pico reef pest algae problem challenge
- Thread starter brandon429
- Start date
brandon429
Active member
Zman that's exactly how I felt when the first treatment melted algae in my bowl, and I knew algae would never be present again
One day a better method will come then no more peroxide for me, i'm only loyal to the results.
You guys with larger tanks have more work to do, but the ideal preventative for me is direct kill because non-kill physical removal is a germ disperser, and this stuff rinses clean and doesn't cause a lot of collateral damage while over stripping po4 can, and I am getting less algae growth in a tank that's very old and should be a problem headache.
Kongs posts above might have been mis interpreted by me. The device is not electrical as I took it.
The theme seemed to take a sales tone perhaps initially but he was trying to introduce his technique for manual removal and my interpretation got locked in before he could make a response. I am open to any debate, test peroxide alternatives and post better ones.
Its a friendly challenge thread, information exchange even in forceful tones is welcome
I think it was the website link Kong but RC won't intervene if we trade straight details about algae removal science, there are limitations for peroxide this is the place for them.
One day a better method will come then no more peroxide for me, i'm only loyal to the results.
You guys with larger tanks have more work to do, but the ideal preventative for me is direct kill because non-kill physical removal is a germ disperser, and this stuff rinses clean and doesn't cause a lot of collateral damage while over stripping po4 can, and I am getting less algae growth in a tank that's very old and should be a problem headache.
Kongs posts above might have been mis interpreted by me. The device is not electrical as I took it.
The theme seemed to take a sales tone perhaps initially but he was trying to introduce his technique for manual removal and my interpretation got locked in before he could make a response. I am open to any debate, test peroxide alternatives and post better ones.
Its a friendly challenge thread, information exchange even in forceful tones is welcome
I think it was the website link Kong but RC won't intervene if we trade straight details about algae removal science, there are limitations for peroxide this is the place for them.
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OK, I have skimmed through a lot of this thread and can see that the treatment does work for sure but I have a problem.
I'll try to get a pick.
I have two tiny spots of hair algea that is starting to grow on my rainbow monti. They are very very small so dont know if camera will pick it up. I can remove it from the tank but they are right on the actual coral. I've seen some posts about how many corals will tolerate it but dont remember seeing a case with monti.
I'll hold tight until you can respond. It just appeared today and is the only HA in the tank that I can see.
Phos- 0 but obviously getting growth from something though
Trates-0
I did start feeding a little more 3 nights ago just to try to add some nutrients to the system since I have a coral in a fresh tank, but have been testing trates and phos with no rises on the tests yet.
I'll try to get a pick.
I have two tiny spots of hair algea that is starting to grow on my rainbow monti. They are very very small so dont know if camera will pick it up. I can remove it from the tank but they are right on the actual coral. I've seen some posts about how many corals will tolerate it but dont remember seeing a case with monti.
I'll hold tight until you can respond. It just appeared today and is the only HA in the tank that I can see.
Phos- 0 but obviously getting growth from something though
Trates-0
I did start feeding a little more 3 nights ago just to try to add some nutrients to the system since I have a coral in a fresh tank, but have been testing trates and phos with no rises on the tests yet.
This one you can barely make out the blurriness from the HA on the back left side. There are two unknowns living on the monti right near that location as well and an ID on them would be cool too since I'll be treating there. They have a very tiny like tube with two very narrow sting looking thinks that are about 4mil long. There are 4 of these on the monti. There is one of them by other patch of HA too.
http://
Same spot different pic
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Right to the right of the orange polyps is the other patch of HA only a few strands. The unknown is pretty clear in this image too, right to the left of the orange polyps. Can actually see it better in this pic than I can with my eyes. Almost looks like a body rather than a tube in this pic, but the two string looking things are what they look like in person.
http://
http://
Same spot different pic
http://
Right to the right of the orange polyps is the other patch of HA only a few strands. The unknown is pretty clear in this image too, right to the left of the orange polyps. Can actually see it better in this pic than I can with my eyes. Almost looks like a body rather than a tube in this pic, but the two string looking things are what they look like in person.
http://
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Forgot to add this but last Friday I pulled one of my zoa rocks out and just poured H2O2 on it and let everything sizzle for a minute and threw the rock back in.
