# Pretty sure I have clado...



## Skizhx (Oct 12, 2010)

So I noticed this algae on my driftwood months ago. Just a tiny little bit of it. Thought it was maybe a bit of BBA left over. Well after some time I noticed it on a bit of my windelov... Then a bit on my filter intake here and there... So finally I look up what the stuff is... Sounds to me like it's cladophora...

Small tufts of fillamentous dark green algae that feels sort of like filter floss... I'll have pics tomorrow, but so far caldo is the only algae I've found that fits that wool-like feel description.

And of course I used clippings from my main tank in the 10gal NPT I just set up and now I'm second-guessing the algae that's starting to grow on the driftwood in that tank, which I assumed was BBA...

So I don't know... I can't really afford a whole bunch of amano shrimp... Maybe I could get enough for the 10gal since that tank is newly set up.

Otherwise the clado in my main tank seems to be centralized around my windelov. Specifically the light-starved leaves that have been shaded out by newer growth, and a bit of the driftwood that the fern is attached to, as well as some of the substrate near the driftwood, and a little bit on my filter's intake prefilter.

Part of me wants to take everything out, dip it in bleach, and start both tanks over again just for the peace of mind before I end up with a real mess that leaves me with a bunch of fish I need to scramble to set up a holding tank for until I can tear the tanks apart (would this be ok to do with driftwood? Or would the wood absorb and hold the bleach? Would baking/boiling the wood be a better solution?). The other part of me figures I'll only have these tanks running for another year or so anyways before I have to move so it's probably not worth it.

I mean some people (from what I've read) managed to keep it at bay with healthy plant growth, right?

I guess this means that when I move I'm going to have to nuke my filter media as well, to prevent contamination in the new tank? 

Oh well... Live and learn... I guarantee that from now on I'm bleach-dipping every plant that goes into one of my tanks... Regardless of how much I trust the source.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Some people think that you have to get algae from some source - like bringing it in on plants and such. It's not true. When I was at the AGA conference last year Dr. Michael Kane from the University of FL who is big into tissue culture and such spoke about that. He said all around us at any given time are spores of algae. When conditions are right for them to grown they do. You can bleach everything and if conditions are right you will get algae again, even if you never bring another new plant into your tank. You might have too much light as well. Try cutting back on your photo period too.

You can cure clado with 
1. clean all detritus out of your tank, stuff on gravel
2. make sure filter is relatively clean.
3. 3 -5 day blackout, make sure CO2 is off at this time, if you have any.
4. peroxide the spots where you see any clado left. 3 ml/10 gals, turn off water flow for at least 10 minutes for peroxide to work.
5. turn back on filter, make sure light is on. You will see bubbling from peroxide. Light is the catalyst for peroxide.
6. after all bubbling stops do a 50% water change.
7. repeat daily peroxide treatments on all clado areas until it's dead.

You can repeat this cycle if you need to. Clado is hard to get rid of but this WILL kill it.


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## ObiQuiet (Oct 9, 2009)

TexGal, 

This is a great summary! (I have this same issue starting...) 

Can you clarify step 2? 

Also, I'm not clear on the relationship between the spot treatment and the 3ml/10gal... Does one spot treat with enough H2O2 to amount to 3ml/10gal, or does one squirt a bit at spots and then dose the rest?

Thanks!


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

The whole idea about steps one and two is to make sure that you have a CLEAN tank. If you clean your tank and have a huge bioload filthy filter you aren't going get anywhere.

The 3ml/10g means don't use any more peroxide per day at that level for the entire tank. You can repeat this spot treating on each following day - make sure you do a w/c after your H2O2 treatment.


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## vicky (Feb 18, 2010)

I think step two is supposed to read ...isn't in need... rather than is in need. Other than that, great description of effective procedure.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Thanks Vicky! You were right. I changed it.


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## ObiQuiet (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks for the answers!

I'm curious: is there a dose of H2O2 that is high enough to be considered a defense against this stuff, but low enough not to be harmful to other forms of life?

In other words, can adding hydrogen peroxide in the water column be used regularly along with water changes, filter cleaning, etc. to reduce the likelihood of algae forming?


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

ObiQuiet said:


> Thanks for the answers!
> 
> I'm curious: is there a dose of H2O2 that is high enough to be considered a defense against this stuff, but low enough not to be harmful to other forms of life?
> 
> In other words, can adding hydrogen peroxide in the water column be used regularly along with water changes, filter cleaning, etc. to reduce the likelihood of algae forming?


I don't think so. The reason H2O2 works to kill this is because it's a high oxidizer. It burns it. It's not like it adds some nutrient to the water to keep the tank healthy. If you use too much you can burn the actual plants including the algae. The idea is to spot dose it on the algae so that it's strong enough to kill the algae but not the plants. If you correct the problem, light to high, nutrient imbalance etc. then you don't have to worry about it coming back.


