What exactly is this plant

[itiwhetu]

What exactly is this, is it a higher form of algae or is it a plant? I found this bowl full tucked behind a piece of driftwood!

 

[Naughts]

Looks to be algae, I have it and call it hair algae.

 

[itiwhetu]

Looks to be algae, I have it and call it hair algae.

This is coarser than a normal hair algae and is sort of like Java moss but way finer, it is only short strands.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

GHA (Green Hair Algae)

 

[itiwhetu]

GHA (Green Hair Algae)

I have just done a google search, I think you are right. I have never seen this type before. I have always thought of hair algae as very long soft filaments not little short guys like this.

 

[Colin_T]

Green filamentous algae. It actually looks nice in the right tank but tends to smother everything. It can grow up to a foot long and the green is nice and bright.

 

[itiwhetu]

Green filamentous algae. It actually looks nice in the right tank but tends to smother everything. It can grow up to a foot long and the green is nice and bright.

I really like it in small doses, I was surprised to see this big blob in behind the driftwood.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I really like it in small doses, I was surprised to see this big blob in behind the driftwood.

It seems to build up and get denser in areas with bright light and little flow. I battle it in my tanks. It looks nice to my eyes when it attaches and gradually creeps over a piece of driftwood, but it also can build up and wrap itself densely around the tops of my plants (and a piece of driftwood) at the top of another tank and get annoying, having to chop the heads off the stem plants to remove the algae. It's also really hard to get rid of once you have it.

 

[itiwhetu]

This big blob was on the window side of my tank and behind the driftwood, I found it because I looked in the window when I did my water change today.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

This big blob was on the window side of my tank and behind the driftwood, I found it because I looked in the window when I did my water change today.

So with more light, and less flow since the dirftwood provides a little shelter. Same as the way it tends to gather in one of my tanks, although for me it's the tank light rather than the window.

 

[itiwhetu]

Latin name suggestions anyone?

 

[Colin_T]

Latin name suggestions anyone?

greenus filamentious painus inthe buttus