The rock is the size of a 6 inch hoggie roll and had GHA on 90% of it and between polyps. Now it has around 5% coverage and when I get a minute or two I will kill that as well.
No pics though.
The rock is the size of a 6 inch hoggie roll and had GHA on 90% of it and between polyps. Now it has around 5% coverage and when I get a minute or two I will kill that as well.
No pics though.
brandon429
Active member
alford what a nice coral! Other than some transient local irritation monti's are not a sensitive. I get mine wet with 35% at times and it doesnt even phase it.
I would not treat that underwater, can you lift out the frag or drain down to the level of that algae? Id use a wet q tip to apply the peroxide lightly to the strands of algae, then put it back in tank. quick easy kill
the benthic organism you pictured sure looks like two brittle star legs...the micro ones
I would not treat that underwater, can you lift out the frag or drain down to the level of that algae? Id use a wet q tip to apply the peroxide lightly to the strands of algae, then put it back in tank. quick easy kill
the benthic organism you pictured sure looks like two brittle star legs...the micro ones
Ok, so just regular new bottle and dip q-tip, then dab area, rinse with saltwater, place back into tank? I have shrimp in the tank so rinsing is needed?
I dont know what they are but they arent stars as they are in the exact same spot every day and only show the two string looking things. If it kills them just making sure it wont hurt the monti is all.
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brandon429
Active member
Peroxide can cause some immediate area tissue stress but not enough to cause them to die off. the perimeter growth indicates your monti is packing on mass so any local lightening from the quick swab should heal back over. IMO its better than resident algae setting in. I would rinse, thats no problem.
Even if you didnt it would be ok, its too small amnt of peroxide spread in a big tank...local benthic dieoff happens all the time in resident fauna with no loss to the sps colony, it simply overgrows the denuded area (if any)
sometimes those spirochete worms die when embedded in porites, coral seals over, new worms bore in etc lol once you get an sps laying down plate like that i say they are good to go. its the stagnant little ones who haven't stepped off the plug base yet who might be a little weaker
Even if you didnt it would be ok, its too small amnt of peroxide spread in a big tank...local benthic dieoff happens all the time in resident fauna with no loss to the sps colony, it simply overgrows the denuded area (if any)
sometimes those spirochete worms die when embedded in porites, coral seals over, new worms bore in etc lol once you get an sps laying down plate like that i say they are good to go. its the stagnant little ones who haven't stepped off the plug base yet who might be a little weaker
stancfii
Member
Alright, tried the peroxide just short of giving the rock an acid bath. My 58g has been plagued with hair algae for 2 years. Tried EVERYTHING. I took a smaller rock out and poured peroxide on it, let it soak for a couple minutes, then put it back in the aquarium. This pic was taken today, the algae on the left is the color the rock was prior to peroxide. I am amazed. Tomorrow, I'm going to put peroxide on the other two rocks in the aquarium (35# each). I'll dose 10-20ml a day to hopefully kill anything in the water column, as well as vacuum out all the sand. I plan on upgrading to a 75, but will not keep this rock if I can't keep the hair algae from coming back. Will keep you all updated.
stancfii
Member
DopeCantWin
Active member
Hopefully you removed that Anemone first.
I'm trying it to kill Bryopsis in a 90 + 15 gallon in the fuge. I've started with a 20ml dosage of a 3% Hydrogen Peroxide from Walgreens. The only thing that seems to have minded in a very mixed reef is Pincushion Urchin. The Bryopsis seems not too happy after 12 hours, but nothing major. With everything being okay, I'm going to raise the dosage tomorrow to 30 ml.
