Algae in middle of favia. What can I do?

[trmiv]

I’ve got this bejeweled favia with algae in the middle. The coral is healthy and spreading down the sides of the plug, but as it grows it’s been leaving little bare areas between the polyps on the original rock it it’s on. Since no snails can get at those parts, algae has started to grow. Any idea what I can do to kill this algae? I was tempted to try hydrogen peroxide like I do on frag plug bases but there really not any way to avoid getting it directly on the coral. Anyone done a diluted peroxide dip on a favia?

 

[AmaleeC]

Is manual removal an option?

 

[trmiv]

I’ve tried but it’s too easy to damage the coral flesh while doing that.

 

[AmaleeC]

I’ve tried but it’s too easy to damage the coral flesh while doing that.

You may also want to try using a turkey baster to get it off, but if that is not an option — try dosing Vibrant. It’ll take about two weeks to kick in, but it’ll slowly do the trick.

 

[Kellie in CA]

You could try using a dental pick to scape it off the skeleton.

 

[Shirak]

I have used peroxide dips on just about all types of corals from softies, lps, sps.. you name it. Never had any issues. I would start with a roughly 25% peroxide 75% tank water mix for a couple minute dunk and see how that goes. May take a few days to see the results. Can always repeat too in a week if needed

 

[trmiv]

Well I tried the scraping with a dental pick and that didn’t do much. It got rid of some algae but damaged the coral in places. Waited a few days for the coral to recover and tried 75% tank water and 25% peroxide dip for two minutes yesterday. The algae is now dead but so is the coral. It rapidly deteriorated hours after the peroxide dip and is now 90% dead. i should have just left it alone.

 

[TriggerFinger]

I’ve used peroxide on zoas only...they did get pretty upset but they bounced back. Don’t give up on it just yet! Maybe put it in a shaded spot to see if it recovers?

 

[trmiv]

Yea I’ll stick it back in the tank. My experience with these flat encrusting type favia though is once they start going downhill it’s really tough to get them to recover, so I’m not confident especially given how much flesh died off.

 

[trmiv]

So I stuck this in the back corner of my tank in low light. It was a dead skeleton. Lately I’ve been noticing some color on it. Appears a small bit of the favia is starting to grow again.

 

[EverythingSaltyRob]

target with hydrogen peroxide and a precise syringe. let it sit for 90 seconds, then rinse.

 

[trmiv]

Further progress on this coral making its return from the dead. Life uh....finds a way. It was a totally white skeleton when I stuck in a shaded area in the back.