A Simple Guide To Common Problematic Algae And The Means To Control It..

[Sasquatchv]

BRYOPSIS:

IDENTIFICATION:
Green or blue tuffs attached to the rock work or glass and it it has a firm anchor to the rock work, as it grows it rises up and branches out.

WHAT IT FEEDS OFF OF:
This algae's food source is primarily Ammonia and Nitrite. If you levels of these two nutrients in your system you might have a bigger problem then the algae it self. Either you do not have adequate bio-filtration or you are way over feeding, or something has died in the system and has yet to be found.

HOW TO CONTROL IT:
The easiest ways to control this type of algae goes back to the basic fundamentals of reef keeping Strong established bio-filtration, Aggressive skimming, and a good husbandry schedule.

REMOVAL:
The easiest way to remove this algae from the system is to simply reach in and pull the tuffs out by hand.

NATURAL HERBIVORES:
This algae is not desired by a lot of herbivores but still yet there are a few that can be used for control and they are as follows.
Rabbit fish,Tuxedo urchin, Mithrax crab, and some sea slugs ( elysia spp,) *Sea slugs should be handled by experienced aquarist*.

I have this crap all over my tank, no Ammonia nor nitrites detectible since cycle finished some 4 weeks ago. just rechecked my test kit, and it does pick up dosed ammonia in test batch of water. undosed fresh salt mix(RODI) and tank water have identical colour from start trough 5 minute read mark until 30 minutes later.

Pick by hand, nice try, stuff is so slippery and well anchored that after 5 minutes of plucking there is barely any change.
I'm tempted to take all rocks out and give them 200bar pressure wash, give livestock back to LFS and nuke the tank with ...dunno...potasssium permanganate, H2O2(if only HTP wasn't outlawed in UK).

 

[Backreefing]

POLYSIPHONIA ( RED HAIR ALAGE THE USABLE KIND )

IDENTIFICATION:
This algae grows in small red tuffs on rock work, glass,coral branches mostly SPS have to worry about this but can over take polyps such as Palythoas, Zoanthids
and other small low lying corals.

WHAT IT FEEDS OFF OF:
This algae feeds primarily off of Nitrites, but will also feed off of Phosphates and Nitrates. Since this algae feeds off of more then one thing it is a prime candidate for a algae turf scrubber, And can easily be removed from the system and the nutrients are removed at the same time as harvest.

HOW TO CONTROL IT:
If you are not using this as a scrubber it is rather easy to control as long as you have proper bio-filtration and there are no Nitrates in system.

It is also easily removed by hand and after the main tuffs are removed you can scrub the surface of the rock with a toothbrush. It is also advised to siphon as much as possible out of the system. With proper husbandry, aggressive skimming, and being mind-full of what food is added to the system, run in's with algae can be avoided.

NATURAL HERBIVORE'S :
Diadema urchin,hermit crabs, and sea slugs (Aplysia and Hermaea) * sea slugs should be handled by advanced aquarist only *

 

[nano reef]

GELIDIOPSIS AKA WIRE ALGAE:

IDENTIFICATION:
This algae grown on the rock work in long red or brown wiry strands.

WHAT FEED IT:
This algae like nitrates.

HOW TO CONTROL IT:
This algae is very easy to control and grows slower then most and is readily removed by pulling the tuffs out by hand. Along with manual removal aggressive skimming,and good husbandry this is a easily conquerable algae.

WHY ITS BAD:
This algae can suffocate other corals.

NATURAL HERBIVORES:
Surgeonfish, Diadema urchin.

I know this is very old but does this algae have a root structure? I cant get rid of this no mater how hard I try! I am pretty sure it came on some wild corals and like an idiot I though no "big deal its some type of sea algae and it will die off"!

Its so hard to remove because it starts growing back and these very short wiry piece are hard to grab a hold of! Its like pulling out your hair. It will grow back! lol How can I prevent it from coming back being it has a root structure?

This pic is embarrassing but this is at its worse! Now I just have short pieces and only bothering my zoas that I just invested 3k in! I also have this free floating algae that has bubbles attached almost like dinos. Do you know the name of that. I am thinking it calotrix from my research.

I havnt had algae since early days and now that I am investing in corals This is what I have! I really am scared to add crabs because of them picking at my zoas!

Is there any other fix?

Will something like micro bacter clean work?

I had dinos a while back in another tank (low nutrients)and I dosed mb7 nightly in both just incase it spread and I beat that real quick. I have noticed that its starting to grow now that I quit dosing. So I am going back to that and I also added chemiclean because I red the free floating is a type of cyano!

That pic is not long after I got that coral in and it didint spread either, so There is a possibility of someone that sent me zoas on new plugs and new little squares that held the zoas to the plug!

THose have it the worse and I noticed they turned crazy red right after they came in my tank. I didnt notice the hairs at first but since they are the ones that mostly have it. It make sense that she was hiding something and it might have came from them!

I removed the scoly from that plug and no alage has cam back on it but I can keep it off my zoas. Thank God hers were mostly cheapies except for a grand master strat that has since died. Lots of them have died!

I am peroxide dipping some some and putting them on clean plus from my sump but now I am scared that it could spread in that tank but these expensive zoas were dying and seemed to mainly be affected by the free floating algae so I made sure that wasnt on them! Now they are opening and doing great!

Problem is I have tons more coming in! UGGH. I wish I could cancel but they wont let me nor will they ship but thats a good thing because its giving me time to eradicate this!



Sorry this is so long but I also wondered if me adding alot of plastic frag racks could cause this or make it worse. I think I red that some where!

 

[lasithawicks]

Good write up.

 

[lasithawicks]

Any idea what this algae is?