U. gibba's bladders are going black

[nich]

Hi everyone,

I have been growing u.gibba for a couple of months now. I still dont have too much of it & I'm finding it a real pain because the algae keeps swamping it.

Anyway, these past days I have noticed that nearly all of the bladders on it (just the bladders - none of the rest of the plant) have gone black. I grow it in a tub with peat on the bottom, covered by a layer of sand, then filled with an inch or 2 of water over that.

Does anyone have any ideas why this could be happening? I thought it might be sand in the bladders at first, but I dont think it is though.


Thanks & best regards,
Nick.

 

[magore]

Most aduadic utric bladders turn black with age. It should not be any thing to worry about. How are you growing it and do you have anything else in with it? If you need more just let me know, I think mine is related to Tribbles. Now lets see who out there remembers whaat they are

 

[Guest]

*laughter* I know what a tribble is.. that's my all time favorite episode

 

[nich]

hehe, thanks Marjorie.  I don't think there's any tribble ancestry in mine because it doesn't seem to grow as quickly as other people suggest it should.

I've got it in a tub on my windowsill where it gets plenty of sunlight.  The tub has a couple cm of peat in the bottom, which is covered by a couple cm silver sand.  The water then covers that by a few cm.  I anchored the gibba down under a little sand.

The tub isn't too big, and I wondered if it's a little too acidic for it to be honest, as all the daphnia I put in there ended up dying (and not at the hands of gibba! )  I might move it to a bigger container soon.

How do you grow yours by the way? Same sort of thing?

Thanks for the info about the bladders - I can rest easy now that I know it hasn't caught some nasty disease or something!

All the best,
Nick.  

 

[magore]

I grow a bowl on the window sill that way. The ones that grow the fastest are just floating in water one had some longfiber sphangum in it but the other is just water and tadpoles.

 

[wickedthistle]

I had some bladders turn black once when I added some water in my small container and it stirred up the peat - I think it ate dirt....