Grafted cap question

[Leadfooted]

I don't have any hair algae other than what you see pictured which came aboard the frag you see. I want to take out the frag rack and clean all frags and the frag holder. My question is what's the best way to remove the hair algae without damaging the Cap? I was thinking tweezers to pull off the hair and maybe a toothbrush to scrub the plug. How resilient are Grafted caps and will this hair algae come back? Dealing with some cyano ( I think ) too.

 

[EastSideBAy]

Id suggest either taking a tooth brush and gently brush away the hair algae. Or dip the frag rack and plugs that have hair algae in a mixture of hydrogen peroxide/water, works really well for me.

 

[WWIII]

Almost looks like bryopsis, but hard to tell in the pic. I would scrape it off down to the plug and then some with a razor blade or similar.

Those montis are pretty darn resilient.

 

[Leadfooted]

Almost looks like bryopsis, but hard to tell in the pic. I would scrape it off down to the plug and then some with a razor blade or similar.

Those montis are pretty darn resilient.

I think your right and it came on the plug. Would dipping this in something help permanent eradicate it (like peroxide mentioned above)?

 

[WWIII]

I think your right and it came on the plug. Would dipping this in something help permanent eradicate it (like peroxide mentioned above)?

Peroxide (diluted with ro water) would damage the algae. But I personally wouldn't just drop the whole monti in the cup. I would scrape as much as I could off and dip that edge in a diluted peroxide ro mix. I usually don't measure it, but generally use about 30% peroxide to 70% water. You could probably go a little higher, maybe to 50/50. If you drop the whole cap in the peroxide it can kinda bleach the monti and it takes a while to fully recover.

I would try that first. Then there is fluconazole that kills bryopsis, but I wouldn't do that for 1 frag. The fluconazole needs to be in the system for 2 weeks. It does kill bryopsis, but wouldnt worry about using that unless you see it start to take over other places/frags. People right now are experimenting with fluconazole and maybe one day will have a protocol for dipping frags with it, but I'm not aware of one right now.

So yeah, scrape as much off as possible, then dip the affected area in peroxide/ro solution for a couple mins if possible. If you see it's not all dead, you can dip again every couple days.

 

[Leadfooted]

Great points and I like the idea of partial dip where the algae is. I'll find the time in the next day or two and post some follow ups. how long can the cap portion remain out of water while I dip the algae portion?