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## Skizhx (Oct 12, 2010)

This is actually contrary to most of what I've read here, and elsewhere, so I'm a little surprised and curious if this means I can actually deal with the problem..

Threads such as this:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/algae/70756-worst-algae-ever-not-bba.html



> It basically acts as a plant. It does not suffer too much from shortened light periods.


Another site I read regarding this algae http://www.aquatic-eden.com/2009/04/cladophora-algae.html states



> Unlike other algae, cladophora is more like a plant, so it thrives when your plants thrive. It also isn't spread by airborne spores, but direct transmission from tank to tank. Most often, it is introduced via a new plant or contaminated equipment.





> However, blackouts don't seem to work at all


Any comments or info contrary to this? Thanks for your help!


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

A blackout will not kill the Cladophora but it will weaken it. Often even it looks a little differen after a blackout.

So, do you prefer to deal with weakened Cladophora or with a strong one?

Once again - if you don't have a good and clean fitler + a lot of flow in your tank you are not going anywhere.

--Nikolay


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## Skizhx (Oct 12, 2010)

My flow is quite good, and I do regular maintenance on both my filters.

I have one question though...

I'm keeping valisneria spiralis in the tank. I understand that vals tend to be very sensitive to excel, but it also seems like excel can kill this algae. I was thinking of removing the vals from the tank in order to dose excel to help weaken the algae. I've overdosed (less than double dose) this tank before with excel with no noted effect on my fish or inverts. 

Would it perhaps be worth dosing the excel once during the blackout period so the excel stays in the water and does not get used up by the plants?

If necessary I could move my livestock to temporary housing tanks to spare them the experience of soaking in a large dose of excel for 3-5 days.

Also if anyone knows for certain about whether cladophora is in fact airborne or not? The information I'm finding all says that it isn't, but none of these sources seem to be written by any sort of researchers, etc. So if anyone knows for certain I would be interested to know.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Clado grows much like a plant. It isn't exactly like other algae that have a specific trigger to start growing, if plants can grow clado can grow. After questioning an algae professor about this species he verified that it comes from native habitats where there are no aquatic plants. Clado has evolved in an environment where it does not have to wait for specific triggers to trigger a burst of growth, it just grows all year round.

Anyway, Tex_Gal's advice is good. I personally manually remove as much of it as possible by hand then spot dose peroxide. It bubbles for a few minutes and then by the following day it has turned gray and disappears shortly after. Don't dose too much peroxide in one sitting though it will harm fish (especially eggs or baby fish), I've lost a few batches of cichlids like this before I knew they were in the tank. Peroxide breaks down quickly (over night) so you can just dose again the next day.


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## Skizhx (Oct 12, 2010)

That's relieving... I really wasn't looking forward to pulling up an entire midground and 1/3 background of very well established crypts.

The peroxide I have is Hydrogen Peroxide USP 3% solution 10 volume non-medical ingredients are sodium stanate as a stabilizer. 

I'm pretty sure I have horticultural grade hydrogen peroxide in my area. Would I be better off getting that? I know it's a much higher concentration.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Excel does not do much of anything for clado. I wouldnt bother dosing it for that. You don't need special peroxide. Just use the regular drug store grade. Dont overdose. If you dose more than 3ml/10gallons you can begin to kill your plants. After that your fish. If you need to dobit again then w/c and do it the next day. You won't win this war overnight. 

Yes. Manually remove what you can. I guess I just thought you would do this. I should have said that.


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## Skizhx (Oct 12, 2010)

> Just use the regular drug store grade. Dont overdose. If you dose more than 3ml/10gallons you can begin to kill your plants.


Over/under dosing was why I mentioned it. Didn't want to be using a dose that was intended for a different solution concentration than the one I was using. Thanks for clarifying


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## Skizhx (Oct 12, 2010)

So I've done the blackout and I've been spot treating and manually removing it. 

First I'm finding that one treatment of peroxide is not enough to kill the algae (I am turning the filters off so there is no water flow, and I do have the lights on when I'm doing the treatment).

It bubbles like crazy, but it takes 2-3 treatments to actually kill it.

Now I have a couple questions... There are several spots in this tank where I cannot see into... Either because hardscape which cannot be moved is in the way, or because the plants have grown in too dense.

I'm also finding tiny bits of it on the back glass which are very hard to see because they haven't yet grown into a clump, and because the glass is painted black so the colour doesn't show much.

