Algal genus Spotlight: Bryopsis "hair algae"

[nattarbox]

Yeaaaahhh..

I've beat cyanobacteria in my reef, and a number of various freshwater algae types. But this stuff is something else. I'm starting to think it might be a good excuse to spec out a new tank setup.

I guess I'd have to quarantine everything for months before moving it over though. Even the snails have bryopsis growing off their shells now.

 

[nattarbox]

Has anyone tried using a UV sterilizer to potentially minimize the spread of viable fragments from manual removal and clean up crew poop?

I had very good results using a cheap/small UV unit on freshwater tanks suffering from green water, a condition that perpetuates itself in a similar fashion.

 

[DeathWish302]

Has anyone tried using a UV sterilizer to potentially minimize the spread of viable fragments from manual removal and clean up crew poop?

I had very good results using a cheap/small UV unit on freshwater tanks suffering from green water, a condition that perpetuates itself in a similar fashion.

I don't think UV would completely eliminate the possibility if kill off the strain at all. I once found another small patch start forming on a rock that did not have a high concentration of bleach when I first tried this. I used about 3 cups to a gallon and left the rock air dry in the sun for about 3 days. The bryopsis survived!:furious:

Before that, I tried a kalk paste applied to the patch and it came back in about 3-4 months. This strain of algae is nasty. I had no luck besides soaking in a uber-high concentration of bleach water or straight bleach soaks.

Give the UV a try, but I'm reluctant that it will result in controlling stray fragments. I've heard other's try UV for controlling aiptasia and mojano, but the major problem I see is that unless you zap every ounce of water circulating you cannot guarantee that the nasties won't get by the path of least resistance.

 

[nattarbox]

Yeah, I assume UV would not be effective against anything larger than one cell. I also have a HOT Magnum filter lying around that has a very fine filter, it might be effective at removing a lot of the fragments after my weekly manual removal ritual.

I might give that magnesium theory a try too, not much to lose at this point!

 

[DeathWish302]

Yeah, I assume UV would not be effective against anything larger than one cell. I also have a HOT Magnum filter lying around that has a very fine filter, it might be effective at removing a lot of the fragments after my weekly manual removal ritual.

I might give that magnesium theory a try too, not much to lose at this point!

Can you remove the rock from the DT when removing? I eliminated a majority of my stray bits by removing the mats while the rock was outside the DT.

As for the Mg theory, I have shot my levels beyond 1600ppm before (when RC was actually measuring 1350ppm and not 1150ppm as prior batches). The mangroves and prolific algae in my lagoon didn't slow their growth rates at all. Maybe it would work for bryopsis, but it didn't work any miracles on my HA when it shot to 1600+ppm.

JMO

 

[mccorry]

I've been fighting a Bryopsis outbreak in my tank for a few months now. I've tried the following with not much sucess:

Sailfin (Lawnmower) Blenny - Starved to death... wouldn't touch the stuff
Emerald crabs - Won't touch the stuff
Various snails (Astera, Margareta, Turbo's, etc.) - not found one that will touch the stuff
Lettuce Nudi's - no dice... plus... my damn peppermint shrimp ended up eating them right in front of me.
AlgaeFix dosing - killed off all the other nuisance green algae in the tank, but didn't hurt the Bryopsis one bit.
Scrubbing / Manual removal - Keeps it under control / at bay ... but isn't fixing the issue.
Chetomorpha in the sump - I've tried this twice and I can't keep Chaeto alive. I think my tank doesn't have enough Nitrates to support it... it just disentigrates over 2-3 weeks.
Shortened light cycles - no significant change.

I am running out of patience. I hate this stuff! Argh!

 

[nattarbox]

Same.

Just lost a few more colonies to it. I'm losing soft coral polyps during manual removal, as the Bryopsis has entangled them almost completely. Tank looks like crap most of the time.

I can't decide if I should order another dozen of the lettuce nudis and a uv sterilizer, or a new tank.

 

[1fishkeeper]

Well I think that I have come to ends wit with fighting the bryopsis in my tank. I would really just like to nuke it all and start over fresh. But my only prolbem is I dont really have a place to put my mag that is doing really good. I have tried the Tech-M with no luck I just done a peroxide bath on the rocks that have it really bad. So I guess i will wait until I see how that comes out. But if that dont work Im nuking it with a small atom bomb. But if I have missed something about killing that works please let me know.

 

[tedcb]

A long time ago, I had problems with hair algae as well. I was told to get a lawn mower blennie by a friend of mine, and he worked wonders. I have another lawnmower in my 125g that I recently set up, and he is amazing!!! I broke down my 75g and moved everything into my 125 and needed more live rock. One of my LFS had a beautiful large chunk of cured live rock that had been around for a while because it was covered with hair algae. The owner just about gave it to me. I put it in the tank and the LMB just went to town. It's a month later, and not a single bit of algae left on it. None cropping up on any other rock either. Only problem is my LMB doesn't want to eat anything else now. Won't eat algae sheets, ulva, chaeto, culerpa, or gracilaria.

