ID nusicance algae.

liz+russ

New member
I posted a question in the discussion forrum, and it was suggested that I try here for an ID. I cant take a picture of my algae, but I stole one from Ken Hahn that I found in an old post, and mine looks exactly like his. It grows in little tufts, and is hard to pull out. Im trying to figure out how to get rid of this stuff, my emerald crab will pull some, but not enough to make a difference, I was thinking of getting a lettuce sea slug, but I dont know that this is the right algae for them. Knowing what im dealing with would be a huge step in getting rid of the stuff. Thanks for the ID.
 
That pic is just too darn small to help any ID.
Worse, it's 'borrowed'.
But have nae fear, laddie...


Elysia crispata would likely chow on it. There are very few greens that that slug won't put the hurt on. Just make sure you know this herbivores requirements and handling peculiarities.
 
Elysia crispata would likely chow on it. There are very few greens that that slug won't put the hurt on

Interesting. That was not my experience with this slug.

I had two in a 65 gallon tank FULL of algae. They ate the 3 patches of Briopsis in the tank and then slowly starved to death. I had at liest two varieties of hair algae, a red turf algae and two varieties of calurpa in the tank at the time.

I seem to remember Eric Borneman or someone similarly knowlegable suggesting that these slugs eat bryopsis exclusively


Fred.
 
The picture was really bigger in the thread I got it from, if you go here...
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showt...&threadid=87994
And then go to page 3 and scroll down to the 4th post you will see the original full size pic. I know this picture is borrowed, but im tellin ya, mind looks exactly the same as this. It grows in brown tufts about half an inch long. it is filimentous, and the filiments are not feathery or fern like, they are just strait like little tufts of brown hair. They are also very secured to the rock.

I have also heard from a number of people that unless this is bryopsis that the lettuce sea slug will not eat it and starve to death, and its looking like it isnt.
 
Fred,

While their carnivorous cousins the nudibranchs can be very prey-specific, most sacoglossans I've husbanded are more flexible. I admit I've only handled two E. crispata, but they were fairly catholic in their diets while with me.

I'm just a hobbyist when it comes to slugs, haha.
I think the best thing to do is check what Bill Rudman has to say.

Other factors certainly come into play when it comes to palatability, but the 'hardware' of many very different-looking greens, like, say Derbesia and Valonia, is rather similar: cellulose with a coat of the protein pectin.

Like I said, other factors can affect appetite, and not all of them center on the alga you want the slug to devour.







:)
 
Interesting. Any idea what those other factors might be?

It was heart-breaking to watch the two slugs starve to death in a tank-of-plenty.

Fred.
 
Everything I have ever read indicates that these slugs wont eat anything but bryopsys, but does anyone have any idea what type of algae it is that I have? or what might eat it? I pulled a chunk and spread the fibers out on a plate and tried to take a picture of it, but my camera isnt happy about extream closeups. Is there anyone on RC that is known for being an algae guru that I could ask for an ID?
 
Hi,


Steve,
you need to cut back on your medications :)

liz+russ,
if your green "hair" alga is not really filamentous, but composed of hair-fine, featherlike fronds, then you have Bryopsis. Try to shake/spread out the sample in water to determine its true structure.

Everyone, esecially Fred, ;)
I've since checked and double-checked, and the peer-reviewed facts hew closely to my personal experience --these slugs really will eat other algae. I think everyone may have carried Clark & Bussaca (1978) a bit too far, transforming "will eat Bryopsis" into "will eat Bryopsis only". If Eric claimed the latter (which I doubt he did), then he claimed wrong.
:)

That same study (Clark & Bussaca) showed that E. crispata also eats Batophora oerstedi, Bryopsis plumosa, Halimeda spp, Penicillus spp, Caulerpa paspaloides and Caulerpa racemosa. Jensen & Clark (1983) shows that C. verticillata is even a preferred food of juveniles.

IIRC E. crispata has a natural lifespan of several months. You might have bought fairly old animals, and they died of old age.



It's been fun.
:)


I'm headed back home to TRT now.
 
Whooops, forgot the very point to this thread...
Identifying that alga in the teeny-tiny pic.
(sorry, but the link to the thread with the bigger pic does not work)


liz+russ said:
...im tellin ya, mind looks exactly the same as this. It grows in brown tufts about half an inch long. it is filimentous, and the filiments are not feathery or fern like, they are just strait like little tufts of brown hair. They are also very secured to the rock.

There are quite number of brown alga that manifest as filamentous, caespitose forms. Just a hunch basedon your biref description, but...

try searching for images of Sphacelaria, and see if it matches.
Sorry I cannot be of more help. :)


KuyaOt/horge
 
Well, I don't think it's either of those two.

If it's a 'brown filamentous' alga, then I fear you can almost forget about commercially-available slugs. You can try to 'borrow' an urchin to see if it will do some damage, though usually you have to shorten the growth first for this to have a better chance of working.

The usually-cited consumers of brown filamentous algae are certain tangs, which I would NOT recommend. These are delicate fish with considerable space requirements.

You can try scraping off the tufts, down to bare rock, with a siphon hose right by to draw off algal debris. A cheap (but very sharp) stainless steel knife ought to serve.
 
yea kind of what I feared, I ruled out a tang a long time ago, my tank is only 30 gallons, so I cant really get a fish to eat the stuff. I have gone at it a couple times with tweezers and a syphon, an that helps, its just kind of tireing. I guess ill just go with the usual algae defenses, and try to keep the phosphates down, and pull out as much as I can. Thanks for the help.
 
Liz and Russ,

I'll lend you an urchin if you like. I've got a caribbean species that eats only algae (especially calcerous algae). Sorry, but I can't remember the species -- I can look it up if you're interested. Anyway, besides the fact that you're local and a member of BRS, my wife keeps complaining about the urchin eating the calcerous algae in my tank, so maybe I can hand it off to you for a few weeks to see if will control your algae problem, and to let my CA grow back. PM me if you're interested, and we can do an exchange at the next meeting.

Best regards,

Ken
 
never figured out what this stuff is, but I have been using phosphate removers in my sump and it deminished greatly, but dosnt seem to be deminishing as much as before or it would be gone by now, and I still have some that just wont die. Its definately a lot better than it used to be though.
 
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