[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Algae and Fungus
Tom Barr wrote:
>The fungus/molds = the algae of terrestrial plants. To get rid of them ,
>flood the
>tank! To get rid of algae, get rid of the water. This will keep all at bay I
>believe. Are there amphibious molds and fungus? There are plants but not
>algae and perhaps not many molds and fungus. There aren't many algae that
>can survive long out of water so why not apply it in reverse for molds and
>fungus?
>Seems like a good notion. Am I wrong? Comments?
I don't know for sure if there are _amphibious_ fungi or algae, but there
are _most definitely_ terrestrial algae (believe me, it grows all over the
side of our garage) and there are aquatic fungi. In fact, there is a large
group of fungi known as "water molds"...
... I just went and pulled out my Raven/Curtis "Biology of Plants and found
that there is at least one primarily terrestrial order, Peronosporales that
forms free swimming zoospores when free water is available.
This is not to say that your strategy can't work at least some of the time.
Most algae are _very_ specific about their growing conditions, and this is
also true of most fungi. The ones we have trouble with in the aquarium are
the relatively few that happen to really like conditions just like those we
provide in the aquarium. Try to bring a "wild" alga in to a tank and
maintain it though. It can be a very, very difficult thing to do.
Karen