Nightmare Red Cotton Algae: Took over my tank

[mmgm]

Thanks for the responses.....

Yesterday I picked up 22 Mexican Turbo Snails. They definetly eat this stuff up. However, based on the amount of Asparagopsis in the tank relying on the Turbos alone will be futile. Since the snails are eating so well I ordered about 70 more and also placed an order for the tuxedo urchins (Mespilia globulus) and halloween urchins (Tripneustes gratilla)

KMK2307 I agree with the advise on the refugium. For now I'll leave the fuge alone.... however, the fuge is also pretty over-run with this stuff. I did notice that not harvesting the macro-algae may make it harder for the Asparagopsis to grow.... So for now I will try to let the macro algae in the fuge take over the problem algae. By the way, I'm using a MTC 3000 skimmer..... so there is plenty of good skimming going on.....

Since posting this thread I have kept the lights out except for 2 hours/day. Also, for the record my water parameters are perfect with:

Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0
SG 1.024
PH 8.24
ORP 368 mv (Octopus Controller)

I will be cleaning out the tank again this weekend and will post status and pictures....

I must say not any change to date..... This one will take a long time.....:lol:

Thanks again and suggestions are welcome......

 

[arconom]

mmgm

I'm very happy to hear you tried the Real Mexican Turbos. I wouldn't stear you wrong. I feel your situation on a personal level.

There was even less amount of information out when I was battling this problem.

Please continue the updates since this information will help other reefers with this Rare Algae IMO.

Methods to deal with it are few and far between.

I tried many Reef cleaner packages and then finally got it I think with that article I posted.

 

[mmgm]

Thanks for the support acronom and RC.

I'm sure many of you can appreciate this situation where you spend over a year working to set up a large system only to end up encountering an issue like this one. Especially since I took my time, did everything by the book and still ended up with an issue.....

What puzzles me was how this stuff got into the tank to begin with. My LFS suggested that since I used a lot of Base Rock the Red Hair Algae took over before corraline algae had time to form. Corraline Algae actually prevents/deters problem algaes from growing on surfaces that already have corraline growing. Does anyone know of any scientific studies to support this?

If this is true then people considering using base rock in their tanks should be careful to avoid problem algae forming on the base rock before corraline has a chance to form. I wonder if anyone else using Base Rock to establish their tank have encountered similar Red Algae problems.....

Any sinmilar experiences out there?

Updates to follow.....

 

[DensityMan]

This is the first thread I've noticed where this algae has been brought up. I thought I was alone (and was so depressed about the condition of my tank I didn't even want to photograph it.

At this point I'm losing zoanthid colonies, GSP colonies, monti caps and a couple of branching SPS to this plague and my plan currently involves a teardown and scrubbings with more 'control' grazers in the new smaller tank. When I first noticed this algae I had just gotten rid of my last Turbo (it was a bulldozer and this could have come in after the Turbo was gone anyway). I've been using manual removal and siphoning for the past couple months and have also added a Diadema urchin (which has only eaten this stuff by accident while chasing coralline algae). The siphon works well and the infested colonies seem to return to life with vigor for a few days after the harvesting, but the red fuzz just grows to fast for me to keep up with it.

I think the worst part for me is that I was excited the first time I saw this algae. It is pretty in small amounts. By the time I saw it as a problem-algae it was too late and I was fighting it, bryopsis and the brown-irredescent-super-thin algae that I think starts with a "D" but I can never remember. Beat the "D" algae nearly completely, made good headway with the bryopsis for a time, but the red just doesn't give up.

I don't remember now if this was mentioned above, but Magnesium dosing has been suggested to me locally as a control by someone else who has had this algae in small amounts.

My tank is only a 75g and it's breaking my heart, can't imagine a 750 being overrun with this stuff... it's just too much.

From my tank in August:

From my tank (same area) in December"

Another area - formerly zoanthids:

Good luck in your battle.

 

[eleodes]

yep. this is bad stuff. i had the same experience thinking it was kind of cute in small amounts.

i have a seaweed tank and i introduced some of this (it was unavoidable, i had it all over everything) from an older system. i got my seaweeds growing really well and they have clearly outcompeted this algae: the little tufts that were in there have just been getting smaller and smaller and i can hardly find them anymore.

your seaweed-dedicated refugium should help to knock this stuff down. you might try to do whatever you can to encourage the weeds. i have been dosing nitrate (Flourish Nitrogen) and keeping it at ~5mg/l.

 

[websquid]

reg algae

reg algae

Finally I think Ive found an ID on this stuff, does this look like the same algae?

Ive tried to find an ID on this stuff for a while now, Its terrible I know and feel for anyone else that is experienceing the same.

I have found it very hard to remove, forget about syphoning, this stuff is very difficult to remove.

Please keep the replies comming as they are a great help.
You may be interested to know that Im in Australia so its just not perculilar to the nothern hemisphere.

Paul.

 

[asnatlas]

Welcome !!!

Welcome !!!

websquid

To Reef Central

 

[mmgm]

Update on this nasty Red Cotton Algae

Update on this nasty Red Cotton Algae

I have had about 22 Mexican Turbo snails in the tank all week. I must say the snails really eat the algae and have managed to clean off a few rocks. I have ordered about 70 more snails..... Hopefully combined with all lights off this will make a difference.

