Killing Bryopsis

[y-not]

Okay,

Let's say you've had it with the Bryopsis.
The Tech M has taken out your CUC as well as some prized corals but...the Bryopsis prevails.

If I take my live rock out and boil it in RO/DI for an hour, is that going to insure that this lawn of Satan's dies?

I know I can bleach it, soak it in peroxide, etc...but...I want it to die in a manner that I would never want.

Will boiling it kill it?

 

[y-not]

Oh yeah, you've gotten your Tech M up to 2200 for two months and you've been fighting with this green garbage from the depths for 4+ months.

It looks like it's suffering then it looks healthy as can be. It looks rough then healthy again.
You keep checking the Ma level and it's toggling between 2100 and 2200. If it dropps below 2100, I dose it back up to 2200 again.

I think this crap is thriving on Tech M.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

There's a couple of keys to being successful with the Tech M. The first is to MECHANICALLY remove as much of the bryopsis as possible. Use a tooth brush, small wire brush or just simply pull it off by hand. The second thing is to maintain a certain level of Mg in the tank and you are currently WAY above the recommended level. There are several posts describing how to successfully use Tech M that I would recommend you find and read.

Finally....you have to find the food source. It just doesn't appear for no reason. If you don't cut out the food source, no treatment will work.

 

[y-not]

porpoiseaquatics;945027 wrote: There's a couple of keys to being successful with the Tech M. The first is to MECHANICALLY remove as much of the bryopsis as possible. Use a tooth brush, small wire brush or just simply pull it off by hand. The second thing is to maintain a certain level of Mg in the tank and you are currently WAY above the recommended level. There are several posts describing how to successfully use Tech M that I would recommend you find and read.

Finally....you have to find the food source. It just doesn't appear for no reason. If you don't cut out the food source, no treatment will work.

No offense but I've been there, read that and...It still lives!

Seriously, we pick it off at least once a week. Most times we do it two or three times a week.
For the past month, we've only been feeding the tank every 4 to 5 days and it's just enough to keep what's still living, living.

The fish are pissed. I think they are going to go on strike if we do not pick up the feeding schedule a little. :confused2:

We started by cutting the feedings down to every three days and bringing the Tech M up to 1800.
That seemed to put a hurting on the bryopsis for a couple of weeks but then it greened up and was back in full force. All while the Tech M was sitting steady at 1800.

We then brought it up to the max of 2200. Again, that seemed to hurt the bryopsis for about two or three weeks but once again, it's a beautiful shade of green and growing like Kudzu.

I'm getting sick of doing all that I've read and heard only to have it continue. And I hate that I've lost so much of my CUC and corals due to the elevated levels of Tech M.

I known where my tank contracted this garbage and I can accept that it is a lesson learned but...now that I've learned my lesson, I'm about ready to napalm this junk and start over.

So...my question still stands.
If I boil my LR, will that kill the bryopsis that's on it?
I'm guessing so but would like to confirm.
I'm not beyond using bleach or just tossing it in the can and starting with new dry rock.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

No offense.......... but you STILL haven't identified the food source for the bryopsis. I wasn't talking about the fish food. That's not the source. Bryopsis loves and thrives from phosphates as well as nitrates. If you have those, no matter what you do with TechM, it won't control it. I've had bryopsis 3 times and all 3 times it was defeated with TechM but I had to find the source first. Once I figured out that I was feeding the tank phosphates from a bad filter, treated with TechM ... in 3 weeks....no more Bryopsis.

Back to answer your question....you could scrape it all off, power wash the rock, use a peroxide batch, sun dry it, bleach it or whatever you want to do. Yes, it will go away from all of those .....for at least a little while.

 

[y-not]

porpoiseaquatics;945064 wrote: No offense.......... but you STILL haven't identified the food source for the bryopsis. I wasn't talking about the fish food. That's not the source. Bryopsis loves and thrives from phosphates as well as nitrates. If you have those, no matter what you do with TechM, it won't control it. I've had bryopsis 3 times and all 3 times it was defeated with TechM but I had to find the source first. Once I figured out that I was feeding the tank phosphates from a bad filter, treated with TechM ... in 3 weeks....no more Bryopsis.

Back to answer your question....you could scrape it all off, power wash the rock, use a peroxide batch, sun dry it, bleach it or whatever you want to do. Yes, it will go away from all of those .....for at least a little while.

