What is this red algae sprouting up everywhere?

[Fanof49ASU]

And how do I get rid of it?

 

[crumbletop]

I dunno if mexican turbos eat that or not. You'll have to find some kind of cleanup crew guy to do it because you can't fit much in the way of fish in that tank.

 

[greystreet41]

I've had it a few times and treated it with "chemi-clear" successfully, but that's not treating the cause, but is a quick fix and may or may not return. The treatment never affected the livestock.
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/microalgae/a/aa092800.htm

edit: I don't know of any cleanup crew that eats it btw.

 

[CloudIX]

I have used "Chemi-Clear" it did not work for me. When i was having this problem, i reduced the amount and frequency of feeding my fish. Also make sure that your top off water is not causing the outbreak. Thats is what fixed the issue for me.

 

[SRT80]

do you mean "chemi-clean"? I have used it twice now for red slime algae and it worked both time and the slime never came back. That doesn't look like red slime to me though. I've had red slime in my 20 gal. and 10 gal. about 5-6 months after setup and it only took 1 treatment to get rid of it. I've got some chemi-clean you can try. This is what I had growin' in my tank and it's all gone now...

Steve

 

[Fanof49ASU]

Let me clarify.....
This isn't a 'slime' algae. I'm not sure how good the pics are displaying on here. This is a hair-like algae.

And Jack, a Mexican Turbo would completely destroy this little 5 gallon tank. :lol: My two small blue legs keep me busy picking up frags....I can't imagine a large turbo. :eek1:

 

[Scucci]

I had some of that same algae... I actually wanted to keep it, but the sally light foot crab had other plans. It hunted down and ate every last piece of the stuff ... So I guess if you want to get rid of it... try a one of those. EBay just got a good shippment of them in... I want to say middle row, middle tank, middle section... might've been middle row, last section, middle tank though.

 

[Fanof49ASU]

How are they with zoas and palys?

 

[crumbletop]

sally lightfoots are available in the ebay group buy

 

[Fanof49ASU]

Jack, I'm starting to remember having this in my tank at home and the turbos wiped them out quick. I may just have to try that. I'm reading in searches that SLF crabs can aquire a taste for fish.....not good for my hi fin.

 

[Scucci]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10372102#post10372102 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fanof49ASU
How are they with zoas and palys?

I have some 7 different zoas in my tank, and it hasn't messed with any of them. It hasn't touched anything in there 'cept for algae and food scraps. Great little eaters, got it to help with a GHA problem, as soon as it hit the water and touched the rock it was eating and hasn't stopped since. I don't know about them with fish... don't have any fish in my tank... yet. Had some brooklynella last month and just waiting for the tank to become safe again. But while the green clown goby was in there, he didn't bother it, didn't touch it when it was laying on the bottom of the tank half dead either.

Oh, yeah... forgot, they are on teh group buy list... forgot about that.

 

[Angela Short]

It doesn't look like red slime to me and I have used chemi clean in the past with no issues also .

My neighbor has a emerald crab in a 5 with 2 gobies and he never bothers them and "most" crabs like emeralds and sally lightfoots don't really do much except eat alage and food scraps. You will ocasionally hear of one taking a likeing to zoas or a super hungary one catching a small fish but that is the exception I think not the rule FWIW.

Also I had this good thread to alage control. That red turf like stuff you are showing is hard to get rid of I think. Goog luck!

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1113109

 

[fishdoc11]

It's red turf algae and it's really hard to get rid of. It even thrives in some of the more nutrient poor SPS tanks. Unfortunately nothing I know of eats it.
Chris

 

[TitansFan]

Yes, for what its worth.. I have a very large Sally lightfoot in my reef with a pair of clowns, royal gramma, LMB, and flame angel. It has never bothered or thought about a fish except my flame and that was when it was harassing the crab over territory issues. It has been a model citizen spending all its time eating algae. I got it from my 120 gallon used tank purchase in Kentucky.

Chris and Angela, as usual.. hit it right on the head though for what it is. Seeing that it can thrive in nutrient void tanks I assume it is mainly photosynthetic? Would 2-3 days of no light stop it from growing? I am sure the Zoas could handle that amount of time with no light.

 

[Highside]

I have had some in my tank for almost a year now but it has not grown. I had an emerald crab for a while and he ate quite a bit of it.

 

[Fanof49ASU]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10381002#post10381002 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Highside
I have had some in my tank for almost a year now but it has not grown. I had an emerald crab for a while and he ate quite a bit of it.

Interesting....thanks!

 

[Fanof49ASU]

Finally got time to slip away at lunch and get a turbo.
I dropped him in, and he hasn't moved away. He's been tugging and yanking on that stuff. If he'd ever move his big shell of his, I'd get to see what he's done....until then.....

 

[crumbletop]

He's thinking "a tasty slab of boneless barbecue swimming in a sassy sauce.... CHOMP" and chewing away on his McRed Algae extra value meal.

 

[ct_vol]

Damn... Looks like I'll have to get myself a Turbo Snail...

 

[Fanof49ASU]

He's still at it. It's hard to tell much difference yet, but I'm sure he'll get the job done.

This is a few minutes ago.