Some things worth mentioning:

1. I have not harvested any macro algae from my fuge in a while. Looks like the macro algae has made some progress in choking out the bad Red Algae..... but too soon to say since the fuge still contains a considerable amount of Red Algae. Lets see how things go with not harvesting any macro algae for a while.

2. When the Red Algae started to become an issue I removed about 70 pounds of Live Rock from my tank and placed into my QT tank that is plumbed into the main system. The rock has been laying around in the QT for about 3 months with no exposure to light. I must say there is no sign of the Red Beast Algae anywhere in the QT tank. Also, I have a 50 gallon fuge full of LR plumed into my system. There is also no light in that fuge and the Red Algae is not in the 50 gallon fuge also. Too soon to say but it looks like the suggestions of "Rock Cooking" have some credibility here. The point is within a 700+ gallon system the Red Algae is only found in parts of my system that have a light source. I don't know about spores and whether spores can survive in no light situations......

Lets see how things progress from here..... Still keeping lights off except for 2 hours a day..... Corals seem unaffected at this time.....

I'll udate next week with some pictures once I get some more snails in and have had a chance to hand pick more of this stuff out of my tank..... It's my son's birthday this weekend and did not have a chance to pick this out by hand this week.....

Please keep siggestions and feedback coming..... Looks like this stuff can takeover a tank with no water parameter issues.....


By the way, WebSquid Welcome to RC..... The pictures you have posted look similar to the Algae growing in my tank..... I also tried to siphom this stuff out but was not successful... It's too thick and clogs the siphon.... However, it comes out in large chunks rubbing a fishnet against the Rocks..... I fill up a 5 gallon bucket using this approach......

 

[scubayou]

I have recently battled this red algea in my 75 reef and believe I have won. What is your PH this algea seems to thrive on low PH. My tank was quite neglected for some time when this red stuff started taking over. No water changes for a long period of time and little to no supplements. Finaly I regained interest and one day started harvesting this stuff by hand. Not a fun task for it is very slimy and breaks apart easily. I got a tooth brush and brushed every rock I could and siphoned what was left floating around. I started doing water changes, one big one to start and then 5gal. a week for the past month. My froesh water top offs were done with the addition of Kent Supper buffer almost daily until my PH returned to around 8.2. It has been 1 month and I do not even have a trace nor can you tell my tank was full of this red stuff. I removed on the initial harvest a 5 gal pail of this red stuff and some other calurpas I would say the pail was about 50/50. Unbelievable! I never new of the stuff till I had it and then I saw this post.So I say check your PH and Buff away!Good luck!

P.S. Any one have an answer for Valonia?

 

[dochoot]

I really appreciate this post. I had a small amount of this from a frag I got and thought it looked interesting and really didn't do anything about it.

Mine went away but by no special effort on my part. I do have urchins which seem busy. I will be vigilant in the future to watch for it.

 

[DensityMan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6522093#post6522093 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dochoot
...

Mine went away but by no special effort on my part. I do have urchins which seem busy. I will be vigilant in the future to watch for it.

Don't just be vigilant. Ask around locally for a sample of it from someone else's tank. Take that sample and a cup of boiling bleach or strong acid to your tank. While in front of the tank, make a display of what happens to this algae should it ever be caught in your tank. The inaudible algal screams should make any algae think twice before making themselves seen again in your tank.

That (and some vigilance) should be a rock-solid way to keep it from showing itself again.

 

[waterfaller1]

Oh the dreaded asparagopsis taxiformis!
I have been on a vigilant all out war against this algae for over a year.My little tuxedo that I had for over a year suddenly died recently,and I have yet to replace him.
This algae smells bad too. I have a couple mexican turbos,but maybe I should add more.This stuff is horrible..I regularly siphon it out..and when I see it floating in the tank I catch it with a brine shrimp net.

 

[asnatlas]

scubayou

To Reef Central

 

[scubayou]

TANKS!

 

[waldomas]

MMGM,

How are those mexican tubos doin for you? Any progress with that nasty red hair?

 

[mmgm]

update on the Red Nightmare

update on the Red Nightmare

Waldomas:

After a few weeks with 100 Mexican Turbo Snails in the tank I have to say there has been a significant improvement with the Red Algae situation. I would say that at least 40% of the Algae has been eliminated in a very short period of time. (about 2 weeks)

Also, the Mexican Turbos eat right down to the rock and corraline Algae is starting to thrive again on the cleaned portions of rock....

What a difference......

I have attached some pictures as an update..... The improvement is only from the snails eating the Red Algae and I still need to get in and pick some off by hand..... Also, the Urchins I ordered should arrive this week.....

I am very surprised at the success of these snails... I did not think they would be this effective in taking care of the problem....

Here are the pics....

The next pic is same area as originally posted.... Notice the difference?

Check out the snail poop in the next pic..... Gotta go somewhere.....

 

[mmgm]

update on the Red Nightmare

update on the Red Nightmare

oops... Double post by mistake.....

 

[waldomas]

Wow!! Thats great to hear! I'll have to get about 50-75 of those as well. My only concern is that my tank averages 80-81 degrees and i hear they like cooler temps. What temp does youre tank run?

 

[mmgm]

I keep my tank set at 78 degrees F...... You should be OK as long as you don't go too far above above 80 degrees...

 

[waldomas]

Cool!! LOL I'll pick up another fan or two before i get the snails. Did you mail order them? If so from where and how did they ship? About $2-$3 each?