# Is this algae?



## dpapas665 (Nov 16, 2004)

I've got this stuff growing in hair-like threads through my moss and riccia, but I haven't identified what it is. Any ideas? 3 pics :

http://www.freesector.net/algae/default.htm

Thanks all,

-D.


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

Not an algae but it can be an annoying plant. It is Utricularia, probably U. gibba- a rootless floating bladderwort. Most of these species are carniverous meaning that they trap small live foods, like Baby Brine Shrimp, jsut like Venus Fly Traps do. Some people have likend it to thread algae in the annoyance and difficult to remove scale. It is named after the word utricle, which describes the small round bladders the plant uses to float around. HTH and welcome to APC. You should slide on over to the Intro and Greetings forum and introduce yourself!


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## shanman (Apr 2, 2005)

*Algea?*

This plant is not an algea but from what I recall some type of bladderwort. It is a hard plant to get rid of even removing it by hand can be quite difficult because of how fragile the stems are (breaks up easily). But with a little time you should be able to keep it under control.


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## dpapas665 (Nov 16, 2004)

Yes, actually, that descibes it very well. It does fragment very easily. Must have caught a ride on some plants I traded somewhere along the line. I've been picking at it for a while now, and it seems to be slowly decreasing, but it is tenacious. It does tend to keep my riccia mat pretty well woven, anyhow! Really, it's just the moss where it looks bad due to the color contrast.

Don;t know where it's getting it's meat from; there must be some micro-goodies in there for it to trap though, it's been clinging on to life for several months now.

Thanks for the insight,
-D.


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