Algae, question

[alexwolf]

I am having a break out of some kind of algae, its brown and stringy, but not like hair algae. Some pieces are 6-8" long, and attached to EVERYTHINGm clam, seahorse, corals, you name it. Any ideas?

[dan]

i get a little of that sometimes. i do a water change and it goes away. something in the water that feeds it.

[alexwolf]

i left the camera at work :(

[TAXMAN]

I get that stuff too. Is it long, stringy and kinda sticks to stuff? Then a couple of days later it is gone? Mine is from very small snails. They are a tube type snail and I cant remember the name of the. I have tons of them in my tank. I have found that if I feed a lotand the nutrient level gets real high, they produce this junk. I have started feeding very light in the morning and a decent feeding at night. I have not had a problem for a while now. 1st pic is the little tubes that creat this junk. 2nd pic is the stringy stuff they create.
I hope this helps.

[alexwolf]

wow, its really from thos tube things???? I have a TON of this in my tank right now. Come to htin of it, i fed heavily the other night. Hm, well i guess ill just wait it out

[PeeJ]

I have it as well....and see it coming from these tubes.

[alexwolf]

wow, mine as literally overrun my tank, it is clinging on EVERY piece of coral, xenia, mushrooms, rock, and its even on the seahorse!!!!

[::pete::]

Its actually a web the worm sends out to catch food and then it retracts the web to eat. I watch mine and you can see them pull it back in.

Go down to the 10th picture. (http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/pages/main_pages/faq_rock3.htm)

[alexwolf]

i know this isnt it, because its hanging on things with no tubes. there is a piece 6" long hanging off the front of my 50, on the glass

[Instar]

I hate those web worms. Got some giant ones as hitchhikers and now have lots of babies. Need a natural predator.
Sometimes they really gum up a piece of coral. If they actually ate all that slime they make, that would be good, but they only manage to eat part of it. Thats how they trap their food. Just cause you feed at night doesn't make them not do it, you just don't see it and by morning the webs are eaten or off to the skimmer or somewhere else.

[alexwolf]

Is there something that eats them?

[TAXMAN]

I want to know if there is a predator for them too. Maybe a crab? I hate these things. I even have them on several of my snails. 1 snail has 2 on it.

[TimFountain]

Gotta say I am seeing the same thing. Everything was running great and then bam, almost overnight this stuff starts to cover everything. I have been battling this thing for 4 weeks, so far without a whole lot of change, I syphon and hoover daily, but by the next day it is back. I am doing 10G every 2 days of water change. Looking over at reefcentral, I am coming to the conclusion that this is actually dinoflagellates, which is apparently really bad news. Here's the link http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=256764

Here's the rundown on my tank FYI.

75G Oceanic RR bare bottom, 75# LR
4 fish (dwarf Lionfish, lawnmower blennie, coral beauty & Flame Hawk)
Feeding every 3 days very lightly4 emerald crabs
50 assorted snails (astrea etc)
No suppliments
20G Berlin Sump
Aquamedic Turboflotor 1000 Skimmer
Coil denitrator
15G Fuge, running 24/7 with 24W Coralife 50/50 with Macro and live DSB
18W UV added recently
Running GAC in sump
Running silicate removing stuff (forget name, looks like mud) in sump
Lighting, all <2 months old, 2x175W 14K hamilton HM, running 4 hours/day, 10K 96W T5 running 6 hours per day, Actinic 96W T5 running 6 hours per day
Temp 80F +/- 0.5F (controlled with Aquadyne Octopus)
PH day 8.34, night 8.26
SG 1.024
DkH 13.5
Calcium 350 (Getting Kalk reactor soon)
Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate 0
Phosphate 0
Silicate (1PPM - high)

I will try for a bit longer, but so far this outbreak has been vigourous and persistent and is starting to get me down. Wife is also moaning as I spend all my time with my hands in the tank rather than being with her! Any ideas most welcome....

- Tim

[StephenA]

I've got it, I'm going to go with more skimming, reduced feedings and increasing PH.