Major ulva outbreak. Looking for solutions

[Jasontkd]

I have a 90 gallon tank with a large ulva outbreak. It is covering several rocks and is all over the sand as well.

the rock work I have is too large and connected to remove and treat with peroxide. None of my fish or inverts seem to touch the stuff.

I started dosing vibrant this week 2 doses so far).

I am very concerned about it. It is getting worse and is starting to grow very near several corals.

what are my options

 

[lion king]

Ulva would be very easy to manual harvesting. Imo this is an attractive macro algae that would be a positive addition to maintaining water quality. Managing your phosphates and nitrates would also be a good plan to slow growth.

 

[Jasontkd]

Not I my tank it isn’t. It has grown very dense and covers large areas. Maybe it isn’t ulva. I know I have ulva in my tank so I assume it is all the same

 

[MarshallB]

Do you any tangs in your 90 gallon? They should devour this stuff. That definitely looks like Ulva.

 

[Jasontkd]

No tangs. I have had never had any luck with tangs. I did buy a starry Benny, but he doesn’t touch the stuff

 

[Big C]

Ulva sucks. Had a bad outbreak during my startup. Tangs and blenny would pick at but that’s about it. Had a macro reactor with cheato. Spread like fire....... I got it significantly reduced:

1. Tank matured a bit???
2. Reduced nitrate below 5 ppm and phosphate below 0.05.
3. CUC:
a. Crowe snails - maybe but not much
b. Sea hare - not really
c. Purple urchins - this was the ticket
1. Issue is they can’t get in the crevasses

Reducing nutrients and urchins. I still have a little bit barely noticeable and manageable.

BEFORE

AFTER

 

[TriggerFinger]

Timely thread; I’m on my way to a serious ulva infestation. Following for cleaner ideas because manual removal isn’t working for me.

 

[Big C]

I plan on driving nutrients low (carbon dosing and cheato), bacteria supplements (NOT Vibrant at this time, I use Aquaforest Pro Bio S and Dr Tim’s Refresh). Have 3 urchins in a 180 and might drop to 2 now. Maybe try a blackout at some point.

 

[Jasontkd]

I have been toying with dosing peroxide, but that seems to be a mixed reaction from people, so it make me nervous.

I have seen people have good luck with vibrant, but i don’t know how long that takes to start showing results.

 

[Jasontkd]

Is there a safe dose for peroxide? There is just no way to treat it all by spot treatment.

I tested nitrates and phosphate and both were 0. I guess the ulva could be consuming all of of it.

I have to do something because it is taking over

 

[Big C]

Most of what I read vibrant and fluconazole doesn’t really work. I never tried, just most the posts I read. I also a bit more natural way. I did peroxide treat frags I could pull out. The CUC, carbon dosing is what helped me. I really think the urchins made quick work of it. I tried to get a before/after of an area. Took a few months.

 

[Jasontkd]

Any urchins or specific type?

 

[sfin52]

Black spot Foxface. It will devour that stuff

 

[Big C]

Had three purple urchins, but they carry around stuff.....

 

[Big C]

What I found with my tangs is they would eat the top of the ulva preventing it from getting “leafy” but never eat to the rock like the urchins. Just my experience.

 

[GillMeister]

I'm seeing a significant increase of ulva in my tank. I have three tangs. They won't touch it. They nibble at the rock surrounding the sea lettuce but won't eat the greens.

 

[Jasontkd]

I am still struggling a lot with it. I have been dosing Vibrant for 2 weeks now and have not seen any change.

During my weekly water change, I took a bunch of extra water out of my tank to lower the water level below the tops of some of the rocks. I spot treated with peroxide. In those spots, it appears to be dying off (or at least changing color).

Can i treat the whole tank with peroxide safely?

 

[brandon429]

Wanna beat it with peroxide, added to the water, calculated

no removal

ulva is the best algae you could have for correct p work. specific ulva jobs for perusal:

Reef2Reef Pest algae challenge thread hydrogen peroxide

Thank you for the quick reply and guidance. it Is a Waterbox 100.3 so a take down is fairly easy. Went through it to get all the fish out a month ago and is no problem. All corals on plugs aside from the nem so that is also a non issue. Conchs, snails, hermits, fire and cleaner shrimp is all...

www.reef2reef.com

that actual page is large tank work and one is a dosed run vs take apart run for ulva infestation with after pics. You can see the issue with inaccessible scapes


let’s change that....make it accessible bc next time it won’t be easy like this one. Break up the scape into sections ideally

if not, we can dose it. It’ll die for sure

 

[Jasontkd]

Wanna beat it with peroxide, added to the water, calculated

no removal

ulva is the best algae you could have for correct p work. specific ulva jobs for perusal:

Reef2Reef Pest algae challenge thread hydrogen peroxide

Thank you for the quick reply and guidance. it Is a Waterbox 100.3 so a take down is fairly easy. Went through it to get all the fish out a month ago and is no problem. All corals on plugs aside from the nem so that is also a non issue. Conchs, snails, hermits, fire and cleaner shrimp is all...

www.reef2reef.com

I am sorry, I am not following. Can it be dosed in a reef and not harm corals/inverts/fish?

What is "p work"

 

[don_chuwish]

My 25G Cube had an outbreak early on, but over time it just faded away. No trace of it now. Rabbitfish love it if you want to try the fish route.

February shot, (tried an urchin, didn't touch it):

Now: