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Azolla

Started by Guest_Gambusia_* , Oct 26 2011 01:55 PM

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17 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_Gambusia_*

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Posted 26 October 2011 - 01:55 PM

I have a bunch of azolla that took over the surface of my outdoor fathead minnow tub. Winter and freezes are coming so I wonder if azolla can be brought indoors and kept in a 10 gallon tank of water over the winter in my basement?

Thanks

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#2 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 26 October 2011 - 03:10 PM

Yes, azolla is easy to keep in the home aquarium. I got some on accident one time mixed in with other plants and it liked it in the tank.
As long as you have good light bulbs, you'll get growth. The traits to look for in a good light bulb are that it produces a lot of lumens (that's the measurement of light brightness) and that the wavelengths of light produced include peaks in the red and blue portion of the spectrum. Here is chlorophyll's absorption spectrum: http://www.chm.bris....l/chloroabs.gif
Pick light bulbs that produce light in that range of nanometers, 400 to 500 and 600 to 700 nm. Usually 'full spectrum' light bulbs do.

If you can grow duckweed, you can grow azolla.

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#3 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 26 October 2011 - 03:15 PM

Edit:
Lol, I looked up azolla to see if there were any pitfalls other people ran into while growing it, and I found this quote from http://www.aqua-fish...ollacaroliniana

"Water pH range for Azolla caroliniana: 6.3 - 8
DH of water: dGH 0 - 18 °N"

That basically means 'Add water and it'll grow'. Yeah, you should be fine.

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#4 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 27 October 2011 - 10:21 AM

There are two downsides to this plant.

If you use an HOB-type filter, you will perennially be getting Azolla stuck underwater amongst your other plants.
Once you put it in a planted tank, you'll never get rid of it without a complete tear-down.

That being said, it has many nice attributes too.

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#5 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 27 October 2011 - 11:21 AM

If you use an HOB-type filter, you will perennially be getting Azolla stuck underwater amongst your other plants.

I'm having that problem with duckweed right now in my 10 gallon tank; it keeps getting tangled with some sort of utricularia in the hygrophila difformis.

I'm not sure if I'm as diehard and agree that nothing short of a complete tear down will remove it, though. Usually if you net out all of it that you can see, it's easy to exterminate your floating plants. They're also very susceptible to poisons and low light. And aphids. Aphids are a great trick to remove floating plants because they can't harm your submerged ones.

Edited by EricaWieser, 27 October 2011 - 11:22 AM.

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#6 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 27 October 2011 - 11:31 AM

Have you tried killing off duckweed (or Azolla)? Very, very difficult in a planted tank. Take your tank that has the duckweed tangled in the Utricularia. You'll never get all the pieces out, so it will continue to come back. You can try aphids, but when the density of floating plants gets really low, they won't have anything left to stand on, but a few fragments of the plants will still be around to come back. Also, Azolla is even harder than duckweed, in my experience. It fragments easily, and each of the tiny fragments can grow into a new plant. So if you have a fragment anywhere in the tank, it can come back. Never mind the seeds from duckweed or spores from Azolla that are likely present.

But like I said, it can be a nice plant. You just have to have your eyes open going into it. It most likely will not be a temporary resident!

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#7 Michael Wolfe

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North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 27 October 2011 - 11:41 AM

I have tried and cannot get rid of any of these little duck weed type plants once they get established in an aquarium or pond by removing them... I only have two things that have worked... 2 inches of ice (obviously this only works on the outdoor ponds and only on some of the Georgia winters does this work)... lots of current.

Joking aside, the current seems to be the only trick that works in my aquariums. I have had it in all my tanks based on moving plants around. It holds on no matter how much I cull. But in the tanks with a couple of powerheads, it doesn't seem to thrive and eventually disappears. One man's experience.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#8 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 27 October 2011 - 01:09 PM

Here's Ricciocarpus natans, an excellent alternative to duckweed or Azolla. I've never had trouble getting it all out when I want to. It doesnt seem to regenerate from micro-fragments like the others do, and pieces that get stuck underwater generally die. First pic is aquarium grown, floating. Second pic is wild, growing on mud. Ricciocarpus and Limnobium (frogbit) are the 2 surface floaters I find most useful (and easy). Make a styrofoam barrier around a Hang-On-Back filter to keep floaters from getting knocked under water.

