What is this algae and what eats it?

[encrustingacro]

So there's been this patch of short, red fuzzy (what I presume to be) macroalgae on my rock. I've had this algae for a while now; it grows REALLY slow. It seems to be firmly rooted, as I cannot seem to take any chunks out. What is it? How do I get rid of it? Is there anything that eats it?

 

[encrustingacro]

bump

 

[SliceGolfer]

I have the same thing growing on a banded trochus snail. My tuxedo urchin picks it clean when he can catch the snail. It has not spread anywhere in my tank.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I'm not sure, but it looks like red turf algae. Do you have any Mexican turbo snails?

 

[encrustingacro]

I'm not sure, but it looks like red turf algae. Do you have any Mexican turbo snails?

used to; they kept dying. I mostly have Trochus, Lithopoma, and some sort of whelks now.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

used to; they kept dying. I mostly have Trochus, Lithopoma, and some sort of whelks now.

Maybe the whelks killed the turbos...?

Things that eat turf algae, IME, are Mexican turbos, urchins, and possibly a sea hare.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Is the algae only in that one area? If so, assuming you can't remove the rock for treatment, you can try spot treating it with H2O2 (with the pumps off for 30 minutes or so); it might kill it off but will take a few days.

 

[encrustingacro]

Maybe the whelks killed the turbos...?

Things that eat turf algae, IME, are Mexican turbos, urchins, and possibly a sea hare.

may or may not have gotten the whelks after the turbos died, not sure (although I once saw my nassarius eating a turbo, they're all dead too); they were sold to me as nassarius

 

[encrustingacro]

Is the algae only in that one area? If so, assuming you can't remove the rock for treatment, you can try spot treating it with H2O2 (with the pumps off for 30 minutes or so); it might kill it off but will take a few days.

I don't have enough buckets to take out enough water so that the algae is exposed to air so that I can treat it with hydrogen peroxide. Yeah, the algae is only in that area.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I don't have enough buckets to take out enough water so that the algae is exposed to air so that I can treat it with hydrogen peroxide. Yeah, the algae is only in that area.

You don't need to expose it to air. Turn off all flow and use a pipette, syringe, etc to direct the H2O2 right to that area. Since it's kind of on vertical location, I'd squirt the H2O2 right onto the patch, starting at the bottom. Once you see lots of bubbles coming off the algae, you've added enough.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

may or may not have gotten the whelks after the turbos died, not sure (although I once saw my nassarius eating a turbo, they're all dead too); they were sold to me as nassarius

I bet I can guess who sold them to you!

 

[encrustingacro]

I bet I can guess who sold them to you!

Who? I honestly don't remember.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Who? I honestly don't remember.

I'm not going to name him publicly, but a lot of folks on here buy cleaners for their reefs from him... Sent me whelks twice, once when I ordered nass and once in infested chaeto.

 

[encrustingacro]

I'm not going to name him publicly, but a lot of folks on here buy cleaners for their reefs from him... Sent me whelks twice, once when I ordered nass and once in infested chaeto.

I've never really bought any livestock or corals online, so I doubt that would be it. Now that I think of it, I might have gotten them from multiple different sources.

 

[A Young Reefer]

Tuxedo urchins wiped out an outbreak of red turf for me.