Algae attack... help
- Thread starter maiceman
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reefrunner69
Aquarium Advice Addict
Well it looks like hair algae. I am assuming your using RO/DI water. Do you dose kalk? If not, I would start. Try to reduce nutrient import and increase nutrient export. Do you have a refugium? Any macro in the tank to compete for nutrients?
just got some calerpa and saw tooth from anemoneman... have reduced feeding and I have been dosing kalk from day 1 CA is 400..... I had not been using ro/di water..... our water quality is so good here and others in the area were not using it either. I had not had trouble with algae since the DSB really started to be effective.
None of my cleaning crew will touch it... crabs or sails.
This seems to have started after changing from pigmy angel formula to formula 1... hhhhmmmmm just realized that.
None of my cleaning crew will touch it... crabs or sails.
This seems to have started after changing from pigmy angel formula to formula 1... hhhhmmmmm just realized that.
EMS503
Aquarium Advice Freak
Is the Algae stiff and coarse if so it might be Byropis(not sure of spelling)
If it is rip it out of the tank. I had it in my 30 gal. and thought it looked good,kind of like moss and then wham all over the tank and taking over all. It began getting long hair type algae which was also coarse, took out everything and scrubbed and threw away the LR it began on. Took awhile but it is gone. I hope it isnt I dont know how it got in my tank nothing was new all old LR from my reef tank. Good Luck
If it is rip it out of the tank. I had it in my 30 gal. and thought it looked good,kind of like moss and then wham all over the tank and taking over all. It began getting long hair type algae which was also coarse, took out everything and scrubbed and threw away the LR it began on. Took awhile but it is gone. I hope it isnt I dont know how it got in my tank nothing was new all old LR from my reef tank. Good Luck
Not sure if I would call it stiff. It is very tough stuff though, and coarse like steel wool.... cant think of any other way to describe it. When I think of something that would be called stiff I also would say it was brittle... or could be broken... I would not describe this stuff that way. It tears off the rock with some pretty good effort... not easily at all.
EMS503
Aquarium Advice Freak
Sorry that is what I meant to describe it as. Defenitly sounds like Byropis I would remove it, Before it over runs your tank.
I can not find any info on the Algae you mentioned.... Byropis. I have used a number of identification web sites and nothing close. Is this a cynobacteria blue-green algae? What problems can it create other then trying to get rid of it?
reefrunner69
Aquarium Advice Addict
http://www.globaldialog.com/~jrice/algae_page/bryopsis.htm
http://www.seaslugforum.net/bryopsis.htm
http://omp.gso.uri.edu/doee/biota/algae/chloro/bry1.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/greenalg.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/greenalgcontfaqs.htm
Some will be more valuable than others, and when you get to the wetwebmedia links, you may need to use the find on this page option in your browser. What your looking for is bryopsis.
http://www.seaslugforum.net/bryopsis.htm
http://omp.gso.uri.edu/doee/biota/algae/chloro/bry1.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/greenalg.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/greenalgcontfaqs.htm
Some will be more valuable than others, and when you get to the wetwebmedia links, you may need to use the find on this page option in your browser. What your looking for is bryopsis.
I have contacted a number of ail order sites about trying to buy some T. Crispata sea slugs to eat this stuff... no luck yet. If anyone has a contact please post. Otherwise the rock has to come out and be scrubed... not my first choice.
reefrunner69
Aquarium Advice Addict
Might try a lettuce nudibranch. Last time I looked www.liveaquaria.com was selling them.
Well, I looked for the lettuce nudibranch and found that they do not reccomend shipping them to my climate at this time of year.... So I bit the bullet and scrubbed all of my live rock clean last night. Everything looked happy this morning and I am doing a water change (30%) when I get home from work.
This stuff was taking over the tank fast and looked to be having an effect on my frogspawn & Dendronephthya. I found it growing up the stems of these corals and tried to remove it as best I could.... not sure how aggresive I should get with scrubbing a coral so I am sure I did not get it all.
Will keep you all informed as I watch for the dreaded return of bryopsis the killer algae... LOL
This stuff was taking over the tank fast and looked to be having an effect on my frogspawn & Dendronephthya. I found it growing up the stems of these corals and tried to remove it as best I could.... not sure how aggresive I should get with scrubbing a coral so I am sure I did not get it all.
Will keep you all informed as I watch for the dreaded return of bryopsis the killer algae... LOL
Well, I may have been just in time for the cleanup. The corals are still not fully opening but the fish are much more active. I think the bryopsis was to the point of releasing enough toxins into the water to have a detrimental effect on the inhabitants. I can also see where the algae had started growing at the base of the frogspawn polyps just as shown in the first link provided by reefrunner. I am not sure how aggressive I can be around the polyps but I am keeping the regrowth harvested regularly. Seems as though it is slow in returning and hope that in time will be gone completely.
Thanks for the help.
Thanks for the help.
reefrunner69
Aquarium Advice Addict
Your welcome, I am encouraged by the slow regrowth. I think this just a result of a high nutrient phase from a newer tank. Sometimes the effects of the nutrient spike in new tanks is not immediately visible, but I hope the remission continues.
michealprater
Aquarium Advice Addict
You can also purchase lettuce nudibranchs at www.saltwaterfish.com.
Not sure if you still were wanting one or not. Might be a good preventative.
Not sure if you still were wanting one or not. Might be a good preventative.
The lettuce nudibranch was listed on a couple of different web sites as not recomended for shipping if mean temps are below 40 degrees in your area. On both sites they will not guarantee a live delivery so I am waiting for one of the many Denver LFS that I called to get some in. Or till spring when the temps will make it safe.
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