Any idea what this long wiry algae is?

[Lelegance]

This took over my tank after a huge bloom of standard gha and bubble algae from neglect and a couple long trips. No clue what it is but some of these sections are 4” long. Grows fairly thick kind of like gha, but doesn’t come off nearly as easy and is really thin but more solid than gha. Isn’t matting on the rocks or making a root network from what i can see, so i’m stumped. It’s a pain to remove as well.

 

[Subsea]

See if this looks familiar:

Reef Cleaners

A good guide to identify most of the nuisance algae that plagues the hobby. Complete with pictures and suggested treatments

www.reefcleaners.org

Bryopsis pennata and B. plumosa​

Some of the hardest to remove species of macroalgae encountered in the hobby are B. pennata and B. plumosa. These two species have noticeable discernible midribs (center portion of the algae), that are wider than their branches. They are fast growing, and form a mat like root system on the rocks. Algae that grows from mats, instead of singular holdfasts, are harder to remove if they spread in your tank. This is due to the tedious work that is required to remove all of the algae from the surface it is growing on. Any piece that remains will likely continue growing.

B. pennata (pictured on the left) has irregular and more sparse branching than its closely related cousin B. plumosa which has more symmetrical and fuller branching. (picture coming)There are many, many species of Green Hair Algae that have feathery branching, and are not necessarily members of the Bryopsis genus, nevermind B. pennata and B. plumosa. Simply because the hair algae in your system has branches does not mean it is one of these algae species.

Sea hares, nudibranchs, urchins, Emerald Crabs, chitons, and even the larger Astraea tuberwill eat both of these species, but often do not consume it faster than it can grow, or the algae lingers half eaten. Pitho Crabs are effective at fully removing Byropsis.