Algae blenny?

[ThrowedToad]

I bought some live rock through ebay and it came with some green hair algae. I bought an algae blenny and he doesn't even touch it? Any advice before the problem gets out of hand?

 

[JoshsReef]

fish and inverts generlly are not the answer for algae problems. Did you try removing as much algae as possible before you added the rock to your tank? Try and remove as much of it as possible and keep your water paramaters pristine, thats your best course of action

 

[melosu58]

I agree with Josh in that getting livestock to take care of algea problems is a bandaid solution. You need to nip it in the bud and find the fuel source and get rid of it.

 

[ThrowedToad]

This particular piece of rock has nothing on it but some coralline and the green hair. Should I just take it out and scrub the crap out of the green hair in some discarded saltwater then rinse?

 

[buddha_red]

yes from what ive read thats exactly what you do. with that being said you will kill off bacteria when you do this. Depending on how big it could cause some die off.

 

[melosu58]

Also read this

FantasyReef Databases-Viewing item "10 Step Plan for Nuisance Algae Control"

 

[ThrowedToad]

thank you all, you have been great help in the past and hopefully in the future!

 

[Justin_Toronto]

not sure how large your tank is, but foxface rabbitfish love the stuff. the guy I picked up my foxface from had a hair algae problem, the foxface cleaned it up in under a week on his 120g. Just be careful you don't get stung.

Though the advice on scrubbing should definitely be done first, nor do I recommend getting a fish you may not really want, just to clean up a problem.

With that said, I love my foxface and his camoflauging... him and the sailfin never leave each other's sides.

 

[roka64]

I agree with Josh and I also don't disagree with Justin's advice (no exp with those fish) but with good water quality, the hair algae will starve off. Keep down the excess nutrience and the hair algae won't come back.

 

[ThrowedToad]

I bought this rock off ebay. Did not know what exactly what I was getting but it was way cheaper than my LFS. Could I break it up and use it in my wet/dry filter? It is not really that pretty of a rock and I think I could do without it in my tank! Just make a few "aqua-scaping" adjustments and "BOOM", Green algae that has been scrubbed goes down the drain and the rest into my wet/dry and I just move the other un-infested rock to look good. Cut the light in half. And I only feed my two damsels once every 3 days! Is there anything else I can do to prevent the green algae outbreak that is almost inevitable?