Is it realistic to think I will ever get rid of this? Or am I basically trying to kill enough of it back so I can spot treat it in the future to keep it at bay? It seems nearly impossible to get rid of when the strands are so small that newer spreading growth can be easily missed.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

I'm having the same issue- I'm down to mere single threads on a few plants and these are hard to nail with spot treatments. Because I can only see my tank on weekends, I know I have to get all this today or I might as well start all over next weekend. But short of shocking the whole tank with something, I can't imagine getting everything, especially because some of it I can't really see.

I find that only where I can dose H2O2 into a root wad or onto a hardscape does it actually bubble. This makes it hard to know if it's doing anything and how long to leave it. Generally I've been giving it 20-30 minutes before a w/c. 

Bleach killed this stuff really well. And the H2O2 did when I removed the plants and driftwood from the tank and treated them in the sink w/o water. But I'm not finding much luck in spot treating with H2O2 into the aquarium, even with a dental syringe.

I'll confirm that Excel did nothing- I thought by hitting it with a black out, immediately followed by a thorough bleaching of everything in the tank (plants, equipment, rocks, driftwood etc.), several H2O2 treatments and finally and an Excel overdose, I'd for sure nuke it. Nope.

The sticky for using the bleach method on this site seems to be the only real cure- remove all the fish and inverts and fill the tank with bleach water. I did this on my nano, though, and let's just say I'll only be using this as an absolute last resort. One ends up having to re-cycle the tank in addition to finding a home for EVERYBODY somewhere else for a few days.


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## Skizhx (Oct 12, 2010)

Emily, I do not find this stuff shows significant growth over 1-2 days at all. It may spread to new areas at that rate, but most of what I've read suggests that it mainly stays around the same area. 

This is sort of what I've noticed in my tank. It started on a piece of driftwood. Grew on the fern attached to that driftwood, grew a bit on the substrate. And then grew on the filter prefilters, and a little on the glass around the prefilters. I haven't found any tufts of this elsewhere. Though that's no guarantee that they aren't there. Just saying.

Maybe do a blackout over the weekend if you're really worried about it?

Regarding using bleach...

I would just put the fish in a rubbermaid container or something, and I would run the filters on that. Depends how many/how large fish we're talking I guess though.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Thanks- Yeah, though once it's been broken up and tossed about the tank by the filter current, it can spread a bit onto new surfaces. This is what happened on my cyperus helferi. 

Anyway, I pulled out all the driftwood, bleached it and re-bleached another bunch of plants. This should cover all the areas it repopulated after last time (didn't bleach the driftwood last time).

I also pulled out each piece of large gravel it was adhered to. I have mostly sand but at some point I used cheapy large gravel to fill in the blanks, so to speak. The clado loves this stuff- and it's easy to remove. So I spent an hour with long forceps doing that.

Then I capped the old sand/gravel with some stuff I dug out of the back of the tank that was more or less unaffected. At the very least, it covers the cheapy gravel the clado liked. 

Lastly, I drained the tank most of the way (poor fish) and sprayed H2O2 on the glass. This was another weakness in my last attack I think- the broken filaments were dried onto the glass and reanimated when I refilled the tank. Not sure if the volume was enough to kill but I didn't want it to all drip into the remaining water and kill the fish/shrimp. So far, everyone survived... except the clado (*fingers crossed*).


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

as someone who had clado bad and was able to eradicate and keep it away for 6 months now, i can add with confidence the following observation; yes, you have to 20:1 bleach dip EVERYTHING and even discard a thin layer of top substrate that may host clado still, but you must stay vigilant after restoring everything to your tank, and make sure that your recovering plants can now out compete any remaining trace clado for macro ferts. this means every week patiently looking over every lit surface of your tank and manually removing any green clado you still find. I did this ritual for about a Month before I could not find any more new clado, and by then my plants had fully recovered and were able to enjoy all the macros without competition from clado or any other algae.


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## Skizhx (Oct 12, 2010)

That's not exactly encouraging... I was really hoping I could do this without having to move the crypts.

Starting to think of possible rescapes now... Lol.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

That's what I did! I re-scaped in such a way that it's easier now to keep treating the tank- and see everything the light hits. It looks better anyway. I took out ALL the rocks (try to hide now, Clado!!!) and it looks way less cluttered. Loaches seem happier too- now they have a garage of sorts to hide in behind the driftwood.

Anyway, thanks for the inspiration- constant vigilance, a bottle of H2O2, bleach and tweezers is my plan for a while. This stuff is highly analogous to fish tank cancer. Get it all or it just keeps coming.


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## hieu (May 23, 2011)

I would definitely use the peroxide treatment. That's the only thing that has ever worked for me. I didn't do the water changes as suggested since peroxide breaks down into water and oxygen, and having bright lighting would drive this breakdown.


