How to remove the bane of my aquarium - Utricularia!!!!!

[Heavyd]

Okay so I've been fighting to remove this weed from my tanks for a very long time. I don't know how I got it, but now I can't get rid of it. I looked it up and I think it's called Utricularia gibba, and whilst it's therapeutic to spend hours carefully extricating it from my mosses, I'm not winning with it.

Now I'm assuming I'm not the only one to experience this highly irritating weed in their shrimp tanks. So are there any solutions barring physically removing it or throwing out all the mosses in my tank? Has anyone trialled a peroxide dip to kill it?

Here are some photo's for idenfication purposes:

[CNgo2006]

I don't know how I got it' date=' but now I can't get rid of it.[/quote']

really should have used protection Bro!

[Heavyd]

It's too late for prevention Chi. I am infected and need some help......

[Robert]

Looks like a royal PITA. Good luck, youll definitely need it.

[Squiggle]

Oh no dude! That stuff looks evil, hope you have success getting rid of it :encouragement:

[BlueBolts]

I used to have em, and thought they wee great, until they overtook the tank ! Like duckweed, persistence will eventually pay off !

[KiwiBigD]

In my book theres only the one way to get rid of it, and it sucks! That's pretty much dump whatever the plant is growing in I'm afraid. I've had it myself

in the past so removed all of the mosses and plants from the tank, spent probably 2 days in all working through each and every bit, only when I had a

plant I was 100% sure was no longer infected did I put that into another tank to grow out for a month to ensure still Utric-free. After that isolation the

plants went back into the main tank. I still had missed two pieces that must have somehow wrapped around a stem, after the grow out period I could see

the utric coming away on those and just decided I had enough of that plant that weren't infected to simply bin them. Harsh but I hate Utrics in my shrimp

tanks, and I grow Carnivorous Plants, been growing for almost 40 years now but that one is nasty! Evil little B****D!

[Baccus]

I have been waging war on this plant too, it is interesting in that its carnivorous and when allowed to grow above water even has quite a nice flower......but MAN this stuff is doing my head in. Basically I have been doing weekly (sometimes daily) attacks on the stuff to remove it from my tanks. I have learnt that it likes to grip to itself so I keep a shallow dish of water beside me to put the bits I have removed from the tank in. This stops the rotten stuff sticking to my fingers and going back in the tank and makes a nice big jumbled clump that even the smallest piece will cling to. The only down side of removing this curse is one of my Siamese fighters actually likes bedding down in the tangle, so by removing it I am effectively removing his favourite bed.

[KiwiBigD]

Its pure evil that one. Does have a nice flower but its those small pieces 5 - 10mm long which you don't see that just come away so quickly its annoying

hence my destruction of many plants that have ended up in the compost bin all because of that flamin utric!

[JohnH]

Yikes, I had a small strand of this on one of my mosses. In the bin now.

[Heavyd]

Thanks for all of the condolences.

I have tried diligently removing this weed manually to no avail. It always reappears. Bearing in mind that it's in a large 200 litre tank with loads of mosses. Maybe I will have to trial a peroxide dip to see if the Utricularia dies before the mosses. Anyone able to suggest a suitable concentration to trial?

[Heavyd]

I thought I would bump this up and ask again.

I'm ready to take this war on Utricularia to the next level.

Does anyone know which of the following mosses and liverworts can withstand a peroxide dip and/or having it syringed into the aquarium?? And at what concentrations? 3% or 6%?

Weeping moss

Fissidens

Mini pellia

Peacock moss

Thanks for any help you can offer.

[gravychic]

Eeeep, thats a lot of utric! I have some in my planted tank (it hitched a ride on some plants I added) and it pops up every couple weeks wrapped up in other plants and I just manually remove what I can see and repeat the process when it pops up again, it sure grows fast and is a little annoying but damn I'm really glad now I have been removing it constantly (just didn't like the look of it) otherwise it would of probably taken over the tank!

I'm no expert on the peroxide dip but I have read in the past the fissidens doesn't stand up well to dips, I don't really remember if it was with bleach solution or peroxide, but maybe trial a small piece of each plant and the utric and see how it holds up?

Good luck mate hope you find a way to get ride of it all!

[jrc693]

ahhh i hate that stuff! seriously doomed dont think i can get rid of it in some of my plants...

[Heavyd]

Yes I think trial and error will be the way to go. Almost couldn't be bothered attacking that tank.

[2OFUS]

How is the war going ??

[Heavyd]

I've attacked the tank twice now with tweezers, but I can never get it all.

[2OFUS]

Persistance

i have found this in 1 of our tanks

im getting as much out as quick as possible

i also get this other s hit that is really thin and almost resembles ambulia

It's light green and almost transparent

do you know what it is ?

[Heavyd]

The tank is too big, with too much moss to get it all.

You got any pictures of the other stuff?

[2OFUS]

Nah ill get some next time I find some though

[Foxpuppet]

i had it in my planted tank and had to do a shock and awe method... i took cuttings and carefully washed it all and then chucked the infected plants.... Never again!!!

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sorry... i'm unleashing my inner squiggle ;)

[KiwiBigD]

i had it in my planted tank and had to do a shock and awe method... i took cuttings and carefully washed it all and then chucked the infected plants.... Never again!!!

sorry... i'm unleashing my inner squiggle ;)

LOL Got to agree, the only way I got rid of it eventually was full tank breakdown, took some cuttings and dumped the rest after working through it

to ensure nothing left. Found a single piece about a cm long a week later, removed and all okay. But a really annoying plant to say the least

[mr_c265]

Fissidens doesn't like Peroxide. Nothing does really... Ultricularia is a plant as well, not an algae, so if a moss can survive a peroxide dip with its thin sensitive leaves, Ultricularia can too, especially considering its stem's are a lot thicker than the mosses branches.

[mr_c265]

Persistance

i have found this in 1 of our tanks

im getting as much out as quick as possible

i also get this other s hit that is really thin and almost resembles ambulia

It's light green and almost transparent

do you know what it is ?

Sounds like Nitella Flexilis?

[2OFUS]

Just googled it

thats the one

is it nasty ?