Anyone battling neomaris annulata?

[dzhuo]

Has anyone had neomaris annulata invasion in a SPS tank? Does the present of neomaris annulata indicate water parameters in any way?

 

[saltygeek]

Never herd of it before. Just googled it. Interested to see if anyone has it growing. I saw one picture of a tank loaded with it which was kind of scary but they say it is not easy to keep growing. I assume you have it growing in your tank?

 

[SDguy]

I had a few in my tank. Like every other algae I've had, it just kind of faded away on its own.

 

[Dizzle63]

My friend has had it in his tank twice. The first time, he tore the tank down. Nothing be did made a difference. He has it again in his tank. He keeps it thinned out by having higher nutrient levels. He was running his 225 with only 10 fish, only one tang and the rest were clown size or smaller. I had him increase his bioload and the algae started to disappear. It can be a major problem in certain situations. Besides being invasive, it is also calcareous, meaning that is is stealing calcium from the SPS.

 

[dzhuo]

I assume you have it growing in your tank?

Yes. One of the rock in my tank is full of it. It grows very dense but stays small. You can get an idea of them from this picture:

@Dizzle63,
Does the fact that neomaris annulata grows in my tank an indication of anything regarding water parameters? Should I be concern about its present?

 

[Dizzle63]

From my experience in my friends tank, growth of this algae indicates good water parameters. Try feeding just a bit more. If the tank is new, it can grow then die, both seemingly without reason.

 

[austinh]

ive always wondered what that stuff was...ive got a few rocks that grow this stuff, and it looks like an algae but grows tall, and the "stalk" becomes white is it bad for the tank?

 

[allsps40]

I dont have this but I do have Halimeda growing in small but persistent patches.

 

[dzhuo]

Guys,
I need some serious help on this particular algae. One of my rock is covered every inch and I believe it sucks all of my alk up.

On 1/16, I did a water test (all tests are done using Salifert except pH which comes from my RKL pH probe and phosphate which comes from Hana Checker):

Mg: 1150
Alk: 8.6
Cal: 440
Phosphate: 0.04
pH: 8.1

Tonight (exactly 2 weeks later), I did another test:

Mg: 1260
Alk: 6.4
Cal: 440
Phosphate: 0.00
pH: 8.16

Alk has gone down considerably. I only have a few SPS frags and coraline is just starting to grow so there is nothing except this algae to suck up all the alk.

Does this algae has any natural predator?

 

[fishguy597]

I have those growing every so often. Just as austinh said after a bit they go from green to white and die. I only have one rock thathas a few stalks that grow. I think I would be more concerned about the gha and po4 jmo.

 

[dzhuo]

You mean the GHA in the rock from my picture? Those are not GHA. They are neomaris annulata. That's how they grow out. When they are small, they are green and then the lower portion turn white (calcium; it's a calcareous based algae) and mature like this:

I wish I have a GHA problem because my sea hare wouldn't be so hungry. I am surprise this particular algae hasn't been a bigger problem for SPS reefers since it grows in exactly the same ideal environment as most SPS prefer.

 

[fishguy597]

Oh sorry in the first pick it looked like gha growing inbetween the annulata. That last pick looks crazy. Like I said I have it to but it doesn't grow like that. It's usually only alive for a few weeks.

 

[dzhuo]

Yes the reason why I bought the sea hare is because I thought those are GHA. They are not. All of them are neomaris annulata and since they are calcareous based; nothing (that I know of) will touch them. Basically as far as I know, once you have them; your best hope is they will die on their own. Mine does not. It has been for 5 months now and growing stronger every month. They never spread as fast as any other algae (even slower than coraline) but surely are growing. One of my rock is covered top to bottom literally so dense you can not see anything underneath the rock.

I am hoping some of the more experienced SPS reefers will know something I don't.

 

[fishguy597]

The type I have look just like yours. Just not as dense of patches. Mine don't grow with thin stalks. As they grow they are close to the same diameter wether they are just starting out or an inch tall. I'll keep tagging along and good luck.