Right Brandon, iv done another treatment today on my middle structure, first pic as is in tank
Popped all the corals off
Get things ready outside
Spray spray spray
Then I gave it a good going over with a toothbrush and ringed off with RO water
Then back in the tank, I'll post some more pics of this treatment in a couple of days ok
Gazz
Popped all the corals off
Get things ready outside
Spray spray spray
Then I gave it a good going over with a toothbrush and ringed off with RO water
Then back in the tank, I'll post some more pics of this treatment in a couple of days ok
Gazz
brandon429
Active member
Gazz,
those are great documentation pics!!
Sorry we don't have a better way than to go through all this work but its worth it to remove the growth before it gets worse
after all the physical removal, I feel that any leftovers/popups/regrowths that may come up can be taken in-tank, full of water, with the pumps off submerged spot treatment method so you dont have all this labor again for any nuisance popups
those are great documentation pics!!
Sorry we don't have a better way than to go through all this work but its worth it to remove the growth before it gets worse
after all the physical removal, I feel that any leftovers/popups/regrowths that may come up can be taken in-tank, full of water, with the pumps off submerged spot treatment method so you dont have all this labor again for any nuisance popups
DopeCantWin
Active member
I upped it to 60, and it didn't seem to even slow down growth. I'll probably try to take it out and spray it.
I bought 6% diluted it with the same amount of water and sprayed the structure, I waited about 15 minutes and then worked it hard with a hard toothbrush, then it was rinsed off with RO water and put back in the tank.
Ther results are absolutely shocking, there is no algae what so ever on the structure now ( the one I did a week ago) but on the one I did two days ago, it's all white and dying very quickly.
There is some pav coral and some zoas on the second treatment, both corals are all happy again, before I tackle the rear plates I have one structure to treat, it's the one with the cataphillia on it
I have to work out away to remove these corals first
Gazz
Ther results are absolutely shocking, there is no algae what so ever on the structure now ( the one I did a week ago) but on the one I did two days ago, it's all white and dying very quickly.
There is some pav coral and some zoas on the second treatment, both corals are all happy again, before I tackle the rear plates I have one structure to treat, it's the one with the cataphillia on it
I have to work out away to remove these corals first
Gazz
stancfii
Member
I will try to post another pic soon, but I didn't physically remove all the algae first. I took all the rock out and poured about 3 big bottles of peroxide over the rocks, then "basted" areas I wanted spot treated. Lots of mist came off the rock, lol. I put the rock back in, and 1 day later, almost all of the algae is white or light green and fading. My skimmer is going crazy! I plan to continue to dose 10ml peroxide a day to make sure it stays away. So far so good!
brandon429
Active member
Really good to hear!
Gazz, most of the large tank owners aren't willing to remove and treat like you are doing so I exPect nice results for your effort. The physical brushing obviously does the bulk work but the benefit of the peroxide pre treat is zapping fragments that may remain as castable/viable fragments
Sometimes physical removal alone can be a dispersant...but w peroxide you know those bits will be in the process of dying...plus it rinses clean and won't kill your rock bacteria while you work on it.
Those brief emersions didn't hurt your rock.
really good work glad to hear from both of you.
Gazz, most of the large tank owners aren't willing to remove and treat like you are doing so I exPect nice results for your effort. The physical brushing obviously does the bulk work but the benefit of the peroxide pre treat is zapping fragments that may remain as castable/viable fragments
Sometimes physical removal alone can be a dispersant...but w peroxide you know those bits will be in the process of dying...plus it rinses clean and won't kill your rock bacteria while you work on it.
Those brief emersions didn't hurt your rock.
really good work glad to hear from both of you.
Here is day 3, significant improvements. I suspect that my snails were at the algae during the night. My observation is in line with others, such that algae, once "cooked" with H2O2, seems to be more appetizing to snails...
And remember, it used to look like this:
Just a quick update, this coral colony is still alive, 95% algae free, and has some new growth tips showing. Some of the tissue receded, but the algae is gone. Success!
