ID Please : plant / Algae

[corro]

i know this isnt the best pic, but... thanks!

 

[DensityMan]

Tagging along to learn myself, but at first glance it may be a type of sargassum.

From another thread not to long ago: sargassum?

 

[piercho]

IMO, not a Sargassum, but another brown algae, Dictyota. One feature of Sargassum is clusters of small, round balls. Yours seems not to have these. Also, sargassum grows more like a bush rather than spreading across the substrate.

I like sargassum and find it grows quickly floating in my hi-light refugium. Also, sargassum doesn't spread readily like some macros so it easy to contain in the main display. One odd thing about it in my tank - it grows quickly when I do natural SW water exchanges, but did poorly when I did water exchanges with IO.

Don't know about Dictyota. If its growth habit is like caulerpa - creeping quickly across the substate - I might not want it.

 

[corro]

thanks for the ideas...

this algae does not have the small clusters of round balls that you mentioned. However, it is growing like a bush and it is on my live rock not on the sand bed.

 

[DensityMan]

piercho: I do believe you may be correct... at least more correct than me...

On second glance it does appear more like other pics of 'dictyota' I have seen around here.

Corro, perhaps if you sent me a bundle I could better ID it? :lol:

Good luck with it. Worst I have heard of dictyota is that it has a tenatious 'grip' and is hard to clean off of rock.

 

[emredp]

Corro,
Did you ever get an ID on that plant. I have it all over my LR too

 

[corro]

Nope ... I didnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t. it sounded to me like it would recede after a while, but it just keeps growing and growing! It is over 3 inches on some of my rocks. Thatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s ok... personally I think it looks really cool.

if DensityMan was serious, Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢d be happy to send him a bundle... Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m still very curious about what it is.

 

[emredp]

Does yours have little bumps on the leaves ??? Because mine doed, I was thinking it was some type of kelp.

 

[corro]

i'll look tonight and post a couple more pics to show what it looks like on the rocks.

I move a couple of small pieces to my refugium to see what would happen and it seems to be doing fine, going on a week now.

 

[horge]

If it does not branch dichotomously, it may not be Dictyota.

How about you tear out one whole blade (preferably one that is branching, if at all), then shoot a closeup so we can see.

 

[corro]

ok... here are some better ( my camera still sucks ) pics .

it has started to develop clusters of small, round balls ... you can see these in the 3rd pic ( highlighted by the square ).

yes mine does have bumps on the stems and leaves, but mostly on the stems.

the branching is mostly at the bottom of the plant it branches in at least 4 four directions on the more visible pieces.

 

[emredp]

Those are without a doubt the same as mine. I also just saw some today at a LFS on some of thier pre cured LR, but they didn't know what they were either. I'm gonna try and order an algae book tonight so see if I can ID it. I'll let you know if it is in there or not after I get it.

 

[emredp]

Bump

 

[DensityMan]

with the appearance of "small round balls" can we assume it may be Sargassum again?

 

[corro]

with the appearance of "small round balls" can we assume it may be Sargassum again?

yes searched a bit more tonight and i think it might be Sargassum. After seeing some VERY nice macro algae ( especially at www.algaebase.org ), the closest thing i could find was the algae at the bottom of --> this page <--.

 

[horge]

Good thing you posted a close-up, albeit still fuzzy, hehe.
That indeed looks like Sargassum.
If the picture were clearer and even closer up, hehe, we might have a shot at ID down to species level ---not that it matters. The members of the Genus are managed similarly.

 

[emredp]

OK !!!!!!!
I finally received the Alge problem solver and I can confirm it is Sargassum. This type is from Fiji (figures as this is where the rock is from) and the book says it is a sign of good water quality.

 

[corro]

OK !!!!!!!
I finally received the Alge problem solver and I can confirm it is Sargassum. This type is from Fiji (figures as this is where the rock is from) and the book says it is a sign of good water quality.

cool! thanks for the look-up. guess we can stick a fork in this one. I'd be interested to know if your recedes in the future.

... after this Sargassum started growing and seeing that awesome 'planted tank thread' it has really make me want to put more macro algae in my main tank.