 

[DeathWish302]

Well I think that I have come to ends wit with fighting the bryopsis in my tank. I would really just like to nuke it all and start over fresh. But my only prolbem is I dont really have a place to put my mag that is doing really good. I have tried the Tech-M with no luck I just done a peroxide bath on the rocks that have it really bad. So I guess i will wait until I see how that comes out. But if that dont work Im nuking it with a small atom bomb. But if I have missed something about killing that works please let me know.

I promise that the Clorox bomb will work. 1cup of bleach per gallon of water will do the deed overnight. Let it air dry and rinse with about 20gal of water and voila!.... No HA. By doing this you can go rock to rock and not completely tear down a tank.

I still have a patch on my overflow bulkhead, so I just pull some off every couple months. This stuff hasn't spread ever, so a couple rocks at a time should not cause you grief in the long run.

Believe me, it could be far worse like redbugs or AEFW.

:thumbsup:

 

[Paul B]

I promise that the Clorox bomb will work.

Yes it will but be sure to only use "Regular" Clorox, no scents, fragrances, colors, easy pour or anything like that. I know for a fact that if you use "New Fresh Scent Clorox" you will kill all of your fish in a matter of seconds.
Don't ask.

 

[DeathWish302]

I know for a fact that if you use "New Fresh Scent Clorox" you will kill all of your fish in a matter of seconds.
Don't ask.

Paul, buddy..... Please tell me you don't know from experience?

I only use the manly unscented regular bleach. Who would have respect for a guy buying that foo-foo bleach while standing in line at Lowe's... I would buy groceries there if they sold them!

 

[1fishkeeper]

Yes it will but be sure to only use "Regular" Clorox, no scents, fragrances, colors, easy pour or anything like that. I know for a fact that if you use "New Fresh Scent Clorox" you will kill all of your fish in a matter of seconds.
Don't ask.

Oh yeah I know that one when I did some stuff to my freshwater tank. But I have been pulling out the rocks one by one and have been nuking it with Peroxide. It seems to be working other than I keep on seeing it pop up in my sand bed. I keep on pulling that up as I see it. On only have a couple of rocks that still have some one it. Just one or two chunks of it that I seem to have missed. So I will get them on my next round.

 

[1fishkeeper]

Well I have dosed my tank with Tech-M until it got to 1700. And I still have Bryopsis. The only ones that dont have it is the smaller rocks that I could take out and hit them with H2O2. Now I have seen it starting to grow in my sand and my back glass. Im not starting to be a happy camper right now. What are some of the other tricks that some of you have used that your hiding?

 

[PWRDrill]

Here's another vote for the Foxface rabbit fish. About 3 seconds after I placed him in my 125, he started going to town on the Bryopsis. I couldn't believe that he didn't go hide in a corner or something; just straight to work!

 

[nattarbox]

If there was ever a total nuclear war, the only thing left would be cockroaches and bryopsis.

I'm planning out a new tank, partly because I want to and partly because I have given up on eradicating this devil weed from my current tank. Obviously I want to move all my livestock over to the new system, but without transferring the bryopsis in the process.

I suppose a quarantine tank would be the only fully effective means for doing that? This whole thing started as one little strand coming in on a frag plug, and I've heard that even a few cells going through the digestive track of an animal can be enough to kickoff a new infestation.

 

[Elliott]

I gave up too after spending a great deal of time and money trying to eradicate Bryopsis. It went away after the first treatment with Kent Tech M but soon returned more aggressive and tolerant to it. A tank upgrade gave me the opportunity to eradicate it.

So, I broke the tank down, soaked the rock in diluted muriatic acid followed by drying in the Arizona sun for a week. I transferred the corals to a qt, tossing everything with Bryopsis on it and fish to a separate qt.

To my amazement the coral qt has grown Bryopsis in the sump! So far, the new DT with the treated LR has not developed Bryopsis however I would not be surprised if it did. However I am now dealing with high phosphate and nitrate leaching out from the LR from the dead biomass.

I guess if I would have soaked the rock in RO/DI with periodic water changes I could have removed much of it prior to setting the DT back up.

 

[nattarbox]

So you would up with bryopsis in the quarantine tank for corals that you thought were clear? That is my main concern about starting a new system. I've got a couple of nice colonies, so the options seem to be:

1. Move them to the new tank, risk having the same issue
2. Get rid of them (don't think I could do it)
3. Beat or somehow control the algae in the current tank.

I think I'm going to take one more serious stab at beating it before I start to consider the other options. I beat cyanobacteria, and a number other outbreaks in freshwater tanks.

I'm going to start with the magnesium, then phase in urchins and sea slugs. I had good luck with the slugs, but didn't buy them in large enough numbers, or replace them as they died (very short lifespan).

To arms! :headwallblue:

 

[Elliott]

I wish you luck :thumbsup:

 

[mccorry]

The Tech-M didn't touch my Byropsis, either.

Now I'm looking at possibly some kind of tang. I've heard that a Mimic Half Black Tang will eat filimentatious algae. Any input on this?

I'm getting tired of my tank looking like crap and having to pull algae every other day. Argh!