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Several years ago we bought some wild-caught Apistogramma from our fish club auction. After a few months, this started growing all over glass and hardscape.

We redid that tank, cleaned it out, and it’s not reappeared nearly as bad. But now it’s appeared in another tank. Is this some rare form of algae? I’m stumped…

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On 5/13/2022 at 10:18 AM, Tihshho said:

@Fish Folk how fast does it grow?

I am not sure. It has crept up on me in this bottom rack aquarium. It’s a cold / cool water tank - 68°-75° F - room temperature. Maybe it doubles in size… every 3-4 months? Just “guesstimating.”

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We got 4x Apistogramma bitaeniata from our club’s trip to Peru. One pair spawned. Here’s my son excited about that…

But we started seeing this growth emerge over time. That tank was ca. 82°-F.

I moved the Apistos out to this lower tank awhile. Here’s an old male all grumpy…

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I’m guessing he gut-loaded a bit on this, and moved it through his digestive track.

But now that I’m thinking about it… we bred & raised some Killi fry in the original tank, and eggs we hatched in that process were moved to a jug that got a large growth of it. Let me go look for that jug… I think it’s all dried off somewhere… hang on…

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On 5/14/2022 at 7:24 PM, Seattle_Aquarist said:

Are we sure this is not bladderwort?  I only had it show up once in a tank but that is how I remember it looking.

That's a good question. If it is, I have not known what to call it. I'll observe that the bladderwort photos I see most online have a greenish tinge to them. This stuff is very light / white / gray -- no green at all.

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Bladderworts generally have a little pouch (i.e. the bladder) that can be seen. If this is a variety of bladderwort, this is news to me. The fact it looks like a strand with equally spaced hydra heads makes me think it's something else. I've never experienced this stuff before and if it showed up before I saw this thread it would freak me out.

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You will find this growing on docks around the Pacific Northwest pretty commonly. I was actually surprised to see it growing in freshwater (I have read now that there are freshwater varieties). I would include my photos from the lab but they are crude as I was taking photos on an old iPhone through the lens of a Stereo microscope.

 

Obelia_dichotoma5sDLC2006.jpg

reference photo of Obelia dichotoma (inverts.wallawalla.edu)

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