pico reef pest algae problem challenge
- Thread starter brandon429
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DeepBlueZoas
Member
thanks for the tips
ampemployee1
Member
I direct dosed 3% on the live rock outside the tank. The sponges and microfeather dusters look fine in my system (its been about 5 days since I treated the rocks). No negative effects, but the CA did take a hit, so I would definitely try to avoid encrusting corals/algae. I can't speak for the dip treatment approach.
glxtrix
New member
You'll be just fine. I did the remaining parts of my rock last night with the spray bottle approach....covers the areas really nice with less waste. I hope to get the same results as dunking it. Here is a shot of pretty much the only parts that are left with HA....minus my anemone island...those rocks will be treated after the new aquascaping. The green dots are what was done earlier and the red dots shows what was treated last night.
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brandon429
Active member
That's the coralline reacting to the treatment it w be ok
will_adams1088
New member
So I figured I would give this a try on a small colony of zoas that I have and also on my green star polyps. I dipped each in 75% tank water/25% hydrogen peroxide (3%). I've attached before and after pictures (and if anyone can tell me how to add pictures directly to the post like everyone can I would really appreciate it). I didn't take a before shot of the star polyps, but i've included an after shot. It seems to be doing ok I guess, but neither colony has opened in the two days since I treated them. And there is still a little GHA left on them. Am I ok? Did I use too much? Too little? Haven't waited long enough?
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brandon429
Active member
it will still kill it but only if the bottle was new, if it was previously opened, and then diluted that far it may not. both zo's and gsp will tolerate any concentration of 3% even undiluted. They are both known as finicky openers so it can take a while to open up but we've never lost a colony to any 3% dilution so its ok to wait a few days a retreat.
Just to stamp it for this page, dips are almost always used in place of spot treatments but they should be considered last. spot treatments only apply peroxide to the target and the rest of the rock is pretty much untouched so there is zero collateral loss.
many times when there is a zo frag with bryopsis you can use a little paint brush to paint on the peroxide on the tufts only and avoid other non target areas, this kills the algae so much faster than a dip, it will save you wait time.
either way though your frags will be ok it will just take some time to see if the h202 was strong enough to zap it on first run
Just to stamp it for this page, dips are almost always used in place of spot treatments but they should be considered last. spot treatments only apply peroxide to the target and the rest of the rock is pretty much untouched so there is zero collateral loss.
many times when there is a zo frag with bryopsis you can use a little paint brush to paint on the peroxide on the tufts only and avoid other non target areas, this kills the algae so much faster than a dip, it will save you wait time.
either way though your frags will be ok it will just take some time to see if the h202 was strong enough to zap it on first run
will_adams1088
New member
Thanks for the reply. The bottle was brand new so I don't think there should have been any problems there. So you recommend using a cotton swab and applying straight 3% to the problem area?
brandon429
Active member
sure that will work or just a dropper, place one drop on the area that works too. leave on for one minute then rinse
will_adams1088
New member
Great. I'll try that tonight and post more pictures in a couple days/when I see better results.
quagmire
Active member
before and after peroxide treatment
before and after peroxide treatment
Here's a couple before and after photos. This rock was treated outside of the tank with full strength peroxide. The peroxide was applied directly to the algae and let sit for 1 minute then rinsed with tank water and returned to the display. I've done this with countless frags and rocks containing many types of corals. Two of my montiporas and a cyphastrea didn't react well to full strength peroxide. They browned out for months.
If anyone chooses to try peroxide for killing algae i suggest you do it outside of the tank and don't try it on rocks or frags containing your prized corals on your first attemp.
before and after peroxide treatment
Here's a couple before and after photos. This rock was treated outside of the tank with full strength peroxide. The peroxide was applied directly to the algae and let sit for 1 minute then rinsed with tank water and returned to the display. I've done this with countless frags and rocks containing many types of corals. Two of my montiporas and a cyphastrea didn't react well to full strength peroxide. They browned out for months.
If anyone chooses to try peroxide for killing algae i suggest you do it outside of the tank and don't try it on rocks or frags containing your prized corals on your first attemp.
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brandon429
Active member
How did the peroxide get directly on the sps during an external target application? Nice pics above, in a few weeks you will see more reproduction of those red mushrooms as peroxide directly impacts pedal laceration in corallimorphs. Its caused mine to reproduce to plague levels in my tank!
quagmire
Active member
Relentless bryopsis. I tried carefully targeting it several times but it would grow back where the coral met the bare rock every time. Had to hit the edge of the coral to get the job done. The corals healed over time and the bryopsis is gone.
Maybe i should have left the hair algae on the mushroom rock
Maybe i should have left the hair algae on the mushroom rock
brandon429
Active member
Oh i see yes that stuff is that rough...I've resorted to fire burning the edge of acans and causing a little tissue damage in order to get out red brush algae which is also that bad
So tested the soak method on a particularly bad rock last night. Wouldn't you know it my pair of pistol shrimp were in that rock. They immediately vacated the rock and were probably exposed to a half/half tank water/3% peroxide dip for about 30 seconds before I could get them into a container of just tank water to observe them in. They initially both looked dead already. Then they gradually started moving and starting to swim ok. The female was gravid and the eggs caused her to float and not be able to move very well. After a couple minutes I decided the best thing for them was to go back in the tank.
The male swam away into a rock. The female couldn't really move very well cuz of the eggs. So I placed her on a rock and she held on.
I thought they were going to make it , but I found one being eaten by my diversity favia for breakfast this morning. Couldn't tell if it was the male or female. If I had to guess I'd say the female.
But the rock looks really good!!! The coralline is a little ticked off but looks really cool. Turned neon red and pink in some places.
Sorry I forgot to take before and after, but will be doing this on the other affected rocks and take pics then.
The male swam away into a rock. The female couldn't really move very well cuz of the eggs. So I placed her on a rock and she held on.
I thought they were going to make it , but I found one being eaten by my diversity favia for breakfast this morning. Couldn't tell if it was the male or female. If I had to guess I'd say the female.
But the rock looks really good!!! The coralline is a little ticked off but looks really cool. Turned neon red and pink in some places.
Sorry I forgot to take before and after, but will be doing this on the other affected rocks and take pics then.
brandon429
Active member
Thank you for update that means we've got to consider pistol shrimp as sensitive just need a few more instances to compare. at some point there may be a whole tank dosing with a pistol shrimp that will be helpful input to check for further sensitivity
