steelhealr
New member
Also...I added a black longspine urchin, diadema setosum. And, as you would expect, it is eating only the coralline and NOT the macroalgae. SH
Red macroalgae, ID and recommendation
- Thread starter steelhealr
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steelhealr
New member
Partial sucess story here....I added a diadema setosum, black longspine urchin to try and keep the macro in check. For two weeks it simply munched on coralline algae. Check out what I saw the other day:
BEFORE
AFTER
BEFORE
AFTER
mokujin22
New member
i have something very similar (alomost exactly the same... no blue coloration) in my tank. see below:
excuse the poor photo quality with my point-and-shoot digital. anyway, this stuff has almost completedly covered this candycane and is starting to spread to some of the rockwork and i'm getting a bit nervous.
because it's a small tank, i don't think an urchin would work. does anyone know if a lettuce nudi eat this stuff?
tony.
excuse the poor photo quality with my point-and-shoot digital. anyway, this stuff has almost completedly covered this candycane and is starting to spread to some of the rockwork and i'm getting a bit nervous.
because it's a small tank, i don't think an urchin would work. does anyone know if a lettuce nudi eat this stuff?
tony.
steelhealr
New member
It's a rare macro. My tank is a 24G and my urchin is starting to eat it. Nothing else has touched it as yet. It WILL begin to overrun the tank. If it is localized to the one rock, you might want to consider removing it now. The snails spread it quickly as you can see from the pic above. SH
mokujin22
New member
two words: YELLOW TANG.
yes, i know that i'm going to get flamed like crazy for putting a tang in my 26 gallon reef tank, but after pulling rocks out and scrubbing/tweezing for the last two weeks, i decided to try a temporary fix. (he's rather small and i figure i'll either return him or get a bigger tank when he grows a bit)
i got him last night and he was picking through the stuff like candy. we'll see if he keeps it up.
tony.
yes, i know that i'm going to get flamed like crazy for putting a tang in my 26 gallon reef tank, but after pulling rocks out and scrubbing/tweezing for the last two weeks, i decided to try a temporary fix. (he's rather small and i figure i'll either return him or get a bigger tank when he grows a bit)
i got him last night and he was picking through the stuff like candy. we'll see if he keeps it up.
tony.
StrongHandsMcGee
Member
I've got a massive problem with that same stuff. I've found that my money cowry eats the stuff, though. I also had a pincusion urchin that ate it in the past. FW-dipping the portion of your rock that the macro is on will kill what is on the surface of the rock, but it won't get to the stuff that is rooted in, and it will grow back quickly. Right now I'm experimenting with a few species of crabs to see if they will eat it. I'm trying out a very large black mithryx-type crab, what seems to a shame-faced crab, and a "mystery" crab. I'll try to keep everyone informed, because this stuff is a definite threat to our tanks and must be taken care of.
steelhealr
New member
My longspine mowed thru it once...but...doesn't seem to have gone back to it. It seems to avoid coralline covered rocks and for the moment...seems in check. I DO think it DOES help with nutrient export tho'. SH
mokujin22
New member
seriously, try a juvenile yellow tang (for a small tank). he's been in my tank about two weeks now and pretty much mowed down all of it within a week. some remains in a few spots (very closely attached to the rock), but the tang constantly stops back at these spots to pick at it.
i couldn't have asked for a better solution.... plus he's a cool fish.
i'll try to shoot some pics of the candy-cane to post before and after shots. it's night and day.
t.
i couldn't have asked for a better solution.... plus he's a cool fish.
i'll try to shoot some pics of the candy-cane to post before and after shots. it's night and day.
t.
StrongHandsMcGee
Member
Update: Money or "Tolkien" cowries eat this stuff. They don't plow right through it, but they do eat it, unlike the crabs--they just seem to rip it up and spread it around more.
steelhealr
New member
Noted.....SH
I have the same algae in my tank. I, too, was unable to get an exact ID. It DOES spread very, very fast, and given time will overrun your corals and tank. I have spent I don't know how many HOURS picking the stuff off between zoa polyps with tweezers, and scrubbing the rocks with a toothbrush. Any small piece that lodges somewhere will grow another colony.
I finally REMOVED ever piece of rock and coral it was on. If allowed to dry out, it becomes almost like a shrink wrapper on the rock and has to be scrubbed off with something very wirey.
I found absolutely NOTHING that would eat it...a lawnmower blenny wouldn't touch it, neither would a brown scopas tang. My hermits and crabs left it alone like the plague. Even a blue spot seahare wouldn't eat it. I did an experiment and threw this stuff in a freshwater crab tank I have. They wouldn't eat it, and it STILL GREW!
I have no idea where it came from, but it grew to amazing proportions in a very short time. I would remove as much of it as soon as possible. ANYTHING that more than doubles it's size in a month has to be considered invasive. I still have a rock of this stuff in my seahorse tank. It's very pretty and grows equally well under my reefs T5's or regular flourescent bulbs. I take a handful of it a month and turn it to mulch for my flowerbed.
This is just my experience of it. I hope yours is better. Good luck on the ID.
I finally REMOVED ever piece of rock and coral it was on. If allowed to dry out, it becomes almost like a shrink wrapper on the rock and has to be scrubbed off with something very wirey.
I found absolutely NOTHING that would eat it...a lawnmower blenny wouldn't touch it, neither would a brown scopas tang. My hermits and crabs left it alone like the plague. Even a blue spot seahare wouldn't eat it. I did an experiment and threw this stuff in a freshwater crab tank I have. They wouldn't eat it, and it STILL GREW!
I have no idea where it came from, but it grew to amazing proportions in a very short time. I would remove as much of it as soon as possible. ANYTHING that more than doubles it's size in a month has to be considered invasive. I still have a rock of this stuff in my seahorse tank. It's very pretty and grows equally well under my reefs T5's or regular flourescent bulbs. I take a handful of it a month and turn it to mulch for my flowerbed.
This is just my experience of it. I hope yours is better. Good luck on the ID.
steelhealr
New member
There is virtually nothing you can do about it short of poisoning the tank or allowing water conditions to become unfavorable (but who can do that to a nano reef? My black longspine urchin, snails, etc wouldn't touch it. Spreads obnoxiously, insidiously and covers everything. Even grew on the shells of the snails. Spores don't help either. Wish I could offer a suggestion. SH
dublo8
New member
Check out this site. I'm sure it will have it, but it may take some digging to find what your looking for. http://algaebase.org/
Too late for samples, it's been obliterated!
Embarrassingly it was a just couple of Turbo snails that did it. A co-worker tore down his larger tank and then gave them to me. For my nano 10g they're really too big so I've never put them in before. Within a couple of days they completely cleaned house, I'm so relieved. Wonder why turbo's didn't work for some of the others. I think they were really hungry.
Embarrassingly it was a just couple of Turbo snails that did it. A co-worker tore down his larger tank and then gave them to me. For my nano 10g they're really too big so I've never put them in before. Within a couple of days they completely cleaned house, I'm so relieved. Wonder why turbo's didn't work for some of the others. I think they were really hungry.