Attached Files

Ricciocarpus.natans.RhodesPond.DSC03094.ps.JPG 341.73KB 0 downloads
Ricciocarpus.natans.ShayGarriock.DSCN5300.ps.JPG 357.05KB 0 downloads

Edited by gerald, 27 October 2011 - 01:15 PM.

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#9 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 27 October 2011 - 01:21 PM

Ricciocarpus natans is really cool looking. Is it native here? When is the best time of year to go looking for some, and in what sort of habitat should we look?

Edited by EricaWieser, 27 October 2011 - 01:22 PM.

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#10 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 27 October 2011 - 01:48 PM

It is native. I don't come across it often, but when I do it is in permanent wetlands, often on muddy, shady margins (as shown above) or as a minor component of the floating flora, mixed in with Riccia, Azolla, Lemna, Wolffia, Spirodela, etc. I see it most often in early spring, I think because the rising waters dislodge it from its muddy haunts and let it float around.

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#11 Guest_NVCichlids_*

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Posted 27 October 2011 - 03:23 PM

now I need to do a search and find out if it is local. *edit* i guess the university of wi green bay has found it up north of me, so I might be able to find some! would look nice in a nano/smaller tank!

How long are the trailers on the Ricciocarpus natans in the water? (compared to water hyacinth and frogbig and duckweed)

Edited by NVCichlids, 27 October 2011 - 03:25 PM.

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#12 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 27 October 2011 - 04:19 PM

IIRC, they don't have trailing roots, just a little fuzz.

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#13 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 27 October 2011 - 05:03 PM

IIRC, they don't have trailing roots, just a little fuzz.

Technically called "rhizoids" (for my nerdy plant brethren). :tongue:

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#14 Guest_smilingfrog_*

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Posted 28 October 2011 - 12:44 AM

Here's Ricciocarpus natans, an excellent alternative to duckweed or Azolla. I've never had trouble getting it all out when I want to. It doesnt seem to regenerate from micro-fragments like the others do, and pieces that get stuck underwater generally die. First pic is aquarium grown, floating. Second pic is wild, growing on mud. Ricciocarpus and Limnobium (frogbit) are the 2 surface floaters I find most useful (and easy). Make a styrofoam barrier around a Hang-On-Back filter to keep floaters from getting knocked under water.

Is that how they usually look? I haven't seen them so "leafy" before. I volunteer with a wetland monitoring project, and we encounter it occassionally, but it is just an oblong bit of green with lots of rhizoids underneath; often so many that they are visible from above sticking out to the sides. When I saw these pictures I had to go back to my wetland guide to make sure I was remembering the name correctly.

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#15 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 28 October 2011 - 12:31 PM

Ive never seen it grow as leafy in the wild as it does in an aquarium. And yes I have also seen it do what you describe in the wild: A thick beard of black rhizoids with hardly any leaf (OK Laura, yes it's THALLUS).

Ive only seen it two places in NC: Lake Mattamuskeet in Hyde Co and Rhodes Pond in Cumberland Co. Erica, we may go to Rhodes Pond on the Feb 17 Raleigh Aqu Soc trip.

Is that how they usually look? I haven't seen them so "leafy" before. I volunteer with a wetland monitoring project, and we encounter it occassionally, but it is just an oblong bit of green with lots of rhizoids underneath; often so many that they are visible from above sticking out to the sides. When I saw these pictures I had to go back to my wetland guide to make sure I was remembering the name correctly.

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#16 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 28 October 2011 - 12:54 PM

Said one RHIZOID to the other... "It would be great if one of us would grow some leaves. THALLI?"

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#17 Guest_Gambusia_*

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Posted 31 October 2011 - 09:52 AM

I tried some in my 20 gallon.

It turned brown and died.

My hornwort fell apart too.

These were brought in from an outdoor tub where they flourished outside.

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#18 Guest_Kanus_*

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Posted 31 October 2011 - 10:11 AM

Gerald, that Ricciocarpus natans you gave me a sample of was an absolutely awesome plant. Unfortunately I didn't realize it would die underwater. I guess that explains why mine eventually petered out a while after you gave it to me. I really enjoyed it while I had it though. Might have to ask for another innoculation next time I see you.