Algal genus Spotlight: Bryopsis "hair algae"

[Reefrunner262]

Lettuce Sea Slugs eat that stuff exculsivly, at least from what i have read.

PS good job DC!

Hope helps
Travis

 

[Los]

I was getting overrun with the stuff in my 240. Hated it and worse... my wife was starting to get annoyed.

Without knowing how much it would help, I bought a single lawnmower blenny and that damn bastard eats the stuff to quickly. Now I've only got a little tiny tuft left and I moved it to my quaranteen tank, since I actually like having a little bit of it around.

Those lawnmower blennies are NUTS. He single handedly, somehow, devoured about a shotglass sized chunk of algea per day.

Just my experience, and I'm not certain that it was the same type of algea, but it certainly worked in my case.

BTW, my algea had a single stock in the middle, with feathery looking strands going out the side. It actually looks OK when there is a little bit of it, but in bulk it was horrible. It would even start clogging my overflows.

Best of luck,

LOS

 

[lesd]

The vast majority of fish will ignore Bryopsis. I have Tangs who devour normal hair algae and caulerpa, but won't touch Bryopsis.

Some people have had success with rabbitfish. I've heard better stories about orange-spotted and doliatus rabbitfish than the common foxface. However, even that is hit or miss.

My problem is that I can't even use Lettuce slugs. I have too much flow in my tank and they just end up getting blown around and sucked into the overflow.

Phosphate removers (aluminum based ones) really make my leather corals unhappy.

So right now I'm just manually removing as much Bryopsis as I can, and it's steadily spreading all throughout my tank. Hopefully when I move the tank next month I can scrub down all the rocks and make a real dent in it.

Anybody tried a plethora of tuxedo or other urchins?

-- Lesd

 

[piercho]

My tuxedo seems to be mostly interested in coraline. It also does a fair job keeping red turf timmed back, but only if its very short and sparse. I suspect it is going through the red turf to get to the coraline. It won't go for fleshy algaes, at all, and doesn't do much to green turf (Derbesia?).

I've heard that diadema (long-spined) urchins will mow through just about anything they encounter, but I've never kept one myself.

 

[horge]

Lettuce Sea Slugs eat that stuff exculsivly, at least from what i have read.

Travis

Hi Travis
What you've read is much repeated myth.

When everyone started sharing online heartaches about Bryopsis, some entrepreneur must have skimmed through the internet to find a suitably-marketable herbivore.

The sacoglossan "lettuce" slug Elysia crispata (formerly Tridachia crispata) must have come up in searches because of a published study on its juvenile dietary preferences by Clark & Bussaca (1978). The study listed Bryopsis plumosa among the algae that the juveniles chowed on. Batophora oerstedi, Halimeda spp, Penicillus spp, Caulerpa paspaloides and Caulerpa racemosa filled out the rest of the menu in the locality they studied.

Somehow, Clark & Bussaca's "will eat Bryopsis"
got twisted into "will eat Bryopsis exclusively"

Jensen & Clark (1983) even showed that Caulerpa verticillata beat out Bryopsis for food preference among the lettuce-slug juvies.


Lesd et al.
Hi
The chief means towards Bryopsis spread in aquaria apparently remains fragmentation. Physical removal HAS to be accompanied by efforts to trap all algal debris generated by trimming/scraping.

If you're scraping in-tank, you'd better have a running siphon on-site to draw off viable algal debris. The siphoned-out water can be discarded, or else fine-filtered and then used for preparing kalkwasser (the high pH nukes algal debris to hell, and helps lock down any released organics) for later use. All precipitate is thus better discarded and NOT introduced t the display: just the clear-ish kalk fluid, thank you.

If you're scrubbing LR down in a basin somewhere else, the rock has to be rinsed thoroughly with saltwater prior to reunion with the diplay. The rinsewater is best discarded.

Systems with a UV filter and very good throughput have a noticably easier time controlling Bryo outbreaks ---the UV oxidizes a lot of waterborne nutrient, and kills waterborne (and viable) algal debris.


hth.
I'll post an article on another algal Genus one of these days.

 

[Angel*Fish]

My 55g is over run with it - the hair algae can't even compete. My 100g gallon should be ready next week, I'm seriously considering dumping all my LR for new...
Uh - anybody want to buy a bunch of bryopsis covered LR?

My refugium is packed with grape, feather and regular caulerpa, dictyota, gracilaria & some huge masses of tangly green wiry stuff ( a valonia?) Zero bryopsis - I think I'm gonna start putting tons of it in the main tank & see what happens...

