Best blenny for gha

[Renaissance corals]

I have some GHA that grows on a few of my zoa frags and on the rack. I have been 3% peroxide dipping and scrubbing with a toothbrush (works but cant get it between the zoas). Im looking for a blenny that will do the job without either damaging the zoas or getting hurt by them. Mainly to manage the GHA in conjunction with the H2O2 and scrubbing

P.S If it sounds like my nutrients are high thats because they are. I run a high alk/high nutrient system on purpose.

 

[Koh23]

S.fasciatus

But note, he wont eat old overgrowth algae, fresh growth is what he want

This, i think, goes to almost any algae eaters, so, in some way, u still need to do manual removal, in beginning.....

 

[Renaissance corals]

S.fasciatus

But note, he wont eat old overgrowth algae, fresh growth is what he want

This, i think, goes to almost any algae eaters, so, in some way, u still need to do manual removal, in beginning.....

Ive had one in the past and it ate all the overgrown gha in a few of my tanks that had it. But when it came to zoas it caused some damage. If i have to ill get another one but id like a gentler option

 

[Koh23]

All of them i had waited for me to clean first, then eat new growth....

 

[Petcrazyson]

How big is your tank? This is not a blenny, but if it’s big enough you could get a FoxFace. They don’t mind fresh or old algae as long as the old algae isn’t a few weeks.

 

[Petcrazyson]

Any blenny as long as it’s reef safe should not be actually hurting the corals if perched on them. Same as others like Hawkfish. Sure they may distrub the coral and sometimes irritate. Another example is a Tang. Sometimes unwanted algae grows on and/or around the coral. And the Tang will peck at it trying to get the algae. Sometimes it will end up nipping at a certain coral part just enough to get the harder to reach algae spot, but that is nipping, not eating or destroying it. Should the Blenny whilst trying to get the algae on/near the Zoas ends up damaging the coral, something yiu can do is move the coral to a higher flow area. Algae shouldn’t grow on coral unless it’s in low flow or the algae is taking hold of a weak coral IME.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have some GHA that grows on a few of my zoa frags and on the rack. I have been 3% peroxide dipping and scrubbing with a toothbrush (works but cant get it between the zoas). Im looking for a blenny that will do the job without either damaging the zoas or getting hurt by them. Mainly to manage the GHA in conjunction with the H2O2 and scrubbing

P.S If it sounds like my nutrients are high thats because they are. I run a high alk/high nutrient system on purpose.

Tail spot blenny. Its a myth that sailfin and lawnmower are algae eaters and will clean your tank. While thy eat Some algae, they thrive off calcium and meats such as Mysis, brine, chopped krill, etc
They spend most of their day pounding on rocks which some think is to get algae but its to get calcium which is an important part of their diet

 

[olonmv]

Tail spot blenny. Its a myth that sailfin and lawnmower are algae eaters and will clean your tank. While thy eat Some algae, they thrive off calcium and meats such as Mysis, brine, chopped krill, etc
They spend most of their day pounding on rocks which some think is to get algae but its to get calcium which is an important part of their diet

This makes sense. My son had GHA for days…..got him a tailspot and all his GHA is gone.

 

[Petcrazyson]

This makes sense. My son had GHA for days…..got him a tailspot and all his GHA is gone.

Maybe I’ll add one once I get bad gha

 

[stoney7713]

I know you're asking about a blenny, but in my experience hermits clean up any frags when I put them in. Their little claws can pluck in-between the zoas. Yes they crawl all over the frags but they get them clean.

As long as it's tiny little new growth they do an excellent job. They don't touch the stuff once it gets long and tough.

 

[landlubber]

i've had a lawnmower and a molly miller and likely wouldn't do either again. They prefer new growth which generally isn't helpful for the hobbyist with a gha issue.
And then there's the bigger problem, on separate occasions my nearly full grown molly miller killed 2 newly introduced small Tomini Tangs. Since i've just settled on Scarlett Hermits since.

 

[ZoWhat]

Any blenny floating in a bottle of 80proof vodka you're dosing is a good choice

You need a deep dive research on why your GHA is being fed no3/po4 before your corals can use it.

Target range is no3 - 10... po4 - 0.1

 

[Renaissance corals]

All of them i had waited for me to clean first, then eat new growth....

It took mine about a month to clear about two square feet worth of thick GHA. Then it got rotated between the three tanks to keep it in check

 

[Renaissance corals]

I know you're asking about a blenny, but in my experience hermits clean up any frags when I put them in. Their little claws can pluck in-between the zoas. Yes they crawl all over the frags but they get them clean.

As long as it's tiny little new growth they do an excellent job. They don't touch the stuff once it gets long and tough.

Yeah I tried that and it worked a little bit but most of the time my hermits are fat off of reef roids and have no interest

 

[Renaissance corals]

i've had a lawnmower and a molly miller and likely wouldn't do either again. They prefer new growth which generally isn't helpful for the hobbyist with a gha issue.
And then there's the bigger problem, on separate occasions my nearly full grown molly miller killed 2 newly introduced small Tomini Tangs. Since i've just settled on Scarlett Hermits since.

I'll look into the hermits as an addition. I'm currently running blue leg hermits

 

[Renaissance corals]

Any blenny floating in a bottle of 80proof vodka you're dosing is a good choice

You need a deep dive research on why your GHA is being fed no3/po4 before your corals can use it.

Target range is no3 - 10... po4 - 0.1

If I lowered my nutrients to that level I'd lose all of my coral inventory. This is a production tank set up for maximum growth rate. The GHA does not bother me enough to impede production. It's just a minor nuisance. Plus all of my frags get completely stripped of the GHA before going into any of my sale tanks where I have no GHA

 

[Atherial]

I added some emerald crabs to my tank. They like to trim the GHA and then the rest of the CUC can take care of it.

 

[melonheadorion]

ive had 2 algae blennys that, although they ate algae off the glass and rock, never ate any hair algae. since then, ive had a starry blenny that did not either up until one random day where he randomly started eating long hair algae, and since then, did not shy away from eating long hair algae. i wouldnt say a starry blenny will eat it, and say its more of just a lucky instance that mine started eating it.
it seems that most blennys dont eat long hair algae. they will eat shorter or just fuzzy length, on average.

 

[Renaissance corals]

How big is your tank? This is not a blenny, but if it’s big enough you could get a FoxFace. They don’t mind fresh or old algae as long as the old algae isn’t a few weeks.

40 breeder. So a little small for one of those. Also I can't afford one

 

[Petcrazyson]

40 breeder. So a little small for one of those. Also I can't afford one

One thing you could do is get a couple of BTU’s. They love most types of algae! (Except for my cyano carpeted rock which they won’t touch )