Any ideas on how to get rid of this... algae?

[mustangcaleb]

i got a nice big frag of some great looking zoas. they were attached to some egg crate, so i broke the crate in half and made 2 frags out of it. they had a few strands of some kind of plant sticking out of them so i plucked them and went about my way. now about 6 weeks later, one of the frags has had the stuff show back up. one of the frags is fine but the other, everytime i pick the stuff off, it comes back thicker. it has now taken over the rubble i glued the frag too. the first pic is the problem, the other pic is of the problem free frag. any ideas on how to kill it or maybe something that would eat it?

alt="" />

alt="" />

 

[soarin']

The main thing to consider when you have a nuisance outbreak is that you have too many nutrients available in your tank, so that's the place to start.

Whatever the pest that you are trying to fight is, if it does not have the nutrients available to it, then it cannot grow. If it has plenty of nutrients, then it will grow like wildfire.

I think the algae you are looking at is bryopsis in the beginning stages, but someone else might have a better definition.

I would start with doing extra water changes to get rid of some of your nutrients to slow down its growth. Then look at upping your nutrient export -- more skimming, growing more chaeto in the fuge, or carbon dosing (but you have to be super careful and slow about this, or you could easily crash your tank. It's a powerful technique) Phosphate removers such as gfo are powerful as well, and need the same warning.

If you nutrients are at a low level, the algae won't be able to grow, and you can pick the algae off and it will stay gone b/c there won't be enough nutrients for it to grow back.

 

[mustangcaleb]

like mentioned ill never eliminate nutrients, i know they are there, but i dont have any other algae issues, just what came on this frag. ive tried pulling it off by hand before but it just grows back thicker. ill keep on trying, but im kinda worried that a piece may come out of my hand while plucking and float off to go grow somewhere else. but last time i plucked it all i tried to push the rubble into the sand so hopefully the algae couldnt grow back out, through the sand, but it did. ive been debating on pulling the frag off the rubble, trying to pick it off the zoa/eggcrate by hand, then putting it on a new piece of rubble. im thinking it got into the rock and will be next to impossible to pick out by hand.

 

[gordob]

You have a good point about it being in the rock. If it's in there, it will be tough to get out. You mentioned it floating out of your hand while you're plucking it...you need to take the frag out of the water while plucking the algae. You can put some water in a separate container, and pull it off with tweezers. Don't put that water back in your tank. Make sure you cover your eyes and wear gloves though. You don't want those zoa juices getting you. I had the same kind of algae in my tank. The only way I got rid of it was with constant manual removal. Your zoos will be fine out of the water for a while, so having the algae out of the water might help you kill some of it too. Good luck. That stuff is a pain. A Lettuce Nudibranch helped me get rid of it also.

- Brad

 

[acroholic]

That looks like Bryopsis. I would pull the entire frag/rubble area that has it and get rid of it. And hope that it doesn't get started anywhere else. It is a tough algae to get rid of, from personal experience.

Nothing eats it that I know of. Only thing I have heard of that may kill it is high magnesium levels, although I tried that and it didn't work.

I'll never buy anything that has bryopsis on it again. Made that mistake once. Not again.

Not trying to sound alarmist, but I rank bryopsis up there with redbugs.
Dave

 

[mustangcaleb]

when i got home last night homeboy was munching on it...

alt="" />

but ill take it off the rock and pick through it. but its in a biocube with no skimmer, its a 29g and i do 5g WC once every 4-5 days. and the 10k bulb is about 2 months old and the actinic is the stock which is supposably only like 6-7 months old.

 

[grouper therapy]

Acroholic;324254 wrote: That looks like Bryopsis. I would pull the entire frag/rubble area that has it and get rid of it. And hope that it doesn't get started anywhere else. It is a tough algae to get rid of, from personal experience.

Nothing eats it that I know of. Only thing I have heard of that may kill it is high magnesium levels, although I tried that and it didn't work.

I'll never buy anything that has bryopsis on it again. Made that mistake once. Not again.

Not trying to sound alarmist, but I rank bryopsis up there with redbugs.
Dave

I am with acoholic it looks like bryopsis. Removing nutrients from the tank will not get rid of it. Removing it from the tank will. The elevated mag levels worked but seem to only work with kent magnesium due to it's high copper content so be careful with that method. I have a orange spotted rabbitfish that keeps mine at bay. Tough stuff and your right do not pull it off in the tank it will spread.