Problem Algae?

Meshmez

Active member
i know it might be hard to identify this because it isnt a great pic and the rock is out of the water... but if possible, is this algae going to cause me problems? im talking about the purplish/brown hairy/spiky stuff on the center rock.
 

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haha ya, i know coralline is good :) i have a bunch of live rock curing, and a fair amount of it has that stuff on it. but the rock also has tons of corraline and other goodies on it, so i dont really want to kill everything off..
 
I am gonna go with it being Red Wiry Turf Algae (ID on reefcleaners, along with this info...)

Many species of short creeping red algae exist so the hobby generally lumps all of them under the heading "Gelidium", (the genus that is home to many of those species), and the common name Red Turf Algae, or Red Wiry Algae.

Manual Removal - Difficult. Macros that have fragile runners and creep along the rock are the hardest to manually remove. Do the best you can. Use a dental pick to do the most damage, DO NOT BRUSH. You will dislodge it and spread it. Yeah I know, it is boring as can be, but if you do it once surgically with a dental pick the problem goes away for good. If you can take the rock out, all the better.

Clean Up Crew- Emerald Crabs, urchins, sea hares, and large turbos.

Tip - Don't pass on frags with this stuff, don't put one in your tank. This algae has become extremely common on traded/aquacultured frags. So my advice is every time you add a coral or a rock look for it from now on.
 
ahh good find! and thank you!

looks like ill be doing some cleaning :( im guessing since i have this rock curing and not in a dt, it might be ok to brush it if i do it in a separate tub of salt water and dump the water after each rock? thoughts?
 
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