I think I have bryopsis in my newish tank

[bronck83]

I thought it was hair algae but after looking at pics online I'm fairly certain it's bryopsis since it has the "fern" like appearance. What do I do? Everything I read it makes it seems like its impossible to get rid of?

Tanks been setup for 3 months. Little info on it...

75 gallon drilled with 35 gallon sump
Octopus 150 skimmer
fuge with cheato & mangroves & DSB
auto-top off
~120 lbs live rock
~130 lbs live sand
~140 hermits/snails
2 small chromis
1 small ocellaris clown
1 small blue hippo tang
Various mushrooms, polys

[clone]

is it on a rock or mixed in with a coral?
if its not mixed in with a coral i would scrub the rock with a tooth brush and rinse it in a seperate bucket till it looked to be gone.
I have the same problem right now but its mixed in with some zoas,but a wise man told me to pull it off while doing a water change (pull then siphion out what was just pulled).
Im going to try that method this weeked

[rz1a]

its no problem. you have to raise your magnesium to a certain point and it will just kill it without hurting anything in your tank. try to see if you can do a search for it on RC. its a huge thread

[rz1a]

yup it works: http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic67434-13-1.aspx read the 4th post

"I just tried this method with my sps tank. I raised Magnesium to between 1550-1600 (with Tech M) from 1200 over the course of four days. I had a nasty Bryopsis outbreak, and no herbivores worked. Even a sea hare wouldn't touch it."

[clone]

humm i like your style,humm

[bronck83]

Hmm... I will look into that. Kent's Tech M?

[Ping]

For what its worth, I tried the increased Mg using Mag flake when this post first showed up on RC and I experienced no change to the algae in my tanks. I followed this thread and many experienced the same results as I did.

[rz1a]

Maybe it wasn't bryopsis? Or the magnesium kit was off? This is the only thing ive ever heard of working and safe for the tank. It takes a while for it to die off once magnesium has been raised. Had some in my tank once and raised magnesium and never saw it again

If you have a local reefer that makes their own magnesium then maybe they can help out

[hobogato]

nope, raising magnesium didnt work for me either. i had it as high as 2100 for a while. it really isnt a huge issue as long as you are diligent in pulling it and make sure you remove all that you pull. if you let it get out of hand, you will have to cook your rock to get rid of it.

[coraline79]

wow! I just went out and looked at pics of this and viola! That is what I have been battling. I just noticed the fern look today, and I became suspicious.

I have a patch I can almost completely clear and it is back and bigger in 5 days. I banished Turbos from my tank, but I bought another one today and placed him there. He has been munching away for about an hour, but every once in a while he will move away. I am going to manually put him there a few times tomorrow to see if he can do anything, but I think I am going to try the Mg thing next week.

I just could understand why it wouldnt go away. I have had hair before, and you pull it a few time, do some water changes an bam done.

[hobogato]

mine is slowly going away with manual removal, blue leg hermits (they eat the roots) and tuxedo urchins (also eat coraline algae, so i have some white spots on the rocks from them). some corals dont seem to mind it and grow right over it, but others die back where ever it touches them.

[coraline79]

I have a few blue legs, maybe I should get a few more

[rz1a]

if you cant remove it with the magnesium i would just do as others suggested and manually remove it, but also add a phosphate reactor, maybe add a skimmer? and try to keep your nitrates low

towards the end of this link http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1113109&perpage=25&highlight=magnesium%20and%20bryopsis&pagenumber=34 people start giving more advice on how to get rid of it

[coraline79]

I run a skimmer rated at 90 gallons on about 35 gallons of water, and I run phosban as well. I also do 14 day 5 gallon water changes. I don't think that any of these items help in this case.

[bronck83]

From what I've read, high phosphates/nitrates don't seem to be the cause or even a factor in the formation of bryopsis so water changes/skimming/phosban can't hurt, I don't think it'll get rid of any of it. Guess I'm gonna try manual removal and the magnesium.

[zcatzmeow]

Hey :)

I'd love to see some pictures :photo: of the algae problems you guys are having. I'm having issues too and I'd love to compare pics to see if we are all talking about the same thing, and what is considered to be a minor or major problem.

I'll get some pics up of my "fuzzy" rock work in a bit.

[Bill S]

I've been losing a battle with it. It has gotten so bad, I'm thinking of fragging corals and tearing up the tank, removing infected rock.

[VoodooMach]

yup it works: http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic67434-13-1.aspx read the 4th post

"I just tried this method with my sps tank. I raised Magnesium to between 1550-1600 (with Tech M) from 1200 over the course of four days. I had a nasty Bryopsis outbreak, and no herbivores worked. Even a sea hare wouldn't touch it."


Oh dang... that's just nasty... I knew there would be some one step easy fix some where hahaha.

[bronck83]

I've been losing a battle with it. It has gotten so bad, I'm thinking of fragging corals and tearing up the tank, removing infected rock.

Maybe that's the problem, we all get our rock/frags from other MAASTards. It's spreading like an STD in a college dorm. :ph34r:

[VoodooMach]

Maybe that's the problem, we all get our rock/frags from other MAASTards. It's spreading like an STD in a college dorm. :ph34r:

Yeah when I sold a couple zooanthid colonies with bryopsis I specifically told those people to dip, scrub, and QT those mofos hahaha because I don't want anything ruining a tank...

[TexasState]

To get rid of the bryopsis, research dosing Vodka & skim them out.

[zcatzmeow]

And my attempt at a few pictures of fuzzy algae. :)

It's not super noticeable from a distance.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/zcatzmeow/SHOxI8ZPW4I/AAAAAAAACRA/CwN7mWFXD2I/s800/IMG_7013.JPG

Good example, look below red gorgonian.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/zcatzmeow/SHOxaAQZ5fI/AAAAAAAACRM/pSGjaCJl5Gs/s800/IMG_7049.JPG

Close up you can see both fuzzy red and green.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/zcatzmeow/SHOxskEfMcI/AAAAAAAACRU/bR60N51eEwY/s800/IMG_7159.JPG


http://lh3.ggpht.com/zcatzmeow/SHOx_KabCRI/AAAAAAAACRg/J8YjKPtlhEI/s800/IMG_7160.JPG


My current treatment is to raise my Mg over 1500 and tweak my Zeo stuff. I'm getting Zeo advice over on their board to increase the amount of zeolites and start the Coral Snow product.



PH -8.2
Ammonia - 0
Magnesium - 1500 (I've intentionally raised this over the past week after reading that higher Mg levels can be effective against hair algae.)
Nitrate - 0
Phosphate - 0 (undetectable)
KH - 7 / 125.3ppm
Calcium - 440
Salinity - 1.026
Temp - steady 79 degrees

[Ping]

I keep the bryopsis in control by applying Kalk directly on the algae.

[Bill S]

Ping, I wondered about that. I'll have to dry it...

[coraline79]

I keep the bryopsis in control by applying Kalk directly on the algae.

I have been trying this since you posted it. 2 applications, and it seems to be working like a charm. I have no new growth around application, and the direct area has seemed to have died off completely.

Thanks a bunch! I will post a before and after pic once it is removed completely or substancially. I am applying this once a week right now.