hair or macro algae???
- Thread starter JWJTide21
- Start date
Tomoko Schum
New member
Some lettuce sea slug definitely eat them. I saw a few dark colored lettuce sea slugs busy working on a patch of bryopsis at Living Reef a few years ago. I understand that whether a lettuce sea slug specializes in bryopsis or derbesia depends on which variety of algae the lettuce sea slug grew up on.
When I set up my 15 gallon 6 years ago, a "Mexican" turbo snail ate an entire patch of bryopsis when it ran out of other algae to eat. The turbo snail is long gone, but the tank is bryopsis free ever since.
A rabbitfish may work, too, but it may eat corals when the tank runs out of its favorite algae. My fox face kept my 120 free of algae for two years until I removed him for eating my PPE and Tubs Blue (it might have been my pygmy angel, but the fox face acted really suspiciously, too.) After he was removed, various algae tend to sprout if I don't keep NO3 and PO4 down to undetectable levels.
Tomoko
When I set up my 15 gallon 6 years ago, a "Mexican" turbo snail ate an entire patch of bryopsis when it ran out of other algae to eat. The turbo snail is long gone, but the tank is bryopsis free ever since.
A rabbitfish may work, too, but it may eat corals when the tank runs out of its favorite algae. My fox face kept my 120 free of algae for two years until I removed him for eating my PPE and Tubs Blue (it might have been my pygmy angel, but the fox face acted really suspiciously, too.) After he was removed, various algae tend to sprout if I don't keep NO3 and PO4 down to undetectable levels.
Tomoko
Mikeyjer
New member
Lettuce Nudis WILL eat them yes, but NOT sufficient enough to get rid of them. They either get sucked up in powerheads or down the overflow or just plan disappear....Mexican Turbos will help IF bryopsis was cut pretty short. Foxface can help but they can eat corals, sometimes it's a hit or miss if they will touch the stuff or not. I got lucky with my Regal tang mowing it down in my bowfront. You could try a Kole Tang, I've seen one that will eat it. I think you have a smaller tank? 20g? IF so, you can't put any tang or rabbit fish in there....I read if you raise PH up to 8.6 for a couple of weeks, its suppose to get rid of it, haven't try that method myself, but I've just about tried everything else.... Kent Tech M works, BUT your risking losing all your inverts and ticking off your corals. I had to do MANY water changes inorder to keep inverts again since Tech M made my tank toxic to inverts.....Bryopsis eventually came back again over time..... Good luck!
Tomoko Schum
New member
I like "controlling" algae problems biologically with various critters. No one critter will eat every type of algae and these critters never eradicate algae 100%. Yes, nudis do disappear mysteriously sometimes, and a Mexican Turbo does not live in our aquarium for a long time. Some rabbbitfish and Tangs develop taste for corals. I saw a Regal tang eating zoanthid at Coral Reef Aquatics, and in a few month it suddenly developed an appetite for an acro. It just about decimated a large blue staghorn acro frag. But if we want to control difficult algae problem, we gotta do something. Some of us try various critters and method. I am afraid that we sometimes end up taking chances.
By the way, didn't someone in this forum mention that he eliminated bryopsis successfully with a product called Algaefix (or was it Algone?) with an LFS's suggestion a while ago?
Tomoko
By the way, didn't someone in this forum mention that he eliminated bryopsis successfully with a product called Algaefix (or was it Algone?) with an LFS's suggestion a while ago?
Tomoko
Mikeyjer
New member
Tomoko,
That was ME...haha....It does not get rid of it, but the growth slowed down. To me, the main way I got rid of them in my bowfront was because of my snails and fish. My regal eats just about any type of bad algae, razor caulerpa, bryopsis, hair algae, etc etc. I have just acquired a Kole Tang that eats it for my other tank that's badly covered with bryopsis, let's see what happens.....IF you get your Kole Tang pretty small, you might be able to keep it in your tank for awhile.....
