Bryopsis NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

xlayedoutx · Jul 13, 2010

So the tank is up and running, done with the cycle, everything looking great

and then I notice tonight that about half the rock has bryopsis growing on it

. No corals and no fish yet, just snails and crabs. So what can I do to get rid of this without getting rid of all the rock and starting over? I say all the rock because by now I'm sure most of it will have some. It's some of the best looking rock I've been able to get my hands on locally as well

.

chappy · Jul 13, 2010

either ditch the rock or start investing in tech m and get your mag slowly up to 1800 or higher

gparr · Jul 13, 2010

Are you sure it's bryopsis? Can you show us a photo? New tanks go through all kinds of cycles and all variety of algae can pop up depending on what's on the rock, water conditions, lighting, etc. Before you panic, let's confirm that you actually have bryopsis and not some other, more easily handled, algae that will likely die off as a normal part of the tank maturing.

Tech M, as Chappy suggested, does seem to help with bryopsis. But you have a significant advantage in fighting that nuisance, if it's what you have. Your advantage is you don't have to keep a reef alive while you kill it. Turn off the lights and starve it. If there are no nutrients and no light, it will die. It might take some time, but it'll be worth the wait. While you're starving it, make sure you manually remove as much as you can as often as you can. Make sure you have good flow so organics are kept in the water column and that you have your skimmer running at peak efficiency and do regular carbon changes. I wouldn't bother with water changes, since you don't have any life to support.

After the bryopsis appears to be dead, I would wait another month to be sure it's gone. Note that starving the bryopsis might also starve bacteria in the rock, meaning you'll have to go through another cycle, so test and monitor.

But first, confirm that you actually have bryopsis.

Gary

Acroholic · Jul 13, 2010

Raise the mag level to 1800 with Tech M, leave it there for two weeks, and watch the bryopsis die. Your crabs should be unaffected. I have seen snails killed IME, so you might remove them if you are able.

Shadowramy · Jul 13, 2010

I have heard soaking in hydrogen peroxide will kill them, but I have never tried this myself

110reef · Jul 13, 2010

I have tried peroxide on hair algae and byropsis, and did not see real improvement. I did, however, hurt my tanks. (my fault, but it was from (mis) using peroxide).

If it is indeed byropsis, do the Tech M. I tried every other cure out there, including raising mag with epsom salts, none worked except tech M which worked very well. Save yourself the grief I went through and just do the Tech M and be done with it. I have to say that I used tech M in conjunction with Microbac 7, and the combination definitely showed results. I also believe that you have to have some sort of algae eater to consume the byropsis, without which I only think it gets weakened but does not go away. I say that because my byropsis went away except where there were no creatures to eat it, like in my overflows, and on certain powerheads where it stayed until discovered by my tangs etc. While it is completely gone in my tank, it still lives in my overflows, which is subject to the same water.

cherokee_dude · Jul 13, 2010

Any pics? Never seen it before, but it sure sounds NASTY!

Paul_N · Jul 13, 2010

I ran my mag at 2000 with Tech M when I fought it. It worked like a charm. I also did a TON of manual removal also. I found that it will affected the snails already in the tank and make them lethargic and move very slowly compared to their normal rate but they did not die. I put some snails from the store in at the same time my mag was 2000 and they died within a day. It must have something to do with the shock of the high level all at once. My other snails all returned to normal after I brought the levels down. FWIW I always run my mag around 1500 normally now.

The Bryopsis will have "fern like" tips unlike hair algae.

soccerbag · Jul 13, 2010

+20 on TechM. While there are 100's of types of bryopsis out there, TechM is one of the only things that has been proven to work on some. It worked VERY well for me. If used properly, it would likely help the problem.