I just can't take it any more! i had 3 seahorses, and now suddenly i have 2. And on top of that I cant get my stupid Hair algea to go away. Its been there for months. I have tried everything. New skimmer, Phosphate remover, UV sterilizer, Macro algea in refugium, huge clean up crew, Nuidibrancs, water changes with Ro/DI water, reduced feeding, cooking my Live rock, and manually removing it! here is a pic of my tank exactly one week from scrubbing it spotless with a tooth brush, and doing a 30-40% water change. <img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v411/whatnot45/ickyaquarium.jpg" border="0"> And about that missing Seahorse, it just dissapeared without a trace. It showed up at the feeding station one day, and the next it didnt. I thought it just was hiding and so i left well enough alone, but after about 3 days, i decided to look for it i removed everything, and it was no where to be found. Nothing in the tank could have eaten it.... I do not have mantis shrimp or anything like that.... the only tank mates are some soft corals, a couple SPS frags, and a jaw fish....
I Give Up!!!
- Thread starter whatnot45
- Start date
Yuck. You do have an algae problem. I had pretty bad algae in my last tank. I manually removed it when I switched tanks. You didn't scrub the rocks in the tank did you? Have you tried a seahare? I have heard they will do wonders.
As for the missing seahorse...it has to be somewhere...unless the huge cleanup crew ate it. What does the huge cleanup crew consist of?
Carolyn
As for the missing seahorse...it has to be somewhere...unless the huge cleanup crew ate it. What does the huge cleanup crew consist of?
Carolyn
majestic sea life
New member
humm you sure you a useing RODI?
Don't know about the conch, but the nassarius and cerith snails won't eat hair algae. Also phosphates can build up in rocks an take a while to come out. How did you cook it.
I eventually solved my hair algae problem in my 90 using Phosban, lots of blue-leg hermits, and lots of prayer. It took over three months, but it finally all vent away.
I eventually solved my hair algae problem in my 90 using Phosban, lots of blue-leg hermits, and lots of prayer. It took over three months, but it finally all vent away.
bluenassarius
retired algae slanger
if you have tried all that you listed above. it might be time to start over w/ some new rock that isn't infested w/ hair algae. by "scrubbing" it w/ a toothbrush you are spreading the problem even more bc when hair algae floats around it will eventually attach somewhere.
"cooking" the rock doesn't get rid of the algae problem, it only masks it. "cooking" is supposed to starve the algae of light/nutrients. yes it will remove the algae temporarily. what hair algae does is... put roots into the rock. as soon as there are nutrients for the algae to feed on.. the problem will reappear. the only effective way to remove hair algae for good is to take the rock out use some type of torch and burn the rock.
i am not recommending to do this.
this is a method i've tried and had success w/ when i was battling hair algae in the past. by burning the rock, you are totally giving up on battling this hair algae.
the drawbacks are,
you will be forced to cycle it all over again.
you will lose all the living creatures on the rock.
the plus side is that if you do it correctly,
you won't have hair algae to deal w/.
mexican turbos, urchins, cowries, phosban reactors (starving the algae of one nutrient it needs to grow), scrubbing ... help on maintaining a algae free tank also.
my 2 pennies
"cooking" the rock doesn't get rid of the algae problem, it only masks it. "cooking" is supposed to starve the algae of light/nutrients. yes it will remove the algae temporarily. what hair algae does is... put roots into the rock. as soon as there are nutrients for the algae to feed on.. the problem will reappear. the only effective way to remove hair algae for good is to take the rock out use some type of torch and burn the rock.
i am not recommending to do this.
this is a method i've tried and had success w/ when i was battling hair algae in the past. by burning the rock, you are totally giving up on battling this hair algae.
the drawbacks are,
you will be forced to cycle it all over again.
you will lose all the living creatures on the rock.
the plus side is that if you do it correctly,
you won't have hair algae to deal w/.
mexican turbos, urchins, cowries, phosban reactors (starving the algae of one nutrient it needs to grow), scrubbing ... help on maintaining a algae free tank also.
my 2 pennies
Brock Fluharty
New member
I don't think that we should be telling her what ate her seahorse, when it could have been several things. In the picture, at the bottom, there looks to be an anemone, or a bubble coral. I know that you listed your tank mates as soft corals, and SPS frags, but maybe you thought a bubble coral was a soft coral, or it could be an anemone, or it could be fake. It could also have died, and then your "huge" clean up crew got to it, but it could still be in the tank somewhere. I suggest you "dismantle" your tank. Meaning, take everything out, except for the sand, and fiters and such. Just take out the rock, decorations, and anything that could be hiding a dead seahorse. I suggest this because it could be rotting away in your tank, releases harmful amounts of ammonia, and his could also be contributing to your hair algae.
