Bryopsis treatment, need additional advice

TinpanVA · Jan 10, 2015

I've had this stuff growing in my tank about one and a half years now. 6 months ago I started the Tech M treatment. I've maintained my mag level at 1680ish pretty much the entire time. It knocked out a good 90% of the stuff but I still had a couple clumps where it was holding on. 2 weeks ago I notice it was actually starting to grow again so I verified my levels,still 1680.

1. Does prolonged treatment make this weed resistant?

2. Should I let the mag level drop and raise it back up to sort of "shock" it?

3. Do I just raise the mag level higher? How high is too high?

Biggest PITA ever.

Rob Top1 · Jan 10, 2015

Good questions, don't have an answer but what got rid of this for me was Mag@1800 and it got rid of it completely

iReef86 · Jan 10, 2015

TinpanVA: Good questions! Are you only using Tech M? It has to be one of the impure mags on the market. I would suggest letting it drop and using the Tech M to bring it back up. I just did this in my tank by water change, about 40%, and adding 1 bottle (473ml) to my 10g top off tank. My bryopsis subsided in my 70 and hasn't returned... Now at 4 weeks later... I am planning a redose just to be sure. I had done this in my nano earlier in 2014 and had great success, still bryopsis free today. It even helped with the dreaded GHA problem I had in my nano. And an urchin really helped with getting it off the rocks.

The other thing, there is a reason for not using it for more than a couple of months at a time, when I find it, I will let you know. I just cant remember what it is or my source to cite it.

Good Luck to ya!

iReef86 · Jan 10, 2015

Found it, Dave at Vivid Aquariums talks about it! This was the video I watched that convinced me to give it a try.

<a href="http://youtu.be/5tDG-qlFOGU" target="_blank">[video=youtube;5tDG-qlFOGU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tDG-qlFOGU&feature=youtu.be[/video]

brandon429 · Jan 10, 2015

Treating the water to get at the algae (raising any param like mg or lowering a param like phosphate) is the single most prescribed algae treatment method, yet if you check any old forum there are as many algae threads in 2002 as there are today, the same pattern, the same percentage of tanks, Im claiming there's been hardly any change. we got biopellets now, did that make problem algae tanks go away? what about the tanks with low to no phosphates...then they accidentally import a pervasive strain like bryopsis or others that can extract nutrients from places we can't test for. IMO you got the max return you could get on this tank with indirect approaches. the rest is either targeted hand removal, chemical burning to remove the biomass, or a lucky grazer combination

if nothing pans out here ill gladly take the challenge in our pest algae challenge thread in the macros/algae forum. its a challenge title intended, we beat a lot of challenges.

Consider this-why would we think nutrient control is the absolute undisputed way of controlling nuisance algae when in fact that is not the case anywhere in nature? any test kit we have that reads zero phosphates on a reef tank will certain read that from any decent non runoff invaded natural reef, yet when you remove the grazers the whole area becomes choked with algae that supposedly mean high phosphates. they need any phosphates
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that Reef Guy · Jan 10, 2015

I read that you are not supposed to use it long term like that.

There are unknown things in it.

Yes, it is known to kill Bryopsis but you ar supposed to Kill it and immediatly stop dosing because it can cause potential problems in other ways.

I have never used it but I think after a few weeks to a month you are supposed to stop.

Sean_Mcclellan · Jan 11, 2015

Tech M works great my 180 was covered in bryopsis and 2 gallons later it was algae free and corals really seemed to like the higher Mg levels especially the chalices!! I got my Mg level up around 1600 and maintained it for 5-6 weeks.... The dying of the bryopsis will lead to some other forms of algae growth such as green hair and red slime, but much easier to control that bryopsis....

revhtree · Jan 11, 2015

Great discussion!

TinpanVA · Jan 11, 2015

Going with the reducing MG back to normal levels and then run it back up to 1600ish. Seems most folks get better results by raising it faster than what the bottle recommends. How big of a jump can I do per day safely?

reefndude · Jan 11, 2015

If you have just a few problem spots left a good way to kill it h2o2.

I have dealt with it with tech m with success. Every now and then it will sprout up on a rock. I will fill a 5ml with peroxide and hit bryopsis in tank.
I turn all pumps off and hit it at the base. Pumps come back on in 10 mins. Within 2 or 3 days it is gone.

Works on all algae by the way.

TinpanVA · Jan 12, 2015

reefndude said:
If you have just a few problem spots left a good way to kill it h2o2.

I have dealt with it with tech m with success. Every now and then it will sprout up on a rock. I will fill a 5ml with peroxide and hit bryopsis in tank.
I turn all pumps off and hit it at the base. Pumps come back on in 10 mins. Within 2 or 3 days it is gone.

Works on all algae by the way.

