Ok I am about to really give up this time

[SCiMMiA]

Hi, I am sorry to be so negative. I battled all kind of pest and algae and I was able to win each of them.

But this stupid green algae that I can't even find the real name of it, will make me shut this down if I don't find what can really kill or eat it.

I've recorded a short video because it is very hard to determine with photos what this algae really looks like so here it is:

*don't mind the sand particle in the water I just cleaned the glass before the video lol I noticed that after posting.

Removing it by hand is a continuous battle that never ends so not a real solution at the rate it grows.
Fluconazole did work once, then kinda twice then some third then not so much now.
Hermit crabs don't touch it
Emerald crabs don't touch it
Yellow Tang don't touch it
Toxedo urchin don't touch it
Money cowrie snail don't touch it
I might have tried something else that I don't remember right now

If you have battled something like that and have won this battle, your input is welcome. It is not some simple green hair algae, it is more like bryopsis/turf kind thing whatever I don't know but maybe someone got that knowledge and can help me battle that so I can regain power over my tank !


Thank you.

 

[Reeflix]

Unfortunately, I cant get the video to open, if it looks like feathers, then it is byropsis, if it looks like short green hair algae then it is turf, but the only real way I can determine what it is is with pics

 

[Stealthreefer]

refugium with a ton of light and UV sterilizer to slow the spread

 

[Pickle_soup]

Hi, I am sorry to be so negative. I battled all kind of pest and algae and I was able to win each of them.

But this stupid green algae that I can't even find the real name of it, will make me shut this down if I don't find what can really kill or eat it.

I've recorded a short video because it is very hard to determine with photos what this algae really looks like so here it is:

Removing it by hand is a continuous battle that never ends so not a real solution at the rate it grows.
Fluconazole did work once, then kinda twice then some third then not so much now.
Hermit crabs don't touch it
Emerald crabs don't touch it
Yellow Tang don't touch it
Toxedo urchin don't touch it
Money cowrie snail don't touch it
I might have tried something else that I don't remember right now

If you have battled something like that and have won this battle, your input is welcome. It is not some simple green hair algae, it is more like bryopsis/turf kind thing whatever I don't know but maybe someone got that knowledge and can help me battle that so I can regain power over my tank !


Thank you.

That looks like your plain hair algae. Keep up with water changes and get things that eat it. You will have to remove some of it by hand and make sure to dust your rocks with a turkey baster.

 

[shwareefer]

Take that coral skeleton it's on right out of the tank and don't put it back.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Video not working. Can you post a photo?

 

[Birdman Broham]

Video won’t load. Pics would do justice here

 

[Mr.OK]

Video won’t load. Pics would do justice here

 

[shwareefer]

VLC snapshot.

 

[Birdman Broham]

VLC snapshot.

holy wow. This looks like green hair algae that needs to go to the barber. I would manually remove as much as possible and try to lower your phosphates. You can do this several different ways but I always use a phosphate pad next to my filter socks. A UV would probably be beneficial here, I would suggest an intank UV.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Step 1 buy 2-3 holloween urchins.
Step 2 remove some of the algae to about 1 cm or less.
Step 3 send me a gift basket.

Jk. But I have no idea why Holloween Urchins are so criminally underrated. They will take down absolutely any and all algae present in the tank and leave your rocks super clean.
Zebra crabs are good too but you’ll need a ton of them. Tuxedo urchins are kind of useless and die easily.

However, most importantly, you’ll have to help them out initially by removing some of that algae, that way they’ll tackle the problem faster.

 

[Reeflix]

so, as well as CUC, you can try a H202 dip, i tried this on my GHA, worked wonders!
so you will take out a piece one by one dip it in a bucket for 10 minutes, with 10% H202. then once it has soaked, the GHA should be really loose and you can scrape it off in the bucket

 

[Uncle99]

I see no mention of water chemistry, parameters and stability.
Can you parameters and length of time fully stable?
Usually number 1 reason for pest algaes and bacteria.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Hi, I am sorry to be so negative. I battled all kind of pest and algae and I was able to win each of them.

But this stupid green algae that I can't even find the real name of it, will make me shut this down if I don't find what can really kill or eat it.

I've recorded a short video because it is very hard to determine with photos what this algae really looks like so here it is:

*don't mind the sand particle in the water I just cleaned the glass before the video lol I noticed that after posting.

