Green hair algae only on palys?

[turbois300]

I have a small frag of green paly's that was the first coral in my tank. i have recently moved it more to the top of the tank. Since then there started to grow a green hairish algae inbetween the polyps. I only have it on that one Quarter sized piece??? I've tried to pick it off and also move it back to the bottom of the tank. Any suggestions? Again it is only on that 1 frag piece and it has been in the tank longer than any of them. Snails and hermits don't seem to eat it. Any recommended actions to take against it. I'll snap a pict tonight and try an dput it up so you all can see what I am saying. Hopefully

 

[ade]

I have some frags with the same problem. What I do once in a while is take it out and with a pair of stainless steel tweezers and pluck off the algea. I have found that there is also a build up of detritus between the polyps which tells me that I do not have enough flow around the polyps. I also have some hair algae problem in that tank also. I am using Rowa to take care of the p04.
My 2c

 

[surfnvb7]

i've had this problem before, luckily......i've completely rid myself of hair algae (knock on wood!).

but i had quite a bit of it for about a year and a half.

small blue leg hermits, turbo snails, lettuce nudibranchs, and queen conchs will eat it if the hair algae is short (1/2"). so plucking it off (outside the tank) and keeping it short is the key, and then let mother nature's cleaners work on the rest.

its not something you can cure over night though.

other options include a bristle tooth tang.....my purple tang is an awesome grazer on the rocks. although i dont know if he'll go after hair algae, but he loves to munch on any black or red fuzz algae on the rocks.

 

[turbois300]

Thanks for the info. I've been trying to pluck it off with some tweezers myself and like ade said I too have detrius in between the polyps too.... I may try and move it to get a bit more flow on it.. i may need to pick up a few more critters this weekend my hermit count is low.. it seems as though this stuff comes back fast and in greater numbers. I'll keep up the pruning and hopefully I'll get it under control.. I'm debating on moving everything into a larger tank (38) so maybe I could get a small purple tang but I think that will still be too small of a tank. Any other algae eater fish that would do good in that smal of a tank? Lawnmower blennie or any other type of jawfish or gobie???

Oh also.... Anyone needing some chaeto algae for their fuge or anything let me know. That stuff is growing everywhere in my fuge and i need to prune it back some.

 

[ServantSoldier]

I would feel comfortable putting a purple tang in a 38. I was going to put one in my 29, but never got ahold of one.

 

[turbois300]

Thats crazy. I have a 29 now and will be moving to a 38 too! Well maybe I can find a small one somewhere????? Chris any help here??

 

[surfnvb7]

i got my purple tang from chris, came in the same shipment as his little purple tang in his show tank.......but for some reason.......they are coming in MUCH more expensive then they used to.....i think it was like $90 for small purple tang

 

[turbois300]

OUCH! I'll have to see... I'll paint my tweezers purple and hope they do as well for the meantime. I saw that one in his show tank and I'd like to have one just that size. I'll keep my eyes out.

 

[surfnvb7]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10895346#post10895346 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by turbois300
OUCH! I'll have to see... I'll paint my tweezers purple and hope they do as well for the meantime. I saw that one in his show tank and I'd like to have one just that size. I'll keep my eyes out.

yeah, mine and his came together and were/are still the same size, very small for your normal sized tang in a shipment. i think my ORA black clown is about as big as the tang right now.

i think i saw a larger one down here in richmond that was around $120......no clue why they are so expensive now.

similar prices on live aquaria
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=372

a tomini tang might be a good substitute since thats another bristle tooth tang that grazes on rocks. no clue if it will work though.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=334

 

[surfnvb7]

oh yeah, do a search on "bryopsis" and "magnesium" here on RC......some people are having success with raising their Mg to 1500+ppm and the hair algae pretty much just dies after a couple of weeks.

but be sure to look for which kind of Mg supplement, as some don't work if i recall. i tried this also, but am not sure if thats what lead to its eradication or not.....i didnt see any definitive evidence that it worked.

 

[turbois300]

Sweet info!!! Thanks mang! I've been lookin around and they do seem a bit on the pricy sign. In that case I'll go with Chris and that way we can check him out first before we take him/her home. I'll check into the magnesium. I wonderer if that is what brought it on in the first place. I'm not the best at keeping up with my parameters so..... Maybe some new test kits before the $100 fish are added would be good insurance.