Is there a way to kill hair algae on a clam?

[tangman99]

I have had some type of hair algae growing on my crocea's shell for a while now. It is a wirery type that is embedded in the shell. I pull it off when it get really thick but I can't get rid of it. Is there something that will kill the algae on the shell but not harm the clam?

 

[fefo23]

six line wrasse is a posible choice

 

[WayneY]

I take a new,unused stiff toothbrush and scrub off.Maybe some blue leg hermits to keep it in check.

 

[jwalters103]

do some reading on boring algaes. they are a detriment to your clams health and can kill it. i used a green scratch pad for dishes to scrub the shells of my clams that had it while doing a fwd. i would take a small bucket of tank water and scrub the shell of your clam in it, and rinse well before putting back in your tank

 

[J8851]

my turbo snails went nuts on the shell of my clam because it came from marshal islands and had some algae left on it. The clam didnt seem bothered.

 

[tangman99]

I have a six line wrasse so he hasn't been any help. I did scrub it this weekend with a toothbrush and got a lot off. I guess all I can do is hope it dies off at some point in time.

 

[WayneY]

I have also had luck with members of the Zebrasoma(?) tangs keeping it cleaned off once I scrubbed the bulk off. My yellow,purple and scopas tangs keep mine very clean.

 

[Sk8r]

Reduce your phosphate levels: put in some phosban, etc, and get a refugium going.

 

[tangman99]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9581967#post9581967 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
Reduce your phosphate levels: put in some phosban, etc, and get a refugium going.

That's what's funny. I've been using Rowaphos for months now, I have a fuge full of macro and my Phosphates have always tested 0 with 3 different kits.

The one thing I did notice is the hair algea problems seemed to start about the same time I switched to Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt. I read a comment about someone having film algea problems with it and I have been cleaning film algea off my glass every other day for over a year.

I just did a water change Saturday with Instant Oceon that I boosted the calc from 300 to 400 with dow flake. The alk and mag were fine. It's only been 3 days but there is not a trace of film algea on my glass anywhere so maybe that was the problem? No idea, but the tank is much clearer than it has been in a long time.

 

[Pike614]

Turbo snails, and lawnmower blenny.....I had a huge hair algae issue before I got the snails, and now I have to feed them dried seaweed because they devoured every last bit of it.

 

[Tex007]

post a pic of said algae to properly identify the sp, only then would I even attempt to give a solution...

 

[tangman99]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9610056#post9610056 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tex007
post a pic of said algae to properly identify the sp, only then would I even attempt to give a solution...

Sorry, been a while since I've been on. Here is a picture of it about two weeks after I used a toothbrush on it to get most off. It will grow pretty thick in a month or so.

 

[Lpabsolute]

That Sucks!!! That's a nice looking clam. I would def. find something that works better in the long run for keeping the hair algae gone. Good Luck

 

[tangman99]

It doesn't seem to bother it in the least. It's just ugly and I have to pull it off and scrub it ever couple of weeks. I hope it goes away soon. I've been dealing with it for a year but it does seem to be getting better over time. I can't really think of anything else I can do. Just replace the two reeflux 250W 10Ks last week and the two 110 VHO's about 4 months ago.