Strange Plant In Tank

[Tristanyurieef]

Hey guys, I have a 32 gallon biocube FOWLR setup and a plant has randomly sprouted. This tank has been established for almost two years now and has never had any sort of corals or macro-algae introduced to it. The plant seems to wilt and die and then spring back up randomly. It has brown little stigma looking things that billow in the current. There's only one and I've been very curious as to what is it. Any ideas ?

 

[JTP424]

I'm not 100% sure but someone else called something similar "Mermaid wine glass" algae?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Mermaid cup algae :) That's the 3rd one today lol. Must be the time of year for it to spring up

 

[JTP424]

Mermaid cup algae :) That's the 3rd one today lol. Must be the time of year for it to spring up

That's how I recognized it :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

 

[Tristanyurieef]

Thank you all for your responses, it's crazy because I've never even heard of it or seen anything like it before until it was in my tank!

 

[Tristanyurieef]

One last question, I was doing some research to learn more about this algae and I see people are seeking it out, is this something that's okay to stay in the tank? Or something that should be removed? I don't want to bother it if it's not going to bother anything.

 

[Tristanyurieef]

Mermaid cup algae :) That's the 3rd one today lol. Must be the time of year for it to spring up

Is this something that should be removed from the tank or something that I could/should leave in? From google searches I'm seeing people are actually looking for it and i don't want to bother it if it's not hurting anything to have it.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I've never heard of any ill effects of leaving it. So i'd say keep it and see if more pop up :)