Macroalgae Eating Fish?

[cm11599ps]

My 55 gallon reef has been running about 4 years now. The past 2 years I really haven't kept up with it much due to a divorce. I'm very slowly trying to get it back to respectability.

I currently have a mixture of sps, lps and softies. Probably less than 5 snails/crabs combined. Only two fish are left, a clown and a royal gramma with both being about 2" long.

I'd like some identification on a specific macro algae before I add anything. It grows a dark purple and some spots get a much lighter purple color. It is very brittle to the touch. I did have a very small yellow tang in for a few weeks and he loved the stuff. Loved it so much that I couldn't see it in my tank anymore. Here's the pic.

What is the stuff? It's actually very pretty but it can tend to take over some stuff. Should I see if my local club wants any or should I just focus on keeping it at bay?

What kind of livestock would take care of the macro and also be appropriate for my 55 mixed reef? No, I'm not adding a tang. :spin2:

 

[cm11599ps]

double post....

 

[Betta132]

I'd suggest you see if anyone wants it.
Hmm... A tuxedo urchin will tear it up and maybe eat it. That would definitely help.
Maybe a lawnmower blenny? Or a hector's goby, if you can find a healthy one. Hector's gobies love hair algae, and I'm thinking one would enjoy that stuff.

 

[Moort82]

I've always called that algae ochtodes sp but ORA grows a very similar one they call Hypnea pannosa.
If its the same as I grow in my refugium then it seems very palatable to tuxedo urchins as mine will quickly reduce it to nothing. A few of them would be my preferred option in a tank your size as I don't think there is a fish that would fit the bill.

 

[WarEagleU1986]

I've always called that algae ochtodes sp but ORA grows a very similar one they call Hypnea pannosa.
If its the same as I grow in my refugium then it seems very palatable to tuxedo urchins as mine will quickly reduce it to nothing. A few of them would be my preferred option in a tank your size as I don't think there is a fish that would fit the bill.

I know potters will eat some micro algea

 

[Stevenliu9]

+1 for urchin, they'll devour it for you. But I'd take the rock into a LFS to see if they'd trade some store credit for you + a clean rock.

 

[SecretiveFish]

We had this stuff in our 150 and left it be because it was so pretty. Ochtodes macroalgae was our best guess as to what is was. It was a huge mistake letting it go...

We ended up having to remove the most infested rock in order to get it out of the system. Our tuxedo urchin helped, but we manually had to remove this stuff with a stiff brush and siphon. It has nasty anchors that can be impossible to get out of live rock, and as you noticed it is quite brittle... the broken pieces attach to other things and grow... It actually almost killed our purple porites because it anchored in the coral and was suffocating it. My SO had to use a dental pick to get the anchors out of the coral.

It is extremely pretty though, and many people do like keeping it so your local reef club would be a great way to offload some. If I had a sea horse tank or the like I would love to get some again. In a SPS tank, no thanks. I am hoping to try a Scopas tang to keep the other macro algae at bay but two have not survived quarantine (super bummed about that).

 

[cm11599ps]

If I had a bigger tank I'd definitely go with a tang but I like the urchin idea. Never had one of those before.

 

[Moort82]

Obviously not for your situation but I tried some today with my convict tang and he really enjoyed it. In fact it only lasted a few seconds.