How bad do you need to cut back algae off acro?

[BuckeyeTodd]

so I had a small tank crash, long story but caused by chemi-clean trying to rid tank of cyano. About 1/3 of acros bleached. So far only one dead, and one likely gone. I've got a few others that were bleached that have started to regain color. Well two of them have algae growing on them. One would involve cutting back about 5 of 7 branches on a Milli mini colony. I also have a atlantis christmas mirabilis that is still a frag that has started to regain some color on its base. I would have to cut back 80% or more of the frag to remove the algae. Which is harder on the coral, to dramatically cut it or leave the algae for a while until HOPEFULLY the coral will color up a little more

 

[BuckeyeTodd]

I could take pic, but my pics are horrible...tank crash was 3 weeks ago, and I really would like to not lose these acros...any advice, seriously cut them back or let them be for another week or two and see what happens

 

[abrian]

I had a frag with a burnt tip that grew a spot of algea. I left it alone for a few weeks, but it showed no signes of growing over the burnt tip, so I snipped it off recently. Just last evening I noticed that it was doing a good job of healing over the cut and I am hopeful it will begin taking off again. So in the case of that one frag in my tank, waiting for it to grow over the algea spot wasn't working for me so I ended up snipping it.

That is just my experience with one frag, so take it for what is worth. Hopefully others will chime in with more authority about the best course to take.

 

[Acrotrdco]

It depends where the frag was burnt.

If it's at the tip, what abrian said was right, you need to snip the section with algae off for it to properly heal.

If it's at the base, unless the algae is bryopsis, otherwise leave it, your emerald crab (if you've any) should take care of it.

If it's bryopsis, they do tend to overgrow everything including SPS, and you might need to frag the acro out and put it elsewhere unless you can control the bryopsis.