Alright, so I have a couple of questions.

1. How big is your tank? 5ml in my tank (29 gal) might be a higher overall concentration due to having less volume of saltwater.

2. Will it harm other corals? Most of my bryopsis tends to grow right in the middle of zoa gardens or coral bases. Will it harm those?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 12, 2015

TinpanVA said:
1. Does prolonged treatment make this weed resistant?

2. Should I let the mag level drop and raise it back up to sort of "shock" it?

3. Do I just raise the mag level higher? How high is too high?

IF the way it works is by an impurity (like a heavy metal) that is toxic to the bryopsis, then the impurity may simply have slowly decreased in concentration over time, suggesting 2 might work.

reefndude · Jan 12, 2015

TinpanVA said:
Alright, so I have a couple of questions.

1. How big is your tank? 5ml in my tank (29 gal) might be a higher overall concentration due to having less volume of saltwater.

2. Will it harm other corals? Most of my bryopsis tends to grow right in the middle of zoa gardens or coral bases. Will it harm those?

Recommended dosage for h2o2 is 1ml per 10g. I personally have done up to 30 ml at once with 150 gallon water volume.
After using h2o2 zoas will close up and I saw no effect on sps or lps in my tank. Within 30 mins or so zoas will begin opening back up. Within a hour or two usually open fully.
Being in the middle of zoas and coral colonies is not a problem.

Up2no6ood · Jan 12, 2015

I kill it with boiling water... Doesn't take much, heres what I do. Take a cup of salt water out of your tank and microwave it for about a minute. Suck up hot water with a baster or syringe and slowly squirt the hot water on the bryopsis. I do this in tank with great results. 24 hrs later it will be dead and gone.

TinpanVA · Jan 12, 2015

Up2no6ood said:
I kill it with boiling water... Doesn't take much, heres what I do. Take a cup of salt water out of your tank and microwave it for about a minute. Suck up hot water with a baster or syringe and slowly squirt the hot water on the bryopsis. I do this in tank with great results. 24 hrs later it will be dead and gone.

I had someone else suggest the same thing. Said he had great success, only problem is as I mentioned above, bryopsis is tightly among other corals. Don't get me wrong, I would sacrifice a zoa or two to get rid of this. When I first noticed bryopsis on a single rock, I pulled the entire rock out, snipped a few corals off and then tossed the entire rock over the fence into the woods. I t was a pretty good sized rock too! That was a waste of time and energy, as it still ended up spreading inside my tank.

I think what I'm going to do is drop mag levels back down to 1300ish for a couple of weeks then raise mag back up 100ppm/day to over 1600ppm. If I don't get the results I'm looking for I'll give the peroxide a try. Treating with peroxide "inside" my tank is a tough pill to swallow, it took me a year to build up the nerve to dose vodka. (Thanks to Randy) I'm glad I did and wished I did it sooner.

bwrag · Jan 12, 2015

I mixed 1/4 cup m tech with 1/8 cup peroxide. and squirt directly on byropsis daily until was gone. I went through 2 gallons. I don't recommend it but I didn't measure mag at all just keep on doing until bryopsis was gone.

Up2no6ood · Jan 12, 2015

Use a small hypodermic syringe with a needle. It takes very little heat near the root to eradicate it.

brandon429 · Jan 12, 2015

Up2

Thats excellence. Targeted biomass kill is how you prevent any invader from invading any tank, and your nutrients affect grow back rates. But the initial kill, do what it takes to get the ends. If we are burning w peroxide mixes to various degrees and you are physically using temperature to burn them I think its genious.

This rule in algae control supercedes anything Ive ever read about aquarium science. The first time I started reading fama question and answer sections like mad was 89.

Every form of algae control advice Ive ever seen omits this cardinal option: if you dont want X, disallow it.

If you want to allow it, then identify it and do things for weeks and months that may or may not work thats an option too. But you are using simply hot water, this is golden for people who want a pre peroxide option. I always say do peroxide last after everything else. In the end we want clean tanks, not necessarily peroxide ones. that being said, if growback is ever a concern by all means spot treat, consider draining your tank down to access the targets directly if rock removal isn't an option. rock removal and external spot treat is the best p method there is.

If your hot water injections get the same die off and the same sustenance times in between retreats then I like it better than peroxide and will recommend it. Sight unseen though, I believe you it would work as a spot treatment out of tank fantastically, in tank as stated as well. any form of actual structural disintegration of the algae mass is what I prefer to simple grazing, which is like lawnmowing w roots left in place.

I have collected pics on numerous threads about cellular apoptosis in plant cells post peroxide application. it would look the exact same post temp spike, a cell wall no more and chloroplasts as clear as ghosts. get the means anyway you can. burn them down.
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