Red Death

waterfaller1

New member
I have been fighting this terrible red algae cotton candy for years, and I am sick of it. There was a long thread about it, and everyone said mexican turbos. I have yet to assault it with them, but the few I have had don't seem to touch it. I have it about beat in my refugium{it was REALLY bad at one time}, but now it has taken over a few rocks in the display. Instead of free floating like it did in the fuge, it has attached to the rocks. I am going to do a scrub of a few rocks tomorrow, and a big water change. Any insight you could give? This pic was taken a week or so ago, and this stuff has tripled since then.:(

Picture%20828.jpg
 
I bought a single mexican turbo and its eating both the red and green hair, I doubt that it will ever erradicate it, but it does keep it mowed down.
 
Thanks for posting the article, apparently I have a pacific turbo snail. Any idea if yours are of Pacific or Atlantic origin?
 
Re: Red Death

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7925051#post7925051 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by waterfaller1
I have been fighting this terrible red algae cotton candy for years, and I am sick of it. There was a long thread about it, and everyone said mexican turbos. I have yet to assault it with them, but the few I have had don't seem to touch it. I have it about beat in my refugium{it was REALLY bad at one time}, but now it has taken over a few rocks in the display. Instead of free floating like it did in the fuge, it has attached to the rocks. I am going to do a scrub of a few rocks tomorrow, and a big water change. Any insight you could give? This pic was taken a week or so ago, and this stuff has tripled since then.:(

Picture%20828.jpg

sorry to break it to you friend but that isn't going away with that type of game plan. snails, urchins, sea hares (animals etc etc) are only going to help it spread by not being able to eat all of it. Think of it like fragging coral.. whatever survives will end up growing on other sections of your tank.

another method is those phosban reactors... work pretty well in limiting phosphates to stop algae growth temporarily....

then there is what i've tried .... i have eradicated hair algae before but the method i've used is definitely not a popular one...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7928065#post7928065 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Samala
Dear lord is that coral growing on your snails' shell?

>Sarah
Yes, that 's why I took the pic. Talk about slow huh?:D
 
One macro algae Mexican turbos may graze is Asparagopsis. Asparagopsis is the algae usually referred to as "red cotton algae". Other large grazers, at least ones I've had in my tank, tend to avoid Asparagopsis. Although I can't tell from the picture you posted, I'm not sure that you have Asparagopsis. Asparagopis is very fragile and finely filamented, and tends to have a red-pinkish color under most light. It can grow in areas of fairly low light intensity, and IME tends to grow in eddy areas where detritus can accumulates.

From appearences, it looks like your tank is doing great and you have nutrients well in check. There are algaes that can find a niche and persist in low nutrient tanks. Wire-brushing is a fairly good way to manually control algae, IME, especially if done out of the tank. It's enlightening to see how much detritus can be under an algae mat. I'd hate to see any of your colonies get damaged when doing that, though.

If its not Asparagopsis, a Diadema urchin may be an effective control. Small Diadema can grow quickly though, and will outgrow a 75G tank in a few months, IME. Diadema is a good grazer for stony coral tank as it tends to keep the rock grazed bare, preventing alga mats/turfs from getting a foothold. Diadema also seems fairly safe with stony corals, although it will tend to sample especially when it gets too big for the tank.
 
Thanks for your reply. I have someone coming to help in a little while and I'm going to take out 30 gallons. I am going to dump this into a rubbermaid and a bucket. Scrub the main offending rocks in the tub, and dunk in the bucket. I do have a diadema in my 65 semi-aggressive. It is one of only a few cleaners I have in there and does a great job. I only have two extra large zebra turbos in there that are the size of my fist. I am trying to find some mexican turbos to help keep it in check in the 75. My tank really has reached that equilibrium stage, even though this looks a bit excessive, it's really not that bad. It was a nightmare in my refugium for quite awhile. There it was mostly free floating and bouyant. It would come into the display and catch in little holes and at the edge of rocks and I would pull or tweeze it out. Then all of a sudden it did what you see here...it changed and attached to a few rocks. I look at the tank like it's my garden, if there is an unsightly weed you pull it or use some Roundup. It's time for the roundup!:lol:
 
If you want to get the algae and the detritus that is feeding its growth you need to power wash the rocks. Use chloride free water and quickly return the rocks to saltwater. Power washing will not kill your rocks but it will removed every thing except the coralline algae and calcified tube worms. I use an 1800 psi needle jet washer.

Honeybee
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7935262#post7935262 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by critmin
What are the negative effects of that red cotton algae? I have that problem too.
It looks terrible.:(
 
I did the water change and rock scrubbing yesterday. It looks much better! I just have to keep at it like I did in the fuge..I will beat it. Blasting the rocks and blowtorches are not an option for me. I don't think my sps corals would appreciate it.;)
 
My astrea snails love it and keep it in check in my refugium, it only grows in my refugium though. Strange huh?
 
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