Brock
Brock
It is not an anemone, its a bubble coral, but i have had it in w/ seahorses for over a year now, and it has posed no trouble at all. Iknow it has potential to sting them, but they quickly learned to stay away from it... also normally have it placed in a remote area where they do not often hang out. The picture you see is just after i tore up the tank in search of the missing SH. I think im going to start over with this tank like you suggested. Ill either burn this rock, or start over with new rock... The only problem is where to house my 2 H erectus seahorses in the mean time.... I have a small 5 gallon hexaquarium w/ dwaf seahorses set up and running.... would it be possible to house them in there while the tank cycles? I dont have room for another large tank any where
Swanwillow
goby girl
I'd put them in a 5 gallon bucket, for the duration of a good scrubbing of the tank, and a huge water change.
I'd blame the bubble coral-you say that they got used to it but.... you know...
ANYWAYS. The horses in a bucket, you with a GIANT scrub brush, the corals in another bucket... old tank water into the kitchen sink, the rocks one by one scrubbed off in there, before being put back in WELL RINSED OFF in old tank water!!!
I'm trying to ID some slug/snail things I have that eat more-or-less only hair algae... I may hook ya up with some if I ever verify that they only eat algae... I started with 2, had 7 out today alone.. I'm sure I have more. they strip off HA pretty fast, and I'd be willing to donate some to a tank with algae problems to see how they do... my tank is going through the diatom bloom, algae problems too... not too bad on hair algae surprisingly, and I've seen them MOW down hair algae like me at a chineese buffet (I'm pregnant-guess how that goes
)
but I'd like to see if they reproduce in another persons tank, and cut down the algae well there also...
I'd blame the bubble coral-you say that they got used to it but.... you know...
ANYWAYS. The horses in a bucket, you with a GIANT scrub brush, the corals in another bucket... old tank water into the kitchen sink, the rocks one by one scrubbed off in there, before being put back in WELL RINSED OFF in old tank water!!!
I'm trying to ID some slug/snail things I have that eat more-or-less only hair algae... I may hook ya up with some if I ever verify that they only eat algae... I started with 2, had 7 out today alone.. I'm sure I have more. they strip off HA pretty fast, and I'd be willing to donate some to a tank with algae problems to see how they do... my tank is going through the diatom bloom, algae problems too... not too bad on hair algae surprisingly, and I've seen them MOW down hair algae like me at a chineese buffet (I'm pregnant-guess how that goes
) but I'd like to see if they reproduce in another persons tank, and cut down the algae well there also...
You might consider adding an alga you like better. In my experience, I've found there are many algae that are able to out compete hair alga for nutrients. I have pretty strong water motion in this tank. I've found if I make it hard for less deserable algae to grow, the ones I like are able to grow wonderfully.
Swanwillow
goby girl
whered ya get those macros from if you don't mine my asking???
I want more for my tank, and a huge selection, but would like to get it from one place to save on shipping.
I want more for my tank, and a huge selection, but would like to get it from one place to save on shipping.
pledosophy
Active member
First off you can't really say your seahorses are safe with a coral that has the potential to kill them when you just lost a seahorse for an unknown reason. I mean, are you even fooling yourself? I'm not saying that it did kill the horse, but with everything else you are describing and your existing horses being fine. . . you might want to ditch the coral.
A major contributor to hair alage are dead spots within the rock work. If I were you I would try to move my rocks so there is plenty of flow to go through them. Your rocks are not doomed beacuse they have algae on them. The algae is not going to hurt the seahorses. There are several things you can do to promote the flow through the rocks including aquascaping, or even making a spraybar out of PVC pipe and putting it inbetween the rocks.
Cooking your rocks is not going to help your alage problem long term, it will mask short term, and create more problems longterm.
Move the rocks
Shorten the Photperiod
Remove any direct sunlight
Rinse your food before feeding
Add some flow or a spraybar
Use a good filter
Do 30% WC twice a week until the problem is gone.
A major contributor to hair alage are dead spots within the rock work. If I were you I would try to move my rocks so there is plenty of flow to go through them. Your rocks are not doomed beacuse they have algae on them. The algae is not going to hurt the seahorses. There are several things you can do to promote the flow through the rocks including aquascaping, or even making a spraybar out of PVC pipe and putting it inbetween the rocks.
Cooking your rocks is not going to help your alage problem long term, it will mask short term, and create more problems longterm.
Move the rocks
Shorten the Photperiod
Remove any direct sunlight
Rinse your food before feeding
Add some flow or a spraybar
Use a good filter
Do 30% WC twice a week until the problem is gone.
