Green Algae ID Help Needed

[Team Slug]

Hello,

I'm just getting my first reef tank up and running and I've got some algae I can't ID. I've looked all over, but can't find anything that matches exactly.

It came in on a piece of Fiji live rock and has grown fairly quickly. There is some sargassum (sp?) mixed in, but the green stuff is getting taller. It's around 2-3 inches right now and has a bluish stalk and occasionally looks to have dark tips (depends on the lighting).

The picture in this post is my 75 gallon tank for an overall size reference and the picture in the next post is a closeup of the algae. Any ideas would be appreciated (with my luck it's probably hair algae, oh boy).

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Team Slug]

Here's the algae.

 

[krishj39]

I can't recall the name of the algae at the moment, but it is a nuisance algae. I had it in my tank for a while and hesitated to get rid of it, but it soon started popping up everywhere. I'd remove it. It took several weeks of pulling the stuff out of my tank before it went away. Then, it basically just started dissapearing on its own. It isn't hair algae (though probably very similar to it), BTW. I could look up what kind it is, but at the moment I'm too lazy to search for it.

 

[MCSAC]

Could be what is called "Maiden Hair" macroalgae. I believe it is toxic if fish eat it. So, they won't touch it.

Rick

 

[Team Slug]

Well...I haven't gotten around to pulling it out yet and I don't have any fish yet so I don't know if they'll eat it or not. I was leaving it in hopes of getting a red lipped blennie and having him graze away on it. It has started to show up on some of the adjacent rocks, but not too bad yet. The big clumps of the stuff have actually started to thin out quite a bit. I can actually see the rock through the stuff now.

The stuff is also full of some sort of smallish, insect looking things that zip around it all day. I don't know if they're copepods, amphipods or what. Some of them are actually kind of large. It almost looks like they might be stripping the fine hairs off the stalks (this could explain why it looks like it is thinning out).

The brown sargassum (sp.?) has started to grom like crazy again after not doing much for a month or so. I don't know if the sargassum taking off and the green junk thinning out are realated. Halimeda is also starting to grow in a few new places.

 

[kmk2307]

Could it be bryopsis?

HTH,
Kevin

 

[Ben Wilson]

Bryopsis Plumosa, I think. If so keep an eye on it, it can get out of control being related to hair algae.
____________________
Ben

 

[Plantbrain]

Another vote for Byropsis, maybe plumosa. Take a strand out and look at it under a magnifying lens etc and see if it has branchlets in two opposite rows.
This is a characteristic of this genus, moss like.
Some species are very nice, but this one only so so.
Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Team Slug]

I think you guys are right. Up close a single strand looks like a feather (hence the plumosa I guess). The small "feathery" strands look like they may be getting eaten by something as there are lots of long stalks remaining. It does appear to be thinning out in most places quite a bit. The sargassum is really starting to take off and may be taking more nutrients out than the bryopsis now (I hope). Some new patches start up occasionally, but they never really seem to get established.

Thanks for the info. Now if my new red lipped blenny would just start looking better in the quarantine tank I could let him loose on it.