I like algae and I thought the first bryopsis clumps were attractive - if only I had known then what I know now:sad2:

 

[Jamesurq]

To all - This method worked for me:

I tore out clumps and put them in the refugium. With the 24 hour light in there, it thrived. The remaining clumps in the display starved and died (presumably because the nutrients were being used up by the rapidly spreading bryopsis in the fuge.)

I then purchased a lettuce nudi who now inhabits my refugium and keeps the bryopsis controlled.

I originally had him in the main tank - but man, those things LOVE powerheads.

 

[MountainReef]

Is this Bryopsis?

Is this Bryopsis?

Help what started as a beautiful blue-green fernlike macro algae is now full blown out of control. I have emerald crabs, scarlet and blue hermits, a purple tang, a sailfin blenny, flame and coral beauty angels. Nothing will eat this stuff. I have tried scrubbing the rock to no avail. I am using lots a phosphate remover in my canister and I am using UV sterilization. I am losing!!

This algae adheres to everything including glass and has infected my fiji moonstone coral.

HELP!!!!

I feel I may lose my tank.

 

[mmgm]

I noticed you are running a wet/dry with bioballs. Your Nitrate levels are probably high contributing to the problem. I would suggest you SLOWLY get rid of your bioballs and rely on skimmer and LR only to filter your tank. Also, if you can start a refugium with DSB and macro algae to reduce nutrients your problem algae are relying on.

Looks like you are in a real bind. Have you seen this thread?

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=219002

Note: If you take the advise of the thread AZNO3 did not work for me when I was running my wet/dry with bioballs. It only started working when bioballs were removed.

Good Luck

 

[MountainReef]

In Search of Elysia Ornata

In Search of Elysia Ornata

Does anyone know where this voracious consumer of Bryopsis might be purchased or traded? Elysia Ornata is reported to feed soley upon Bryopsis.

Thanks for any help you may be able to provide.

"Can't see the forest for the Bryopsis"

 

[pyranha]

This is also a good article about bryopsis. I had it, and it just seemed to go away. I have no doubt that it will come back someday.

http://www.globaldialog.com/~jrice/algae_page/bryopsis.htm

 

[ez1ez]

http://www.reefscapes.net/articles/breefcase/kalkwasser.html
I went to this site and used this kalkwasser/vinegar mix. I was told to just pour the whole thing into my sump before it settles. 3 days later I did it again and one week later no hair algae. I myself had no problems after I did this process and best thing is I still am algae free.

 

[ez1ez]

http://www.reefscapes.net/articles/breefcase/kalkwasser.html
I went to this site and used this kalkwasser/vinegar mix. I was told to just pour the whole thing into my sump before it settles. 3 days later I did it again and one week later no hair algae. I myself had no problems after I did this process and best thing is I still am algae free.

 

[ez1ez]

http://www.reefscapes.net/articles/breefcase/kalkwasser.html
I went to this site and used this kalkwasser/vinegar mix. I was told to just pour the whole thing into my sump before it settles. 3 days later I did it again and one week later no hair algae. I myself had no problems after I did this process and best thing is I still am algae free.

 

[tatuvaaj]

horge,

I know I'm a "bit" late but here are some of my Bryopsis (?) pictures

 

[Boomer]

Great Pics Tatu :thumbsup:

 

[tatuvaaj]

Boomer,

Thanks It's a beautiful algae!

 

[MountainReef]

Beautiful This!

You can have all you want

 

[Paul B]

I believe I know why so many people have so many ways to get rid of hair algae. My reef is over thirty years old and for the first few years there was no hair algae. Then I started to get it in cycles for a few weeks at a time. Eventually, the cycles became longer until now I never am without it. My point is that for some reason it would disappear on it's own without doing anything and the tank would be free of it for many months.
I used to have an urchin collecting business here in New York where I would collect local purple urchins to ship to aquariums and hobbiests to control algae. The northern urchins would eat very fast in a tropical reef because they were not tropical animals. Each urchin would clean an area about an inch wide and about a foot long a night. When I had a dozen of them in the tank it looked like it was sandblasted. They would live about a year. Unfortunately my boat is away for the year and I am not collecting this year anymore. Hopefully next year I will get some.

 

[pubily]

Horge...congratulations. I enjoyed your article...it helped me...and I thoroughly enjoyed your style. I hope to read many more articles by you...thanks from a gentle reader.