested (long black horrid tough threads that are attached to leaves only) doesn't belong to me so I can't be there to maintain it & the owner is as good as tits on a bull when it comes to doing anything regular other than water changes.

[Weq]

Ive read all the threads on clado/filimentous/string/hair on this forum, and the only solution people have come up with is the peroxide. My tank isnt easy to do that kind of maintence on, pulling it apart to treat the plants will mean my filter breaks down and everything dies.. LOL.... I dont think you can get amano shrimp in aus, they are known to have an insatiable appetite for this algea! Some peoople say DAS control their outbreaks, but others report no wins. I was going to try a an army of DAS after i tried these glass shrimp... But from the results so far, the shrimp are doing the job and everyday i see less and less clado/string algea which is a welcome relief since i introduced it to this tank about 6 months back now! I would say i could send you some shrimp up their, but i know from experience these guys are hard to transport and i dont think they will make the post at this point in time...

It should be worth noting that i have about 50~ glassies in this 24l tank. Its almost overflowing with them. I think the larger the number of glassies, the better your chances that some will have a tasste for the algea...

Was the clado caught? Or did it develop over time?

[mtwalkert28]

hi ya

yea i was looking at your location and thinking they wouldnt survive the trip as well lol
it s a shame ya cant get the amano's here. ive heard veried reports about the DAS as well. i think glassies will be the way
to go .. do you have any fish in with your GS ? are they fairly tough critters?

really dont like the idea of bleaching the tank, its such a "touch and go" method from the test i did on a off cut of
plant infested with the algae .. works great on the algea but too long and the plant starts to melt also

the clado i think came in on a plant i got from someone, nothing from the wild has gone into the tank.

ive also heard upping the co2 helps a lot as well but having probs with blocked co2 defusers lol .. plants seem to be doing well tho lol

Tony

[Weq]

The shrimp are housed with ember tetra who are wierded out by the shrimp, not hunted though. I source the shrimp from newcastle, and i live in canberra. So its a ~5hour car trip. The first time i did it over summer, i lost all but a few shrimp due to heat. Now i pack them with a an ice block to keep the temps a little more stable and didnt have any loss the first time i used this method. But just last weekend i had a few casulties using this method so its not infalable. I know they will survive low temps, and pretty high temps. It would seem they have a tendancy to die if tempreture fluctuates too high, too quickly. Ive had them die in a bucket that was exposed to the sun when i was collecting them, in less then 20minutes! That was the middle of summer. They arnt bullet-proof critters, thats for sure. In summer they like the leaf litter and colder water at the bottom of the dam. In the winter, they come to the surface and hand around on vegitation and are active most of the day/night.

yeh i personally dont like the idea of chemicals like peroxide in my tanks. Gives me the shivers.

After a while, you learn to love the clado. be at peace with it and appreciate its beauty. LOL.... NOT!

[mtwalkert28]

After a while, you learn to love the clado. be at peace with it and appreciate its beauty. LOL.... NOT!

LMAO .. i dont think i would ever learn to love the stuff, its so annoying, get home from work and see
strands of hair floating off a plant up to the surface.

seems embers are rather timid ones.. ive a skool of glowlights, half albino half common? and they hide away
from the guppues and stay mostly low in the tank the guppies seem to be too full of energy for them lol

i think i will be sorting out a chiller this yr for the main tank at least help avoid the extreme temps

[Weq]

Yes, the girlfriend joked that when i put in the swarm of shrimp in the tank with them the tetra were going to have a heart attack. They really are wussy, always hiding behind the plants! They get so scared that if i turn the light on in the night, they dart into the grass/moss or wherever they can find and almost look like they are holding their breath. They look lifeless until you poke them or move away. Unfortantly the scaredicatness has seen a few get tangled in a clump of fissden/clado which has lead to there demise...