Nuisance algae experts!

[Whiterabbitrage]

I've been very happy with my Bryopsis but over the last 3-4 months it's been steadily replaced by something else. This new GHA is rough and wiry. It's green, I guess most hobbiests would lump it as a type of turf algae. It grows over an inch long. I can pull off the top but it snaps off, the roots never come off. And it's killing off my Bryopsis. There is next to none left now.
Please does anyone know of an invert that will eat this stuff?
I'm thinking fuzzy chiton or Donatella sea hare. Advice?

 

[igadget56]

Do you check for nitrates and phosphates?

 

[GroktheCube]

IME, emerald crabs, foxfaces, and Dolabella sea hares are just about the only things that might eat that kind of algae, but I have some GHA in my tank that none of the above will touch.

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

Haven't changed my nitrate. I always keep it around 10. I run a high nutrient tank for Rics and sponges and such. I tried lowering the nitrates once and the plate coral shrank so badly I thought it was dead. The one thing I have changed is my Alk. I used to keep it at 11 and for the last few months been keeping it at 8. Now I've got green Brillo in my tank! And my beautiful Bryopsis is nearly wiped out. My colony of lettuce Nudibranchs that has been growing, breeding and thriving is now down to 1 baby and 1 teenager. Want my Bryopsis back! Am afraid lowering the nitrates will cause more problems than it will fix. Input? I'm willing to try if the experts think it wise. Anyone have experience with Trochus? How about Strombus? I read they eat turf algae. Maybe they will eat this Brillo...

 

[asylumdown]

I have many analogies to make here, but based on your description of this system and your goals for it, you have three options:

1. find a predator for this particular kind of algae

or

2. Invest in a chemical algicide

or

3. Get used to manually harvesting lots and lots of hair algae.

That's really about the size of it. If you are aggressive with the algae fix marine (in accordance with instructions of course), you may be able to eliminate this new nasty algae from your system completely, but you'll always be at risk of reintroducing it as it sounds like the chemistry of more than right for algae, so I'd be extra careful about washing/dipping/quarantining new arrivals and you should never let a single drop of water from another system enter that tank again if you're able to eradicate it completely. Otherwise you're looking at management through predation, either by you the aquarist, or by a critter that you buy.

Not really many other options unless you plan on drastically altering the tank's nutrient regime (though you'd still need have a fight on your hands I bet)

 

[asylumdown]

also FWIW, based on a description of texture and shape alone, any suggestions on a predator are going to be kind of hit and miss. The best you're gonna get is "such and such critter might eat it". I don't think your'e going to find someone who says "aha! you must buy this specific animal and it your problems will be solved!"

I'd personally go the algaefix route, though I'd let it finish killing the bryopsis first. In fact, if this algae can kill bryopsis and is susceptible to algae fix, you might just have a winning combination on your hands....

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

Re: Nuisance algae experts!

Trochus should knock it down pretty quick and leave the bryopsis.

 

[asylumdown]

That is a great chart, though saying something might eat something else is a whole lot different than saying something is going to be able to 'control' it.

for example, that chart lists 5 separate animals that will supposedly eat cyano. That might be true, but if you've got a cyano "problem", I doubt wall to wall stocking with those 5 animals will even make a dent in it.

I've personally had cyano problems many times over the years, and I've always had hermits, astrea, and cerith snails, and I've never seen them so much as nibble on the stuff. In fact I've seen the snails go out of their way to avoid it.

Also, 'hair algae' is a catch all term for probably a dozen different species. There's no guarantee that the listed animals will a) eat or b) prefer to the point where they make a significant dent in the population of the particular kind of hair algae that one might be struggling with. When my tank was young, I had a kind of "hair algae" that my fighting conches vacuumed up like crack, whereas there's another kind that grows in my overflows that I couldn't get them to eat if it were soaked in crack.

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

Thanks for the input guys. Really appreciate it. Your points have helped me develop a plan Thing about this new algae is that you can't manually remove it. With past types it was never a problem. Blah. So here's the plan to tackle this Brillo stuff:
Temporarily stop filter feeding; lower nitrates and phosphates; add a variety of algae eaters. If this doesn't do it, I'll have to move to chemical warfare and give Algae-Fix a try.
Thanks again for all your ideas.