Scroll Algae

[Cristi]

Has anyone successfully pruned scroll algae and if so, how do you do it? My scroll algae keeps growing and growing. It has gone from:

2 Months Ago

And NowThis

It is beginning to outgrow the tank, but I would still like to keep it if I can.

 

[Samala]

Its absolutely beautiful. I'm not sure that you can prune it without killing the pruned peices. I've tried to have people send me 'frags' of it to propagate but wasnt able to get any to thrive in the new location. As far as I know, the remainder of the colony did fine after the frag amputation.

Anyone have an actively growing Padina colony that they've successfully fragged? I would think if you pruned out individual "scrolls" it shouldn't kill the rest of the colony.

>Sarah

 

[Macroculture]

I have been trying to grow Padina gymnospora from frags for seven years and had almost zero luck. Every now and then some frags will break apart and die and a baby Padina will appear on a nearby rock, but very rarely (maybe three or four times out of a couple hundred tries). The parent colonies suffered no ill effects no matter how much I pruned from them. It seems as long as you don't damage the holdfast they grow back well.