No offense taken.
I'm just frustrated with this.

I've tested all of my RO/DI water and fresh saltwater with API, RedSea and Hanna Checker.
No phosphates or Nitrates. Zero TDS in the freshwater.

Now...testing for these in the display tank is not very dependable as the bryopsisis skewing the results.

About 3 weeks ago I added a GFO & Carbon reactor. That has not seemed to have had any impact on the bryopsis but it was done as an attempt to remove phosphates that I my tests were not showing. Is it doing that? Not sure.

I'm trying hard not to take a shotgun approach to getting rid of this beast but it's making me a little nuts.

My wife and I were talking to someone else about this and they seemed to think that it's possible that we've got some sort of strain that is somewhat resistant to Tech M. Not sure what to think of that but...I'm not sure if there is really even a strain of bryopsis that would resist Tech M.

If there is a way, short of breaking down the tank and starting over, to get rid of this, I'm all ears.
I feel that the water going into the tank during water changes is as clean as it can be.

I feel like all I'm doing is watching the bryopsis thrive and while everything else dies.

 

[mikesmith34]

Man ever thread I see on this stuff makes me paranoid as crap. Makes me very sketchy on buying frags from unknown tanks. Did you get it from an infected frag?? How do you PREVENT it from happening?

 

[morganatlanta]

Mikesmith34;945092 wrote: Man ever thread I see on this stuff makes me paranoid as crap. Makes me very sketchy on buying frags from unknown tanks. Did you get it from an infected frag?? How do you PREVENT it from happening?

Pull out what ever has it as soon as you see it then burn it, then boil it, and then throw it away.

 

[mikesmith34]

No but for real how do you get it?? Is it on infected frags?? How do you prevent getting the satanic crap in ur tank

 

[tony_caliente]

H202 dips were the only thing that worked for me. I used half H202 and half saltwater in a 5 gallon bucket an dlet it soak for 5 minutes. I had to do this three times, 4 days or days between each time.

 

[ralph atl]

Tony_Caliente;945143 wrote: H202 dips were the only thing that worked for me. I used half H202 and half saltwater in a 5 gallon bucket an dlet it soak for 5 minutes. I had to do this three times, 4 days or days between each time.

Yes, this works, but of course D)...

Stating that you have 0 phates and 0 trates means that your test kits do not function, or you are not using them correctly, and you do not have the knowledge of nutrients and the reduction of nutrients...There is no such thing as 0 phates and 0 trates...your kits do not measure low range phates and trates, so get better kits...

If you just started GFO, and whatever, you'll need to cahnge it every week and do large 30% weekly water changed to make a difference in phates and trates...FWIW.

 

[tomaquar]

I feel your pain. Ive fought the battle and have achieved a truce of sorts. It still lives in my tank but it doesn't get out of control.

First I lined the tank with travertine tiles and made it a bare bottom. I like the look of the travertine and it is the cleanest tank Ive ever had. Of course changing your system is a big step so take it with a grain of salt.

Another thing I believe is that the bryopsis feeds itself. when it grows into the rock its "roots" die they deposit nutrients and the next crop thrives on this. So while the "keep pulling" advice is tedious it is necessary.

Run phosphate sponge. I find the white aluminum beads work fine.

I am a fan of algefix. Yes I know its heresy but I believe that strategically knocking it back is helpful. When it dies back run tons of phosphate sponge and crank the skimmer. When that settles dose the TechM

Finally keep turbo snails, urchins and mollies in the tank. Big fan of mollies. They do eat bryopsis.

Now I have a situation where every week or so I go in and pull out a few small clumps but it really isn't much of a problem.

IMO

 

[morganatlanta]

I got it on a coco worm I got from another member. I was new and didn't know what it was at the time, so I just plucked off the visible shoots and didn't worry about it. It spread over the whole tank (30g) in a month or two. Treatments with TechM would knock it back, but it always came back. The display was otherwise completely algae free. After several more months of this, I broke down the tank, cooked the rock and started over... with a big upgrade.

 

[y-not]

Yeah, I was talking to my wife (primary decorator and co-owner of the tank) and we are working on another plan of attack.

I'm calling it "Operation Deforestation".

I'll be pulling out most of the rock (it's pegged and zip tied and sitting on PVC feet) and taking it to the tub. Scrubbing it like it's an Olympic event, rinsing with RO/DI water and putting it back in.

