Biotope Biologist Posted June 26, 2022 Share Posted June 26, 2022 I have this little tuft of green algae I’ve never seen before. Quite beautiful and feather like. What is it? 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted June 26, 2022 Share Posted June 26, 2022 Green hair algea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted June 28, 2022 Share Posted June 28, 2022 Whatever it is, it’s adorable. Almost Fissidens moss-like in appearance. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatyourpeas Posted June 28, 2022 Share Posted June 28, 2022 Agree on the adorable. I would love to have some of it! 😍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted June 28, 2022 Share Posted June 28, 2022 Possibly Caulera sertularioides (had to look that spelling up 🤣). Green feather algae. It usually stays shorter and grows horizontally looking like a fern. I’ve only been lucky enough to run across it once a few years ago. I could not get it to thrive ☹️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted June 28, 2022 Share Posted June 28, 2022 On 6/28/2022 at 10:57 AM, Guppysnail said: Possibly Caulera sertularioides (had to look that spelling up 🤣). Green feather algae. It usually stays shorter and grows horizontally looking like a fern. I’ve only been lucky enough to run across it once a few years ago. I could not get it to thrive ☹️ Caulerpa sertularioides is a marine macroalgae that spreads up to 6.5’ across but each frond usually only gets a couple inches tall. I like that stuff but it’s not this stuff. I wish I had a better idea, but it’s not a Caulerpa. Some Caulerpas can adapt to brackish but won’t grow in fresh as far as I know. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted June 28, 2022 Author Share Posted June 28, 2022 (edited) On 6/28/2022 at 8:57 AM, Guppysnail said: Possibly Caulera sertularioides (had to look that spelling up 🤣). Green feather algae. I’m positively stumped! All the algae on the mighty googles that looks close is marine. I just realized. Either way if this stuff coats my rocks I will be a happy clam there is a whole lot of thread algae in the tank as well Edited June 28, 2022 by Biotope Biologist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted June 28, 2022 Share Posted June 28, 2022 Is this in a salt or brackish tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted June 28, 2022 Author Share Posted June 28, 2022 On 6/28/2022 at 9:10 AM, Odd Duck said: Is this in a salt or brackish tank? Freshwater. It’s in my alpine creek tank no heater water stays at around 75-78 degrees. Here the pH is consistently around 7.0 with low calcium. here is another pic of it this morning. Really doesn’t grow fast. That tuft is about 5-7mm tall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted June 28, 2022 Share Posted June 28, 2022 What I had like that was just called green feather algae. I apparently looked up the wrong thing for the green science name. I’ll keep looking. 🤣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted June 28, 2022 Share Posted June 28, 2022 On 6/28/2022 at 11:09 AM, Biotope Biologist said: I’m positively stumped! All the algae on the mighty googles that looks close is marine. I just realized. Either way if this stuff coats my rocks I will be a happy clam there is a whole lot of thread algae in the tank as well We must have cross posted there. It is very pretty. If it stays fairly short, what a great look that would be to have it cover some rocks! I didn’t have any luck on ID either. Ran across the Bryopsis group, which looked VERY promising for a match until I realized they’re also only marine to brackish. I’m stumped. Keep searching. Inquiring minds want to know. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted June 28, 2022 Share Posted June 28, 2022 On 6/28/2022 at 12:08 PM, Odd Duck said: Caulerpa sertularioides is a marine macroalgae that spreads up to 6.5’ across but each frond usually only gets a couple inches tall. I like that stuff but it’s not this stuff. I wish I had a better idea, but it’s not a Caulerpa. Some Caulerpas can adapt to brackish but won’t grow in fresh as far as I know. So much for google helping me with science names. 🤣 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted June 28, 2022 Share Posted June 28, 2022 On 6/28/2022 at 11:32 AM, Guppysnail said: What I had like that was just called green feather algae. I apparently looked up the wrong thing for the green science name. I’ll keep looking. 🤣 I’m stumped, too. On 6/28/2022 at 11:36 AM, Guppysnail said: So much for google helping me with science names. 🤣 Yep. Google is both a blessing and a curse. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatyourpeas Posted June 29, 2022 Share Posted June 29, 2022 Could it be a moss? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted June 29, 2022 Share Posted June 29, 2022 On 6/29/2022 at 6:22 AM, eatyourpeas said: Could it be a moss? It does sort of look like moss. @Biotope Biologist can you side light it and take another pic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 On 6/29/2022 at 9:03 AM, Patrick_G said: It does sort of look like moss. @Biotope Biologist can you side light it and take another pic? Yes please, because inquiring minds do want to know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon p Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 I think it’s algae. Other than Curiosity does it matter. I personally think that it will be hard to ID. Here’s why, I have moss in most of my tanks including 2 tanks with moss covering the whole of the substrate and one in which there is no substrate just UGF covered in moss. I have one tank that is all the same moss taken from the yard and in different parts of the tank it looks different to the point you would swear it is different. If it’s algae it doesn’t have to be bad. I think it only becomes bad if it causes a problem or you don’t like it. I have videos I posted of discus just eating algae all day. It would be cool to know. I’ll take some pics when I get home to see if I can match. I have what I think is Beautiful algae. here are a few pics of moss and algae from my tanks. I tried to get ok pics but I could not zoom as much as I wanted. Sorry about the circle they where from a post I’m had a few months ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 I think likely the only real value in knowing if it’s moss or algae would be having an idea if it would hold up to seltzer water treatment. 😉 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 On 7/1/2022 at 2:16 AM, Odd Duck said: I think likely the only real value in knowing if it’s moss or algae would be having an idea if it would hold up to seltzer water treatment. 😉 YES!!!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted July 2, 2022 Author Share Posted July 2, 2022 Here is another pic of it. I was away last week Back lighting may help? It hasn’t grown much if at all 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 I’m leaning towards moss. I have several little bits of regular Java moss that look similar. Just a guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 On 6/28/2022 at 9:23 AM, Biotope Biologist said: here is another pic of it this morning. Really doesn’t grow fast. That tuft is about 5-7mm tall. Could it have been introduced via hardscape or has the tank been established for a while? I think it's a type of moss of some sort based on structure it is showing, but entirely guessing. Coloration looks slightly pale for most mosses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted July 5, 2022 Author Share Posted July 5, 2022 I think y’all might be on to something. Perhaps it’ll be easier to wait for some distinguishing structures to develop 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 (edited) @Biotope BiologistSince I’m diving in the algae rabbit hole, you should take a look at the Wikipedia illustration for Cladophora algae. It looks just like your little specimen. It doesn’t specify what species is in the illustration but it looks the same. Edited July 14, 2022 by Odd Duck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted July 14, 2022 Author Share Posted July 14, 2022 @Odd Duck I think you are right! Looking at some articles I found Cladophora glomerata. It looks like this algae comes in multiple forms and I appear to have 2. At first I thought my other algae masses were thread algae, but they are highly branching under closer inspection. I leave it in as the white clouds are using them as breeding mats right now Thanks again! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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