# Claudophora - aarrghh!!



## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Title says it all. About 6 weeks ago when I did a major prune, I noticed that I had a small ball of this stuff that had grown (in heavy shade) underneath several plants. I thought I had pulled all of it out but...

Now I see that I have little patches of this scattered throughout most of my foreground plants (Blyxa japonica, Elatine, and Hemianthus). I remember reading that this is the one algae that is not nutrient controlled. And it doesn't seem to need much light either since it grows underneath my Elatine.

My sae ignored it. I don't think the otto eats it either and I can't tell about my red cherries. 

Any advice or experience with this stuff will be greatly appreciated.

The only good is that it's not easily visible.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

I have a very similar situation going on in my 75g. It seems to be confined to the Eco Complete granules around the Blyxa, Elatine, Eriocaulons, etc. My Cherry Reds seem to be in it all of the time too. However, I think they may be picking at bits of food/detritus that is in the algae and not the algae itself. 

I think, and this is just a guess on my part, these areas may have lower water flow and may have a buildup of organic matter that contributes to the algae growth. They are usually the "mulmiest" areas of my tank. Just yesterday I pulled the large end off of my gravel vac and used the hose itself to remove the algae along with the substrate it was connected to. It worked very well and I am going to watch the tank closely this week and see if it returns. 

If it does start to come back, I am going to try increasing my CO2 even more and possibly increasing the flow around these areas. The fish aren't gasping yet so I guess I still need to add more CO2


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## KeIgO86 (Jun 23, 2005)

i have them too! and even though target specific flourish excel dosing with a syringe slays the occasionally growing bba mercilessly, the claudophora thing seems to be completely immune to flourish excel! I have no choice but to manually pick them out with my hands/tweezers. Well, at least we're lucky that the claudophora stuff is relatively easy to remove compared to other algae. Anyone knows if anything eats them?


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## Wö£fëñxXx1 (Feb 10, 2005)

Bacterial infection.
Maracyn I will kill it.....


Note: Not Maracyn II!!


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## JimM (Aug 26, 2005)

Wö£fëñxXx said:


> Bacterial infection.
> Maracyn I will kill it.....
> 
> Note: Not Maracyn II!!


are you talking about BGA (cyanobacteria) here or the cotton type thread/hair algae that I understand claudophora to be?

isn't this claudophora in my tank? http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?t=10316


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Update: I decided to try the excess Excel route here. I have increased the flow, and started dosing Excel at 2x concentrations. The water turned cloudy yesterday, but I expected that. So far, fish and shrimp seem to not be stressed. I plant to hold this routine for a couple of weeks and see what happens. I will post updates as it goes.


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## crshadow (Sep 25, 2004)

A Flourish overdose worked for me to put a major dent in a cladophora problem I had. It slowed it down to the point that manual removal was no longer futile. It didn't kill it all though...[smilie=t: 

-Jeremiah


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

Good thorough cleaning and careful picking and preening.
Good maintenance and attack it if you see any from then on for a few weeks.
Amano shrimp.

This is the best way I've found.
Blackout will beat up on it some, excel did nothing if the cases I've tried it on.
Excel may work with a mild infestation.

This species will grow if you neglect and do not dose for a few days, if you keep up on dosing, it seldom causes an issue.

Poor CO2 is some of it, but mainly traces/NPK dosing.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Bert H said:


> Update: I decided to try the excess Excel route here. I have increased the flow, and started dosing Excel at 2x concentrations. The water turned cloudy yesterday, but I expected that. So far, fish and shrimp seem to not be stressed. I plant to hold this routine for a couple of weeks and see what happens. I will post updates as it goes.


I remember reading that it destroyed a nice stand of Tom's Lag and it did the same to my Lag as well as the P. helferi and Lobelia cardinalis 'dwarf'. It may have affected my P. stellata both regular and broad leaf also but I'm not sure on the latter. Tonina species may also be affected by Excel "overdosing"

My dosing was 30ml daily on a 75g tank for about a week. A lesser dose than this may not cause melting of the above plants. Just wanted to post a friendly warning...


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Update. Water change yesterday marks the one week time of the Excel treatment at 2X the suggested concentration. It is definitely having an effect on the clado! A ball of it on Hottonia turned whitish, then sort of withered away. The stuff underneath the Elatine appears to be a lighter color as well. I've got my fingers crossed!  No ill effects on fish or cherries that I can tell.

I have amanos on order from the lfs, they don't normally stock them but will get them if you want them. And, as an aside, when I did the water change I always wipe down the glass, and this time it was basically clean. Usually it has some green dust on it. I'll post another update next week.


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## Skyfish (Jun 8, 2004)

Bert any update? Did you manage to kill the Cladophora?? I have it starting and am thinking either Excel OD or *erythromycin.* Need to know if Excel worked for you?

Thanks.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Sky,

It is near the end of the third week, I still have a little bit left of it, but it has knocked it down quite a bit. I have amanos on order at the lfs, and I am hoping it will finish off what is left. Folks that have used this have used up to 3 times recommended concentration, I have been using twice the amount. I think it is definitely worth trying. Good luck to you!

BTW, erythromycin won't have any effect on clado.


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## Skyfish (Jun 8, 2004)

Thanks Bert!

I did a 50% WC yesterday and dosed 70ml in my 80G tank, I hope it works. I am planning 15ml every other day. Do you dose everyday or every other?


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Bert, 

Are you talking about the stuff that clings to driftwood or the unattached 'haystack' stuff? I think they're both Cladophora (I may be wrong). 

Flag fish will devour the latter. 

I have a suspicion that it likes lower light and flow. Maybe macros that are a bit too high. It really isn't as bad as it looks.


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## Raithan Ellis (Nov 13, 2005)

Ameca splendens will remove that stuff in a heartbeat. I've had them clean up similar stuff from a 75g in less than 2 weeks with a colony of 3.


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