Algae ID

[tom054]

Hi guys, looking for an ID on some algae please, image attached. I've been battling bryopsis (feathery kind) since may last year. I've tried high mg levels with several additives including Kent tech m from the states. Just finishing off my 2nd course of treatment with Dino x. The feathery type of bryopsis seems to have gone, allthough now I'm stuck with the algae pictured which once removed grows back within a week or so. Mg currently at 1700ish. Photo period is restricted to 6 hours per day fish are fed twice a week with 3 small blocks of food, (light feeder). Tank is 450 liters+ sump. Wet skimming, mixed LR lps/sps system allthough sps are struggling with the algae and short photo period. Levels controlled with doser (apart from mg ATM). Close to shutting down now as this battle with algae is driving me insane!

Any help welcomed

Cheers

 

[Ron Reefman]

The pics of the algae might help?

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Welcome to the planted tank forum, tom54! Lots of guys come around here asking for help IDing algae and how to get rid of it. I've got some bad news: we don't know either! Sorry about that. I'm pretty good at growing it though.

I personally don't need to see a pic of it, though if you post some, we're likely to get you close to an ID. I just call it algae-you-don't-want-icus. It sounds like you're throwing a lot chemicals at it. Careful you don't end up with a toxic soup! Don't forget about the basics. Manual removal, water changes, phosphate media, a variety of herbivores, including pods, competition (algae-you-do-want-icus), like a pretty macro algae or a refugium filled with chaeto, are a few that come to mind.

Excessive blue light can be a cause. It's called photo reduction of iron, where micro algae use blue light (like actinics) to access iron in the water column. Lets see, what else. Bacteria also compete with algae for available nutrients. You may want to diversify bacteria. You mentioned live rock. Do you have a sand bed? Sand provides huge surface area. Live sand from multiple sources could help.

That's about all I can think of right now. Maybe others will chime in. Best of luck to you. I hope you don't shut it down. Algae is weird. We fight and fight, and eventually we win, but most of the time we have no idea what we did that got rid of it…

 

[tom054]

Hi guys, I see the pictures haven't uploaded, the file size is too big and I can't compress them enough to upload to the tiny file size required.

 

[tom054]

Michael, thanks for the reply, I do have sand bed etc one in the DT and a DSB in my fuge which also has old LR crumbled for a pod culture. I've kept marine for 13 years and have been very successful. The tank is almost 3 years mature now and I keep my base levels spot on. Alkalinity at 8, mag usually at 1350-1400 and CA at 440. My bio load is small and apart from the algae my tank is pristine and flourishing. Manual removal appears to induce the algae into panic mode and causes more to pop up (like aiptasia manual removal) it surrounds but doesn't grow on corals unless it wraps around it. I've manually removed everything I can before treatment as directed, bust having complete the treatments 2.rimes over it still grows back.

At my wit's end with the stuff!

 

[tom054]

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://s558.photobucket.com/user/tom_nicholson1/embed/slideshow/"></iframe>

 

[tom054]

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hv0t1ps6yj7491h/AAA_zkLL86h_NbnLtuYg0zVVa?dl=0

 

[tom054]

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hv0t1ps6yj7491h/AAA_zkLL86h_NbnLtuYg0zVVa?dl=0

There's a link to pics and videos of the offending algae! Hope this helps

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I kind of doubt you can apply this, with corals, but I wanted to throw it out there. I'm currently treating my display tank with hypo salinity to get rid of ICH. I have a lot of macros and some of them are disappearing, most notably caulerpa racemosa. It appears hypo kills some algae.

How about herbivores? I would try a variety of snails. Ceriths are my favorites because they reproduce to numbers that can keep algae at bay. Lots of great herbivorous fish too. Chuck's Addiction website has some excellent info on this. He swears by Scopas Tangs, as the best algae eater. And lastly, there's the nuclear option-urchins. If you do add some snails, I'd remove any hermit crabs you have. They'll kill your snails, which are much better at removing algae. When adding snails, you can put them right on the offending algae to see who works best. You may need to pre-crop the algae down first, as they often ignore long strands, but go after the short stuff.

 

[tom054]

As an effect from the mag dosing my salinity has been at 1.030 for a couple of months which I've brought down over the past 2 weeks.

I have ceriths, nass and turbos in the tank all of which don't touch the stuff, hermits (both white and red legged) climb over it but don't graze it, also got 2 x emerald crabs which won't eat it and a yellow tang which won't entertain grazing it even though I tried starving the fish to encourage natural grazing with no success.

I'm considering either vodka or H2O2 dosing to try get it out maybe try dipping in H2O2 first and try get through all rocks over the period of a few weeks during w/c. Urchins or slugs would wreak havoc on the RockWorks/frags and I don't think even they would be tempted by the stuff and would stave out.

I've read maybe cabbage nudis but they are hard to get hold off plus it's more money on top of a small fortune I've already spent trying to get rid of the stuff since April last year.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Urchins are not picky. They will consume all plant life. They won't wreak your rocks or frags either, I don't think. Anybody back me up or contradict me on this one?

 

[tom054]

By wreak havoc I do mean knock them off/over!