Guppy grass run amok

[chris_todd]

This is what happens when you get the tiniest little piece of guppy grass as a hitchhiker on other plants. Eventually it takes over completely (sorry for the lousy iPhone pics, but you get the idea):

[fredyk]

yes I prefer hornwort. It runs amok, absorbes excess nutrients, and easily removed. And I hate guppy grass.

[chris_todd]

I removed enough today to fill a 5 gallon bucket with the stuff. It's just evil, I think I hate it worse than duckweed. You go to yank it out, and the stems are so brittle that they break off, and you're never able to completely remove it from the tank. It's like a freaking virus or something, once it's in your tank, it's in there forever. I'll have to completely break down the 90g to get it all out. Ugh.

On the other hand, it's great stuff for breeding tanks; provides lots of cover for fry and eggs and absorbs nutrients and is hard to kill. I just need to learn to be more careful about cleaning plants that I move from one tank to another, because like duckweed (where it only takes one freaking frond to destroy a display tank), you can have an overrun tank from only one node of this stuff.

[ddavila06]

i used to keep it about a year ago, then i got rid of it and every now and then i find some around starting again...is kind of nice though

[krisw]

Yeah, it's amazing how folks purposely add this to their tanks! I haven't had much problem with this one, but I've gone through lots of trials with duckweed, U. gibba, and a macroalgae that breaks off just like your guppy grass. I think duckweed is what I loath the most though, still....

[DelawareJim]

Yeah, it's amazing how folks purposely add this to their tanks! I haven't had much problem with this one, but I've gone through lots of trials with duckweed, U. gibba, and a macroalgae that breaks off just like your guppy grass. I think duckweed is what I loath the most though, still....

Nah. Java moss is by far the worst. Clings to everything.

Cheers.
Jim

[Aaron]

I haven't had any yet (knock on wood), but I do believe a Wolfia species would be the worst pest of all. Imagine a duckweed like plant that falls through nets!

[Cristy Keister]

I think I finally got rid of the wolfia in one tank (crossing my fingers). I had to empty the tank of all plants and decor because wolfia sticks to everything floating or submerged, rinse everything carefully and use a brine shrimp net for a few hours over a few days to get every tiny piece. Each plant is the size of a pin prick. I haven't sold any plants out of the infected tanks for a couple of years for fear of spreading this stuff to others. I still have to repeat the process in my ctenopoma tank.

I think Utricularia gibba is almost as bad. I've got a tank infected with gibba that I also have to clean.

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

Nuke the tank and start over.

[chris_todd]

Nuke the tank and start over.

Oh, I will, but probably not until I move the tank into the other half of the basement that is targeted at becoming the fish room. Until then, I'll need to continue yanking bucket fulls of the stuff about once a month.

Besides, I've wanted to re-scape that tank for a long time; I WAAAY over planted with swords when I first set it up, grossly understimating how huge those plants would get if given mineralized soil, high light, and CO2.