Weedy riccia bloom...

[EdaxFlamma]

Hey all,

A few months ago when I started growing my Dwarf Hair Grass emmersed in a small plastic tub I noticed some very thinly branched riccia growing on the surface as well. Not thinking anything of it, I put it in my 10gallon shrimp tank.

After watching it melt away I have since had patches the size of half dollars sprouting up all over my 10 gallon tank. My issue is that every time I try to collect it and get it out of my massive blob of java moss it decides it wants to fragment. It looks exactly like riccia fluitans but I haven't ever heard of it being this weedy before. Any suggestions on how to keep it knocked down or how to reduce fragmentation?

Thanks!
-J.P.

 

[247Plants]

Welcome to the messy world of riccia. I know a few people who wont let it back in their tanks since it can be as much of a nuisance as duckweed.

 

[foolishfish]

Saw some in a pic of someones tank and thought it looked pretty cool. What are the draw backs?

 

[Turbosaurus]

It is messy and it is almost as bad as duckweed. You just have to be more dilligent in catching it all. TOTAL PITA.

I will give you one tip- moss will sink, but riccia is very bouyant. After you remove as much as possible manually- Shake up that moss, swirl it around real good to try and free the riccia which should float to the surface. Catch the floating stuff with a net at the top. Get in the moss with a syphon/gravel vac, and suck up what you can- then just stay on top of it- as soon as you see some, siphon it out ASAP, eventually you will be able to erradicate it.

 

[secuono]

Mine grows on a mesh floating tube as a hide out for the fish. It's about 3in thick now and doesn't grow all over my tank, only on the tube. The Loaches love to half bury themselves in it and it's messed it up some, but it's still pretty neat and tidy.
It started out as just the mesh with tiny globs of Riccia placed in-between here and there. Now it's grown and spread so nicely!
2 months into growing.

Now, 4 months.