Azolla, Fairy Moss – Plant

Description

Azolla, mosquito fern, duckweed fern, fairy moss, water fern [English]; helecho mosquito, helecho de pato, helecho de agua

Azolla. Azolla (mosquito fern, duckweed fern, fairy moss, water fern) is a genus of seven species of aquatic ferns in the family Salviniaceae. They are extremely reduced in form and specialized, looking nothing like other typical ferns but more resembling duckweed or some mosses.

Azolla fairy moss shades out the sun causing the algae to die and sink to the bottom where the filtration can remove it.
It must be remembered however, that whilst this is good for reducing algae, Azolla fairy moss will also block out the sun light to your other plants causing them to suffer and therefor its spread has to be controlled. Also too much Azolla fairy moss can hamper fish feeding.
Azolla fairy moss also makes it more difficult for predators to see the fish which is particular advantageous if you live by the coast and are blighted with seagulls or similar as in my case.