What is on my coral?

[Ian Baxter]

This coral came with a tank I bought in November and I’m slowly bringing it back. But, I’m not sure what the string looking thing are on it. That tank had Bryopsis and when I upgraded to this tank I treated it and got rid of all of that and GHA. But this is still there about 2 months later.

 

[Troylee]

Hard to tell from those blurry pics but I’d say hydroids or byropsis…

 

[vetteguy53081]

This coral came with a tank I bought in November and I’m slowly bringing it back. But, I’m not sure what the string looking thing are on it. That tank had Bryopsis and when I upgraded to this tank I treated it and got rid of all of that and GHA. But this is still there about 2 months later.

Similar to bryopsis, Iam seeing Derbesia which is a pain in the rear algae which is more challenging of an algae due to need of its complete removal. Removal is best accomplished by taking the rock out of tank and placing in a container of tank water. Then you will want to pull as much as you can by hand and discard. With a dental pick or small crochet needle, pull the roots off the rock. YOU MUST GET EVERY ROOT OR IT WILL SIMPLY RETURN !!
After you are done return rock to tank and reduce white light intensity and even hours of white light and add the following cleaners which will help with control. These guys will consume bryopsis/derbesia but not as fast as it can grow - They will never keep up.
Pin cushion urchin, Chiton snails, pitho crabs, and larger astrea snails

This procedure is not as bad or time consuming as it seems. Assure phosphate levels do not become elevated which helps feed this algae

harbor Freight:

 

[Ian Baxter]

Hard to tell from those blurry pics but I’d say hydroids or byropsis…

That's the two I'm going between. If it's hydroids how can I get rid of it? I've read fendbendazole, but it will kill a lot of coral and fish.

 

[Troylee]

That's the two I'm going between. If it's hydroids how can I get rid of it? I've read fendbendazole, but it will kill a lot of coral and fish.

Scraping them off with a razor blade would be your best bet…

 

[GlassMunky]

Doesn’t look like hydroids to me… just looks like algae
Try using a toothbrush if it really bothers you but it shouldn’t cause any issues

 

[Ian Baxter]

Similar to bryopsis, Iam seeing Derbesia which is a pain in the rear algae which is more challenging of an algae due to need of its complete removal. Removal is best accomplished by taking the rock out of tank and placing in a container of tank water. Then you will want to pull as much as you can by hand and discard. With a dental pick or small crochet needle, pull the roots off the rock. YOU MUST GET EVERY ROOT OR IT WILL SIMPLY RETURN !!
After you are done return rock to tank and reduce white light intensity and even hours of white light and add the following cleaners which will help with control. These guys will consume bryopsis/derbesia but not as fast as it can grow - They will never keep up.
Pin cushion urchin, Chiton snails, pitho crabs, and larger astrea snails

This procedure is not as bad or time consuming as it seems. Assure phosphate levels do not become elevated which helps feed this algae

harbor Freight:

It's only on that coral frag. I don't see it anywhere else. Would a dip work?

 

[Ian Baxter]

Doesn’t look like hydroids to me… just looks like algae
Try using a toothbrush if it really bothers you but it shouldn’t cause any issues

It doesn't bother me, I just wanted to make sure it's not Hydroids. I wasn't sure if they were stinging the coral causing it to stay that way.

 

[GlassMunky]

It doesn't bother me, I just wanted to make sure it's not Hydroids. I wasn't sure if they were stinging the coral causing it to stay that way.

Yea hydroids tend to be much more “fuzzy” looking than that IME. Like the end of them will be more fuzzy with multiple “branches”
Whereas these seem more like single strands of algae to my eyes.


Either way, a toothbrush would be the easiest way to remove it

 

[Ian Baxter]

Yea hydroids tend to be much more “fuzzy” looking than that IME. Like the end of them will be more fuzzy with multiple “branches”
Whereas these seem more like single strands of algae to my eyes.


Either way, a toothbrush would be the easiest way to remove it

Thanks!

 

[vetteguy53081]

It's only on that coral frag. I don't see it anywhere else. Would a dip work?

Dip won’t
Fluconasal (flux) may but wouldn’t do it for one coral
Scraping off with the edge of a paring knife is another option
The challenge is the root system it has but a pitho crab mentioned would likely get rid of it

 

[Ian Baxter]

Dip won’t
Fluconasal (flux) may but wouldn’t do it for one coral
Scraping off with the edge of a paring knife is another option
The challenge is the root system it has but a pitho crab mentioned would likely get rid of it

It was there before I treated the tank with flux. I'll try scrapping it off and see what happens.