I've had this tank in operation 15 + years and over the last 5 years once and awhile i get outbreaks of these weird green tubular like growths. They spread quite fast and only solution seems to be manual removal and they just disappear. When you grab them and pinch with your fingers they seem to be soft but also calcified at the same time. Any idea what they are and any suggestions other than manual removal (which is a real PIA since they are in some many cracks and crevices.)
ID Please and Suggestions to Eliminate
- Thread starter hilde123
- Start date
Looks like Neomeris sp. Usually dies off but can be invasive as you seem to have found. To my knowledge, not much eats it due to be a calcified algae
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Also there seems to be some one off cures but nothing concrete.
Agree. What are your water parameters? Particularly nitrate and phosphate?
Could be an imbalance between NO3 and PO4. You don’t want either at zero.
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How long have they been growing in your tank? I had some grow in one of my tanks and I just left them alone and they died off in a few weeks.
Fluconazole has been successful is treating bryopsis and hair algae. I haven’t heard using for Neomeris but it could be something to try.
Well looking around it appears this algae requires calcium, alkalinity, bright light, and clean water, so basically SPS conditions. It looks like your corals are majority softies so maybe try letting the tank slide for a month (no water changes, no dosing) and see what happens. I was going to suggest trying urchins, but it also appears this algae has toxins designed to deter grazers.
Good thinking Sean. Maybe lowing Ca levels.
I just tested my alk and calcium, 5.3 and 300, respectively. That is much, much, lower than my aquarium usually runs. I haven't checked it in a few months leading me to conclude that this Neomeris must have consumed this much slower than my SPS corals, which have been doing pretty poorly the last 6 months or so by the way. I haven't done any water changes for several months. I'm going to do a series of 10% water changes and I cranked up the calcium reactor to hope fully get to my more normal levels of 10-11 for alk and 450-480 for calcium.
