Tough Algae

[Markster]

I have some sort of weird algae growth and it looks like good old hair algae but his stuff seems to be more complex. It attaches to rock and other last surfaces by a 'thread' and then sprouts branches in which it continues to grow very rapidly. I had a yellow tank, flame angel, and foxface previously but none of them seem to want to eat.

For those that came to my house for the party this month, you might have noticed in the back upper part of the tank.

Any idea on best way to rid of it? (snail, fish, scrubber)

[JimD]

Man, without a clear pic, its gonna be really difficult to positively ID it. Might wanna try doing some Google searches unless you can post a pic. What color is it? Any bubbles in it? Does it resemble any familiar types of algae? Sorry, didnt make the meeting so I didnt get to put an eyeball on it.

[Instar]

Does it look sorta like a feather if you look real close?

[StephenA]

Does it look sorta like a feather if you look real close?

I've got that all over my tank!

[JimD]

Bryopsis?

[StephenA]

Yep

[JimD]

Bummer, do you have a plan to get rid of it?

[StephenA]

Cut back feeding, Increase dKh, weekly water changes, and hand removal and rock scrubbing. Any other suggestions?

[JimD]

How long had you had it? RO/DI? Any idea where it came from? I had it once, ended up having to physicly remove some rocks, that was before I started using RO/DI water, havent had it since.

[Instar]

Stuff comes out of no where. Best to nip it in the bud because only a few species of slugs eat it. Any fish that eats much of it dies. Keep crabs, snails, urchins and algae eating fish, etc. from the begining to keep the rocks clean so it can't start. That stuff is more of a pest and problem than cyano will ever be. StephenA - cut your 10K lights off for at least a week while you're doing all that. If you can damage it a lot, the tangs will start eating the clear roots then. But if it starts to grow again, the tangs won't touch it. Its a nasty cycle. Some people break down their tanks when it gets to bryopsis. I recently saw someone's refugium that was full of it. I would toss all my refugium algae if that was the case, scrub it out and start the macro and pods over again.

[StephenA]

I"ve had it for awhile. Not sure where it came from. I'll cut the lights back and off some

[StephenA]

JimD:

I only use RO/DI

[DeAngelove]

Whats your TDS reading of your RO/DI water? If its high, it might be time to change the membranes...

[StephenA]

I checked the with my TDS meter and it's 29ppm. Looks like I need to replace them.

[Instar]

Bryopsis grows without the RO breaking down. It will grow in perfect water as will most macros. If someone sees even one strand of that junk, kill it before it becomes a problem, otherwise its not an easy fix. You'll knock yourself out testing, changing and so on and it will still grow.

[NaCl_H2O]

I recently saw someone's refugium that was full of it. I would toss all my refugium algae if that was the case, scrub it out and start the macro and pods over again.

That would probably be me ;)

Larry, strangely enough, it seems to be under control through careful weeding, high Dkh, and letting the other macro shade it out. Much less in the fuge now, and none in the tanks yet. Had some in the corner tank, but have reworked that and it seems to be doing ok.

[Markster]

It does appear as a feather from the small strand that it uses to attach to a rock, etc. I took out most of the affected rocks/corals and used a toothbrush in a tub of tank water.

There has to be an easier way. Is there not a fish that will mow this stuff down?

[Instar]

No - bryopsis causes cardiac failure in most sea life. There is always a species of some creature that will eat a certain target species of another thing. Just finding it is the problem. The lettuce slugs from Florida do NOT eat it as the scientific literature reports. So, still working on it. I have gotten hippo tangs to eat it so long as I damage it enough to get rid of the bryostatin. Each hair - leaf or frond, whatever you prefer to call it, is really a single cell of the algae. Once broken near the base, most of the content of the cell is released or contained in the tips. At that point, hippo tangs will eat the remaining stalk and not suffer any ill effects. Probably other tangs will as well. Its interesting to see they will not touch an intact thriving colony. I wonder how they can tell the difference between the toxic growth and non-toxic part? If I do come up with anything, I'll let you know. And as NaCl_H2O said, competition and shade help to do it in too.

[mathias]

I am waiting on the larry (instar) book......

[Instar]

StephenA - The SPS don't like the lights cut completely off. Better keep a watchful eye on them if you have any and are trying that. Perhaps you will only be able to cut back some and spend a lot of time pulling it out?

[DeAngelove]

I'm really glad I finally got rid of mine... this stuff is a pain in the but to get rid of of in your tank. Maybe a Sea Hare... I know they tend to eat alot of different types of algae if I remeber correctly, not sure if the eat bryopsis though.

Larry?

[GaryP]

Denise,

Read some of the previous posts. As usual Larry quoted chapter and verse. He's fighting a pretty nasty outbreak himself but he has it on the run.

Gary

[StephenA]

I cut back the lights some, It's starting to turn brown and break away.

[GaryP]

Larry had to turn his lights completely off and do a lot of manual cleaning to get a handle on it. Of course he's losing a lot of corals in the process. He had already lost a lot because of bryopsis overgrowing it. I think we are going to have to declare Larry's tank an official MAAST charity to get it repopulated with frags after he gets it going again. He's a done a lot for a bunch of us both in livestock and information and I think its time for a pay back.

Gary