Removing it by hand is a continuous battle that never ends so not a real solution at the rate it grows.
Fluconazole did work once, then kinda twice then some third then not so much now.
Hermit crabs don't touch it
Emerald crabs don't touch it
Yellow Tang don't touch it
Toxedo urchin don't touch it
Money cowrie snail don't touch it
I might have tried something else that I don't remember right now

If you have battled something like that and have won this battle, your input is welcome. It is not some simple green hair algae, it is more like bryopsis/turf kind thing whatever I don't know but maybe someone got that knowledge and can help me battle that so I can regain power over my tank !


Thank you.

NOTHING will eat the algae when it's that long!

Treat as many rocks as you can outside the tank and scrub off as much algae as you can, then spray h2o2 on the parts of the rock not containing coral before putting back in the tank.
For rocks you can't remove from the tank, use tweezers, your fingers, whatever, and pull off as much algae as you can. Be sure to use a net to catch the loose algae or do a water change after you're done and siphon out loose pieces. You can use a pipette to spot treat those rocks with H2O2 (with all flow off).

THEN, turbo snails and other cuc can help maintain the low algae level...

 

[hoffmeyerz]

All the advise so far is spot-on, manually remove as much as you can and pick some clean-up crew of your choosing that will eat it up.
It is important to remember the root causes that lead to increased algae growth which are nutrients in the water column and light intensity. Check your parameters with particular attention to phosphate but keep in mind it'll prob be misleadingly low since that much growth will be eating it up.
Manually remove what you can, reduce nutrient levels, lower amount/time of white light, and experiment with clean-up crew to find what will eat it.
Good luck!!

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

All the advise so far is spot-on, manually remove as much as you can and pick some clean-up crew of your choosing that will eat it up.
It is important to remember the root causes that lead to increased algae growth which are nutrients in the water column and light intensity. Check your parameters with particular attention to phosphate but keep in mind it'll prob be misleadingly low since that much growth will be eating it up.
Manually remove what you can, reduce nutrient levels, lower amount/time of white light, and experiment with clean-up crew to find what will eat it.
Good luck!!

And employ a refugium

 

[tweeter]

NOTHING will eat the algae when it's that long!

Treat as many rocks as you can outside the tank and scrub off as much algae as you can, then spray h2o2 on the parts of the rock not containing coral before putting back in the tank.
For rocks you can't remove from the tank, use tweezers, your fingers, whatever, and pull off as much algae as you can. Be sure to use a net to catch the loose algae or do a water change after you're done and siphon out loose pieces. You can use a pipette to spot treat those rocks with H2O2 (with all flow off).

THEN, turbo snails and other cuc can help maintain the low algae level...

The hydrogen peroxide trick really works! I've done it many times!

 

[SCiMMiA]

The length of the algae was not always that long when I was trying to fight it. I know that I have to manually remove some to jump start something what ever next I will try.

The thing about parameters is that they were spot on. (Now i'm slowly giving up in the last year)
I don't even want to post an actual full tank shot because it is just this algae all over the tank now.

As a reference this was my tank in January 2022, everything was growing perfectly. Since the start around 2019 I was able to fight cyano, full invasion of aiptasia, sps eating nudibranch and all kind of pest. But this dang green stuff... it is stronger than me.

That GSP is all over the back window now. But many corals are dead now because of this dang hair algae. And also because I'm kinda giving up on maintenace.

For water parameters, I always kept them at those values until I gave up I don't really test anymore since april but they should not be too far.

Salt: 1.025
Ca: ~450ppm
Alk: 8.4dKh
Mag: 1400ppm
K: 400ppm
No3: 0 to detectable.
Po4: ~0.03ppm

But those parameters did not slow the growth of that algae at all.

 

[reefpeeper]

You may think this is crazy, but everytime i get hair algea growing like that is when my nitrates and phosphates are at 0. Try to bump them up some and at same time remove as much as possible. Can use a tooth bush to scrub rocks inside tank once majority of it is removed

 

[hoffmeyerz]

Nitrate and phos readings with that large of an algae outbreak will be misleading. The algae would have no nutrients to grow if the levels were truly that low, the algae is consuming the nutrients in water column which is why the tests come back so low. If your nutrient readings were actually that low I would expect to see dinos showing up and the corals doing poorly.
A refugium growing cheto may give you good long-term results as it outcompetes the nuisance algae in the display.