Star "polyp" Wars

[T Man]

I have a baseball sized colony of green star polyps that is being overcome by hair algae. I "weed" it out every now and then, but it's like a beard - it just keeps coming back.
The piece developed the growth when I moved the tank about a year ago. I had an algae bloom, but it was short lived. The tank with the exception of the star polyps is nuisance algae free.The growth is a losing battle.
I've even used tweezers to detach it from the flesh - I cringe every time. I'm getting to the point where I 'm thinking about fragging the snot out of it and take my chances with it that way.
Or maybe starve it of lighting and hope the colony survives. If anyone has any suggestions on how I can permanantly remove this hair algae from the piece, please let me know. Thanks Tinman

 

[edwardbotha]

you have problems with your water quality. corrct the sorce, not the symptoms. check your nitrate, phosfate and rather get to the cause

 

[theyeg2]

My suggestion does not fix any water quality problem that you may have. My Yellow and Purple Tangs will clean off hair algae off any piece of live rock from another tank within hours. You may want to acquire or borrow a Tang (or similar fish) like mine OR take your Star Polyp rock to someone that has one for a day or two. Good luck!

 

[T Man]

Well, I checked out my water perameters AGAIN last night. I found the water quality was above average and right on my targets. Water quality is NOT an issue, the colony of the star polyps with the growth, is the ONLY CORAL in the tank that has hair algae on it. I need any suggestions on ways to remove the algae from the SINGLE colony of polyps.

As for adding a Tang or any other type of algae grazer to my system, That might help and I'll do some research on which types can help me. Or just quaranteen the piece and pick at it every day until it's ALL gone, Dip It and put it back into the main and be done with it..............Tinman

 

[edwardbotha]

quaranteen sounds like your best option. but i think it would dissapate eventually if everything look good. yellow tang and powder blues r good option 2 think about. Hope al goes well! let u know.

 

[rambone]

put it in a seperate tank with some blue leg hermits, problem solved. I did this with a star polyp rock i got for free that already had hair algae on it, and within 2 weeks not a trace of hair algae

 

[T Man]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8112299#post8112299 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rambone
put it in a seperate tank with some blue leg hermits, problem solved. I did this with a star polyp rock i got for free that already had hair algae on it, and within 2 weeks not a trace of hair algae

Now thats what I'm talkin' about Rambone! I'm on it! I've kicked that idea around before, and I think it will work too.... I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the encouragement. TinMan

 

[Shekki]

When my second nano finished cycling, I had long green hair algea everywhere. I put in a scribbled rabbit (who was moving to a bigger tank) and he wiped it out in two days.

Robb