Najas Grass

[Melody]

I have a bunch of this stuff finally (thanks Blaine!), so I spread it around the tanks, where a strange thing occured. It disappeared.

I half expected this in the Spixi tank - its not very robust and they seem to be able to tackle soft plants better than Brigs. But I also added it to a fish/brig only tank and its almost gone.

The Brig's would be the logical culprit, after all, it would soften more due to shipping which could make it soft enough for them to eat. But here's the thing, I also put a big bunch into a Brig sale tank, where all of my bestest Brigs are kept so I can keep track of them for sales. Its doing fine.

In the fish tank where it disappeared, I have mostly Mollies, along with a Platy or two that's being selectively bred. I have it in yet another breeding tank with Platy's and its fine there. I'm thinkin' the Mollies have a taste for it, but in yet another tank they don't seem to be going for it. In still another tank of wild-type Livebearers, its all gone. That one has Black-eye gold BN Plecos in it and only Ramshorn snails, so I figure maybe the Plecos liked it.

Anyone experience fish scarfing this stuff down? It disappeared in under a week, much to my dismay. My big bag is now less than half!:mad:

I really want to cultivate this stuff for my brooding tanks, but I'm afraid to put the fish in with it now. :rolleyes: Here's some of the better behaved fish playing in it - they sure love the stuff.

Plumetail & Sailfin Molly females
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/028.jpg

Juvie Plumetail male
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/029-1.jpg

Young Hifin Redtail Platy:
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/050-1.jpg

Another young Hifin Redtail:
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/042.jpg

Juvie Platy, Swordtail and Green Lazer Cory
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/039-1.jpg

Bleached the dark green of the Cory in this one so his lazer isn't showing well, but regardless, he's playing with a Juvie Hifin Redtail:
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/052.jpg

The snailbies' tank:
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/003.jpg

PEEK-A-BOO!
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/045.jpg

[CACAdmin]

I have never had any Najas Grass so I'm not of much help. Could it be the young mollies (they eat non-stop unlike the adults... :Dunno:maybe they think it's a treat just for them...lol). It's definitely discouraging to have lost so much of it... it looks really cool.

Beautiful fish you have too... great pics!

[Melody]

Thanks! There's one of yours in there, the Cory's are Mr. Mad's and a there's a few fish of Blaine's too....lol.

You may be onto something there, I hadn't thought of that. And of course, once one decides its yummy, the rest do too.

[PPulcher]

Just a data point. I use lots of this stuff in my tanks. I had a cyanobacteria outbreak some time ago that I tried to treat with hydrogen peroxide. The najas melted seemingly before my very eyes (more like two or three days). Have you used anything like this or other medications?

[Melody]

Good thinking, but no, nothing like that. I do keep seasalt in some tanks though and its in in a couple of the tanks it disappeared in. Very little, but maybe that's the prob?

[PPulcher]

Good thinking, but no, nothing like that. I do keep seasalt in some tanks though and its in in a couple of the tanks it disappeared in. Very little, but maybe that's the prob?

I've kept it in tanks with a little rock salt, and it seemed impervious to it.

It is pretty brittle, so if you have mucho current it might break up and get into the filter?

[Melody]

That's another possibility, at least in one tank that is mucho overfiltered. The one with the Plecos has a box filter so its not the case there.

I am very good at killing plants, but making them disappear is an entirely different talent. :rolleyes:

[ENZO]

I hate this stuff its always collected all the fish crap and food making the water quality crappy but i've never had any of my plecos eat it i have a huge variety of fish from ropefish to peacocks and none of them eat it not even the peacocks.

[Melody]

I take my floaters out and clean them in a bucket. Feeder rings help tremendously. Floating plants are a must for the Livebearers so I've gotten used to it.

[blainep]

If it's my stuff, I know that it has survived salt, mollies and platys. It does seem to flourish in tanks with low water flow.

Maybe being packed into a bag for a couple of days was hard on it. I know it was stuffed in the bag pretty tight.

Great stuff for fry survival for sure, provides great hiding areas and traps food for them !

[Melody]

I love the stuff, which is why I hate to see it go. Very strange indeed. Good to do the process of elimination anyway.:yes:

[ENZO]

If you ever come to edmonton stop by and I'll give you a crap load of it.

[Melody]

Deal, and I'll give you some snails because that's what I do, give people snails for their stuff. :laugh: I could give you plant-eating snails and they'll eat the rest up for you.