We've also got a "free sample" of Nualge that claims to feed corals, fish and fight nuisance algae at the same time.

I'll keep up the weekly 20% water changes, lower the Magnesium to around 1400 as well as manually pulling it out every day.

Let's see what happens.
The worst case, I lose my clam, tube anemone, zoas, sun coral and duncan.
I've already lost the most important and expensive stuff. :-(

 

[y-not]

MorganAtlanta;945452 wrote: I got it on a coco worm I got from another member. I was new and didn't know what it was at the time, so I just plucked off the visible shoots and didn't worry about it. It spread over the whole tank (30g) in a month or two. Treatments with TechM would knock it back, but it always came back. The display was otherwise completely algae free. After several more months of this, I broke down the tank, cooked the rock and started over... with a big upgrade.

We are in the same boat. Tech M hurts it for a while then it comes back looking better than ever.

I understand what porpoiseaquatics & mysterybox are saying. Something is feeding it. I'm just not sure that that something is.

 

[y-not]

tomaquar;945451 wrote: I feel your pain. Ive fought the battle and have achieved a truce of sorts. It still lives in my tank but it doesn't get out of control.

First I lined the tank with travertine tiles and made it a bare bottom. I like the look of the travertine and it is the cleanest tank Ive ever had. Of course changing your system is a big step so take it with a grain of salt.

Another thing I believe is that the bryopsis feeds itself. when it grows into the rock its "roots" die they deposit nutrients and the next crop thrives on this. So while the "keep pulling" advice is tedious it is necessary.

Run phosphate sponge. I find the white aluminum beads work fine.

I am a fan of algefix. Yes I know its heresy but I believe that strategically knocking it back is helpful. When it dies back run tons of phosphate sponge and crank the skimmer. When that settles dose the TechM

Finally keep turbo snails, urchins and mollies in the tank. Big fan of mollies. They do eat bryopsis.

Now I have a situation where every week or so I go in and pull out a few small clumps but it really isn't much of a problem.

IMO

I had to relocate ALL of my CUC. Including the Turbos.
As I was increasing the Tech M, I started losing other snails, crabs, shrimp, etc...
I'm looking forward to dropping the Tech M to a less lethal level and getting my CUC back to work.

 

[dball711]

Y-Not;945468 wrote: Yeah, I was talking to my wife (primary decorator and co-owner of the tank) and we are working on another plan of attack.

I'm calling it "Operation Deforestation".

I'll be pulling out most of the rock (it's pegged and zip tied and sitting on PVC feet) and taking it to the tub. Scrubbing it like it's an Olympic event, rinsing with RO/DI water and putting it back in.

We've also got a "free sample" of Nualge that claims to feed corals, fish and fight nuisance algae at the same time.

I'll keep up the weekly 20% water changes, lower the Magnesium to around 1400 as well as manually pulling it out every day.

Let's see what happens.
The worst case, I lose my clam, tube anemone, zoas, sun coral and duncan.
I've already lost the most important and expensive stuff. :-(

Why not give it a peroxide soak while its out after the scrubbing? Might as well get rid of all of it, get you mag down and increase your CUC. Keep the GFO fresh Like Mysterybox said and if you have substrate use a gravel cleaner and make sure that’s not part of the problem.

 

[y-not]

dball711;945474 wrote: Why not give it a peroxide soak while its out after the scrubbing? Might as well get rid of all of it, get you mag down and increase your CUC. Keep the GFO fresh Like Mysterybox said and if you have substrate use a gravel cleaner and make sure that’s not part of the problem.

True that!
I've got no issues with scrubbing it down with peroxide while I'm at it.
And you've got a good point. While the substrate is free of all rock, might as well give it a cleaning too.

 

[morganatlanta]

I've heard you can also use a blow torch on the areas affected (no kidding). This might actually be kinder to your rock than dowsing the whole thing in peroxide. If you have a glass tank, you might be able to get all the spots with it still in the tank.

 

[y-not]

MorganAtlanta;945483 wrote: I've heard you can also use a blow torch on the areas affected (no kidding). This might actually be kinder to your rock than dowsing the whole thing in peroxide. If you have a glass tank, you might be able to get all the spots with it still in the tank.

Yeah, I've heard that too.
And while torching it back to the hell that it came from would give me great satisfaction, my wife on the other hand would protest doing that in the house.

She even commented on the possible aroma that boiling it would create. :unsure: