Bryopsis

[ibleedblue65]

It's been a while since I posted here and I really need ya'lls advice. Just bought a house and shortly before moving I bought my upgrade tank from a member. The tank is a 125. I have a 55 gallon sump on it and a 55 gallon fuge all in a fish room. probably 150-200 lbs rock. The rock came with the tank and at the time was sitting in stagnant water. I let the rock dry for like six months in storage, rinsed the hell out of it and added it to the tank along with a bunch of caribsea reefloor special grade. started the cycle added some live rock and sand from my other existing tank that has no issues. I am just over two weeks into the cycle andi think I have bryopsis. Never had it before so I'm not certain but the pictures match up. My question is this, should I tear down and start over our battle the bryopsis and add livestock once cycled? I am in no way an expert here so if I have made a mistake feel free to let me know. Just be nice

 

[thesilence87]

I don't know whether they are always lean mean bryopsis eating machines, but I had bryopsis on one rock when I first started me first tank, and a turbo snail raced through every little bit of it in a matter of 72 hours. There wasn't even a hint of it, nor has it come back yet.

 

[cr500_af]

Are you sure it's bryopsis? Green hair algae is pretty often mistaken for it.
The only thing I've ever seen eat real Bryopsis is one particular Scopas tang... we all thought its owner was nuts but after seeing it actually do it, we (Robb and I) decided we owed him an apology.

 

[ibleedblue65]

I am not sure, never had it. There are some long pieces with branches. doesn't look like hair algae to me. How can I best identify it? it seems early in the cycle to be developing issues like this. Doesn't it?

 

[cr500_af]

I don't remember where they were, but there have been some really good photos of bryopsis posted in some threads about ID'ing it.

I don't know how well bryopsis lives out of water, but I can attest to this: I acquired some rock that was infested with GHA. I bleached it (using 10% industrial bleach; what we buy is about 3%) no less than five times.... I made 175g of bleach water before it was over. Bleach, dry for a week in the sun, repeat. After the last bleaching, it sat out in the sun for weeks.

I gave a few pieces back to the friend who originally had the rock to start a small tank. New sand, clean tank... one month later: GHA appeared.

I'm not sure what else I could have done short of boiling it.

 

[ibleedblue65]

Thats what I am worried about. For a while I thought for sure letting a rock sit dry for six months would get rid of anything but after hearing some things lately I'm not so confident.

 

[ralph atl]

Get a good mag test kit (Elos Salifert)...add enough tech m mag (100 per day or so) to raise your mag 300-400 more than it currently is...so if it's 1200, I'd raise it to 1600 on four days...

After you've reached your high point, two weeks later it should be toast...

I unfortunately changed my rox carbon and a water change, so I had to restart after it was almost done...don't use carbon!

 

[thesilence87]

cr500_af;726116 wrote: Are you sure it's bryopsis? Green hair algae is pretty often mistaken for it.
The only thing I've ever seen eat real Bryopsis is one particular Scopas tang... we all thought its owner was nuts but after seeing it actually do it, we (Robb and I) decided we owed him an apology.

I can't be certain, but it matches the majority of the pictures that I've seen on google. It wasn't large yet, the longest strands were maybe half an inch in length.

 

[lilrobb]

cr500_af;726116 wrote: Are you sure it's bryopsis? Green hair algae is pretty often mistaken for it.
The only thing I've ever seen eat real Bryopsis is one particular Scopas tang... we all thought its owner was nuts but after seeing it actually do it, we (Robb and I) decided we owed him an apology.

Guess who owns that scopas now, still a mean machine on any type algae....

 

[ibleedblue65]

So just dose mag and proceed as planned? Add rock and livestock from the other tank once the bryopsis is gone?

 

[cr500_af]

LilRobb;726195 wrote: Guess who owns that scopas now, still a mean machine on any type algae....

Yes, and I need to rent him for a while...

ibleedblue65;726199 wrote: So just dose mag and proceed as planned? Add rock and livestock from the other tank once the bryopsis is gone?

If the tank has no livestock in it, I think I'd go the Tech M route (and wouldn't worry about raising it slowly). Then once it is gone, bring your mag back where you want it with water changes. However, if the suspected bryopsis is only in a spot or two, I think I'd pull the rock in question and kill it. I've been tempted to test with heat... if I understand correctly, nothing with living cells can withstand heat above a certain temp (boiling?), so if I had one rock with that stuff on it I may try baking it for a few hours.

 

[ralph atl]

ibleedblue65;726199 wrote: So just dose mag and proceed as planned? Add rock and livestock from the other tank once the bryopsis is gone?

yes, with Kent Tech-M only.......it's probably the only way it would die anyway....

 

[ibleedblue65]

Okay will do. Thanks for the advice guys.

 

[ibleedblue65]

Anybody have advice on where to buy kent tech m? I live in the dallas/hiram area but work in mableton. Would like to pick some up after work.

 

[rdnelson]

cr500_af;726211 wrote: if I understand correctly, nothing with living cells can withstand heat above a certain temp (boiling?), so if I had one rock with that stuff on it I may try baking it for a few hours.

Tell that to the critters they find living at the thermo vents in the deep sea.:doh: