what is this in my mosses...

[Aqua Pura]

Hello everybody …I have a question. Τhe last few weeks, i found something (you can see the pictures) in my moss tank, it is tangled all over the mosses (java moss) in a large amount with height about 6+ cm. As you can see it is not a hair algae .The tank is completely clear from algae. So as I guess, it is a kind of "sporophyte" see the calyptra and the seta …any opinion? How i can remove it, any idea ?





Sorry for the quality of the pictures...







Thank you,
Tony

[madnugget]

i also was wondering what are those. i have that in my tank some time ago.. seems like weeds to me and the sacs looks like the seeds...

[guqin]

Probably Utricularia gibba, the humped or floating bladderwort. An aquatic carnivorous plant.

[Ebi]

Do they look like this?


Attachment 17205
Close-up of the trapping devices on Utricularia graminifolia that are used to catch crustaceans and ciliates. The animals contain nitrogen and phosphorous that can be used by the plant after the tissue has been dissolved by enzymes in the tiny traps. Photo by Oliver Knott.

You can read more at this link: http://www.tropica.com/article.asp?type=*****&id=731

[Aqua Pura]

So, I guess wrong. I was thought, that I have seen sporophytes only in emersed form and I was wondering how can this happen….Thanks madnugget, guqin and Ebi, it looks like a lot .How I can remove it. This plant is a little bit “annoying “. Any idea? I use tweezers everyday, in order to remove it from the mosses but it doesn’t work…I have never put this plant in my tank…and I have never seen it before….

[blue33]

That is Bladderworts: Utricularia spp. This damn weeds can be out of control. They can infest the whole tank easily. It can be worst than algae. There's nothing you can do much except remove the whole lot and choose the healthy plant and plant back.

Here's a link discussed before

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ht=Utricularia

[Aqua Pura]

Τhank you for the info Blue33. It’s unbelievable I don’t have algae problems in a whole moss tank and i have with this…. It’s very difficult to remove it with hands and tweezers or to put out the moss and clean it, the mosses are already tied in driftwoods … maybe, i have to be vegetarian and eat it …. seriously now, what I have to do….any idea…? Something will affect this plant....

[PKB]

I manually remove them weekly, these things grow very very fast, in fact faster than any plant in your tank and it will take over the whole tank if u leave them alone.

My friend pulled out his entire foreground Japan hair grass because these weeps creeps under the hair grass and taken over the whole foreground.

Take a look at the tank at the entrance of Y618 if u are there, it have already been destroyed by these "weeds".

[blue33]

Those small "sags" is like a transporter.

[felix_fx2]

i hate them, have a small population of them also

[kokon2208]

You can easely kill it by using glutaraldehyde

[felix_fx2]

Guys refer to this other thread.
Contains enough infomation.

[blue33]

I've tried that, it still survive, even few times the dosage.

[kokon2208]

Should use 20-30 ml per 100l every day combining with blackout. It works.

[blue33]

i guess the plant will also die at the same time.

[Aqua Pura]

Thank you all, for your interest. I was thought, that in case of using glutaraldehyde in a planted tank.. you ll loose all the plants…? Today, I prune a big quantity of moss…(a big amount of utricularia gibbi was removed with it) after that ...I continue removing this annoying plant in small bunches…with a twizzer … I think that this job will never end …

[kokon2208]

you ll loose all the plants…?

No, you will kill only all kinds of liverworts (riccia ect). The other mosses will only benefit of glutaraldehyde.