Messy plants to avoid

Hound

Hound

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Feb 20, 2004
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On a recent plant purchase I was given a plant I still can't identify with any certainty. Looks a bit like cabomba caroliniana. Actually I was given 4 stalks of the stuff. Well I went ahead and tried the things since they were free. 4 days later I pulled them out. They were such a mess from the thin stuff falling off my cannister filter was noticably blocked up. Luckily it was just the sponge prefilter I had to change out, but it was covered with the twigs. Several other plants in the tank had caught the stuff also. So my basic question is is there any plants that you guys would avoid just because of maintainence hassles?
 
Healthy plants don't behave this way. It wasn't the plant's fault. Hornwort would do this if light levels are too low, and it really does make a mess when it does. It's not normal though, if the plant is healthy. Limnophila is similar-looking to Cabomba, but not known to shed like this. Other needle-y plants, like Mayaca, Ludwigia arcuata or Rotala wallichii also do this if there isn't enough light, usually near the bottom of the stem. Slight heavy metal poisoning, like copper, also does this quite quickly.
 
hornwort is truly the worst that I have ever seen for clogging up filters and such.

not that it is a filter killer, but I hate duckweed. It only takes one innocent seeming pinhead sized floater and a week later you can't see the water through the duckweed.

Also, riccia flutans will also break apart under low light and cause a very similar mess like hornwort, but it generally will float instead of sinking.
 
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