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## NursePlaty (Mar 24, 2010)

Been fighting clado for over a year. Its impossible to get rid of. Any bits I see I manually remove or siphon that portion out including the gravel or plants it has adhered to. Any loose single filaments of clado that go loose during the removal... becomes a damn new clado colony... . Once it goes into your hairgrass, it becomes a nightmare.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

I beat it in my 2.5 gal. nano by dipping all the plants in bleach and/or peroxide, then filling the tank with a 10% bleach solution and leaving it for half an hour. Then I rinsed it about 5 times before refilling it. The crypts melted, the solitary remaining shrimp died and I probably restarted the nitrogen cycle.

But I don't have clado anymore. 

And my large pouch snail is still cruising around happily.

Still waiting to see what the 65 gal. looks like... hopefully I kicked it there too (did everything short of filling it with bleach water 4 times now.).

In short, NursePlaty- it can be beaten. It's just really really time consuming and I feel impossible w/o bleach and peroxide. Don't give up!


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## Ryo (Nov 1, 2010)

I fought clado for about 6 months... had a ton of nice plants that were in a well established and nice looking scape. Never made any progress. Couldn't take it anymore. I threw out all the plants. Gave the fish to my neighbor. Absolutely destroyed the tank. Bleach. Peroxide. You name it. Baked the substrate. Destroyed the filter/filter tubes. Then once everything was clean I let everything sit dry for 3 months. 

All of my local fish stores had tons of clado. So when I set the tank back up I ordered the plants online. The tank looks great. Plants are starting to fill in nicely. And now... what do I see? VERY tiny clumps of clado. EVERYWHERE. It's not fair. Almost want to cry. Money wasted. Time wasted. It's enough to make me want to quit after 7 years of aquascaping. Never even had the stuff before. I think I'm done. Not worth it.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

I'm so sorry- that sounds awful. 

I read some conflicting information on this forum (not sure where since it was linked in another conversation) but it said clado was a result of an imbalance between light and CO2 and was best killed by Excel- I laughed out loud. Maybe they're thinking of some other mild, less apocalyptic algae.

So far, I'm down to a few threads of it. But it seems to keep repopulating the same plants given long enough. I'm removing individual leaves now so as not to completely destroy the roots by pulling everything up over and over. Plus the bleaching is taking its toll on my poor blyxa.

I've had almost no luck with the H2O2. I have a 3% concentration that is fresh from CVS and unless the plant/wood is out of the tank with the stuff drenching it, I hardly see a reaction. 

Anyway, I'm thinking I've entered the 6 months of vigilance phase, hopefully to be concluded by the complete absence of clado.

You probably did this, Ryo, but did you bleach all your tools, nets, and gut the filter? I see that you took care of everything in the tank but I found that drying it didn't really kill it. Bits were probably hanging out in the creases of my tank at the high water mark, then reanimating whenever I topped off the tank. I sprayed H2O2 on all the glass and I think it took care of that.


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## Ryo (Nov 1, 2010)

This one? http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/algae/4860-hair-algae-tom-anyone-pic-2.html

As I said, my lfs has clado. And the owner is adamant that one can kill clado this way. He's had no luck. And as I said I've never encountered the stuff until now. Not for over 7 years. Only read about it. But it's creepy. Over the last year, every place that sells plants in my area is getting infested with clado. Both of my local fish stores, petsmart, petco. It's everywhere. I've been freshwater fishing with friends for years and now even the local ponds have it. It's forming a thick mat and suffocating all of the local plants. What's happening?

I'm an easy going guy. Never get angry. But this stuff made me snap lol. So trust me. I did everything. Bleached the nets, new siphon, scissors, all the tools. Took the filter apart and soaked it in a tub of bleach. Then put it back together and ran bleach through it. Made sure everything was clean. Then let it sit in the pitch blackness of my garage while I researched and brainstormed for 3 months about what scape I would like to try next. Not necessarily as another measure to kill it.

I thoroughly inspected the plants I bought online and didn't find anything. But that doesn't mean much. So it either came in with the new plants or there is nothing that can be done to get rid of it, short of moving to another state and starting over with new equipment. I think I'm gonna take a break from fish keeping for a while. This one hurt. And focus on my other longtime hobby, powerlifting. It's much more relaxing than this.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

No- that thread seemed way more helpful. The other was much more of a "how to" that sounded really incomplete.

I'm thinking that I have a combo of clado and thread algae. I might just be struggling with the thread algae now.

Again, so sorry it really wouldn't die for you. That guy's idea of microwaving the gravel was pretty funny- I could see it working. 

I am disturbed by your accounts of this algae being everywhere. I hope it becomes addressed more mainstream.


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