Please help with identification/removal!

[brdk]

Good afternoon everyone! Can someone please help me identify this green alage?

It seems to be a rigid structure that grows no longer than 1" long. I manually removed all of it from the sand bed and it came right back within a week. It is covering my live rock and just keeps getting worse.

I noticed that if you pinch it, it seems to "pop" just like bubble alage.

Are there any ideas out there for removal? This is a IM 20 gallon AIO.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Do you have a fts and photos of what it looks like on your rock?

 

[mcarroll]

Probably hair algae, but agreed that more/better pics would help....something else in-frame for size perspective too maybe.

How old is your tank?

How are you filtering/cleaning?

How are your test results (please post)?

How is your cleanup crew? (please list)

 

[brdk]

I do a weekly 10% water change and test water weekly. Below are my results from yesterday:

PH - 8.2 (Hanna)
Nitrates - 8.7 (Hanna)
Phosphates - .07 (Hanna)
Calcium - 460 (Salifert)
Magnesium - 1350 (Salifert)
Alkalinity - 7.5 (Hanna)
Salinity - 1.025

I am using filter floss and bio-balls in the back of the tank. Tank itself was set up 6 months ago. Bio-balls were from a tank that has been established for over two years.

Cleanup crew is an assortment of snails. (Nassarius/ trochus/ astrea)

I have three fish - cardinal, firefish and mandarin.

Pictures are attached for help with identification.

Brian

 

[mcarroll]

I do a weekly 10% water change and test water weekly. Below are my results from yesterday:

PH - 8.2 (Hanna)
Nitrates - 8.7 (Hanna)
Phosphates - .07 (Hanna)
Calcium - 460 (Salifert)
Magnesium - 1350 (Salifert)
Alkalinity - 7.5 (Hanna)
Salinity - 1.025

Seems "up to snuff". :)

I am using filter floss and bio-balls in the back of the tank. Tank itself was set up 6 months ago. Bio-balls were from a tank that has been established for over two years.

Nothing wrong per se, but you may want to switch up filtration from bio-balls+floss to a protein skimmer at some point.

Cleanup crew is an assortment of snails. (Nassarius/ trochus/ astrea)

Still need a list of them – as complete as you can. You need the right kinds and the right number.

I'm gonna say you don't have enough since I haven't seen any snails in the pics so far.....and that's the most likely reason that algae gets a foothold – not enough herbivore grazers. (Nassarius and hermits are scavengers.) Snails are small and tanks have a LOT of surface area for them to cover! So it takes numbers. :)

Still looks mostly like hair algae – green algae, anyway.

I would start manually removing as much as you can, everywhere it's big enough to get tweezers or your fingers on. In the sand it's often impossible, so just siphon out the sand that has algae growing on it.

 

[Metallicat]

I do a weekly 10% water change and test water weekly. Below are my results from yesterday:

PH - 8.2 (Hanna)
Nitrates - 8.7 (Hanna)
Phosphates - .07 (Hanna)
Calcium - 460 (Salifert)
Magnesium - 1350 (Salifert)
Alkalinity - 7.5 (Hanna)
Salinity - 1.025

I am using filter floss and bio-balls in the back of the tank. Tank itself was set up 6 months ago. Bio-balls were from a tank that has been established for over two years.

Cleanup crew is an assortment of snails. (Nassarius/ trochus/ astrea)

I have three fish - cardinal, firefish and mandarin.

Pictures are attached for help with identification.

Brian

What size tank do you have? From what I can see it looks like 20-30g. That algae is easy to dial back with a Tang! Yes! You might think the tank is too small for a tang, but you can get a small Scopas or better yet a Tomini Tang; those are good gracers. Once you see the tang ready to outgrow the tank, swap it for a small one again. Another good choice is a Tuxedo Urchin or in the list a pink urchin. Those are good gracers too! Last but not least Tropical Abalone!! You’d be surprised on how good they clean off the rock and frag plugs! Don’t use chemicals; you don’t want that. If I were you I’d get a small tang and the small urchin or Tropical Abalone. Little sand sifter goby wouldn’t hurt your tank too, to help you with your sand!

Good luck!

 

[brdk]

I agree I could use a bigger clean up crew. I have 6 snails total. (Two of each)

Are you sure about the hair alage? This alage is rigid and seems to "pop" when it is pinched/removed. My fear is that it behaves like bubble alage - when popped, many spores are released!

Thanks.