Hair algea eaters

[Ghostyboythedog]

Hi,
I have a 20 gallon high tank. There are 2 corals, a duncan and a zoanthid, and dragons breath macro algea, and a cleaner shrimp, that's all that's in there are there any fish, invertebrates, or anything that controls it. I get you can pull it out of the sand, but when it's in the rocks it's very hard to get out. So any eaters or anything that gets rid of it, thanks.

 

[crazyfishmom]

Mexican turbo snails. Life savers.

 

[Ghostyboythedog]

Mexican turbo snails. Life savers.

Okay, thank you!!

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

Emerald crabs! Fun to watch, too

 

[Ghostyboythedog]

I heard they will attack other inverts though and eat cirals

 

[Ghostyboythedog]

Corals*

 

[Ghostyboythedog]

Mexican turbo snails. Life savers.

Are there any fish also?

 

[Ghostyboythedog]

And other invertebrates?

 

[Formulator]

I tried all the above and nothing worked anything like my pincushion urchin. He completely eradicated my entire 120g tank of GHA over the course of about 2 months. Probably would have been even faster with 2.

May 2024

July 2024

 

[crazyfishmom]

Turbo snails took care of my 24 gallon AIO in about a week. It really depends on a lot of factors what will work for your tank. Lettuce nudibranches are supposed to be amazing too.

 

[Ghostyboythedog]

Turbo snails took care of my 24 gallon AIO in about a week. It really depends on a lot of factors what will work for your tank. Lettuce nudibranches are supposed to be amazing too.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

I heard they will attack other inverts though and eat cirals

Only if they don’t have enough to eat. I think the recommendation is one per 20gal. Mine is a model citizen!

 

[Ghostyboythedog]

Only if they don’t have enough to eat. I think the recommendation is one per 20gal. Mine is a model citizen!

Oh okay thank you

 

[tbaum101]

Hi,
I have a 20 gallon high tank. There are 2 corals, a duncan and a zoanthid, and dragons breath macro algea, and a cleaner shrimp, that's all that's in there are there any fish, invertebrates, or anything that controls it. I get you can pull it out of the sand, but when it's in the rocks it's very hard to get out. So any eaters or anything that gets rid of it, thanks.

Get the biggest Turbo snails you can find, get a Lawnmower Blenny as well. Those two things got rid of mine. Took about a week until I forgot I had it.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hi,
I have a 20 gallon high tank. There are 2 corals, a duncan and a zoanthid, and dragons breath macro algea, and a cleaner shrimp, that's all that's in there are there any fish, invertebrates, or anything that controls it. I get you can pull it out of the sand, but when it's in the rocks it's very hard to get out. So any eaters or anything that gets rid of it, thanks.

Urchins are the best bet in a 20 gal tank.

They will only munch on it when it is short - you will need to tame it with a toothbrush to start with.
Fish like Tangs and Lawnmower Blenny's need at least a 75gal tank to be happy and not starve.

 

[Solo McReefer]

Use a brush to turn it into stubble

CUC is not really going to eat it when it's all long and wavy

And I disagree with tbaum. Get the smallest turbos you can get. They will be too big for your tank soon enough

Wire brush
Tooth brush

Especially a waterproof toothbrush. They are 10 bucks and worth every penny

 

[stevo_87]

Hi,

I had this issue in my 25 gallon tank, I threw in a Mexican turbo snail and blue legged hermit crab and they’ve destroyed it between them. I also used a toothbrush on it every few days and during water changes as well.

Maybe worth finding out the root cause, as mine was high phosphates

 

[Doctorgori]

Are there any fish also?

Run o mill Mollies and small blennies …there is a bicolor and a couple Carribean species that remain small, assuming there is room

Urchins are the best bet in a 20 gal tank.

With the caveat you need to upgrade your frag mounting game and they can strip rock down to the surface including coralline, but yeah they absolutely strip it down….

Maybe worth finding out the root cause, as mine was high phosphates

Two thumbs

 

[NanoNana]

Fuzzy Chitons. They are slow but good grief they clean. They don’t discriminate what they eat once the get started so dinos and cyan and anything else get munched. They exclusively clean rock so you won’t have them constantly on the glass either. So the won’t likely eat your dragon’s breath.
Turbo snails as mentioned.
An orange lipped conch stays small enough to live in a 20 high and will help your sand bed a lot.
For a small tank, Hector’s goby or rainfordi (court jester Goby) will eat it when it’s longer. Once it’s short they pick at it but will move to sifting out of your sand bed mostly which helps with nutrient export and still helps control algae. They might pick at your macro algae as will any algae eating fish or crab but probably won’t consume it. I have chaeto in my tank in case I don’t have enough algae for my lettuce nudibranch. And both of the above mentioned animals mess with it except the nudibranch during periods of low algae.
Lettuce Nudibranch: I was so amazed with my first one because it literally climbed waving algae and tamed it. Once the long stuff was gone, it moved to the glass, wouldn’t eat the chaeto and finally vanished. The second one did a great job on the rock until it found the chaeto ball. My guess would be that your dargon’s breath would not survive a lettuce nudi.
Nassarius snails to clean up detritus in your sand to aid with nutrient export.
Copepods and amphipods.
If you want to add “fun” CUC, micro brittle stars will clean up extra food like crazy as will cleaner shrimp.

 

[Ghostyboythedog]

Run o mill Mollies and small blennies …there is a bicolor and a couple Carribean species that remain small, assuming there is room

With the caveat you need to upgrade your frag mounting game and they can strip rock down to the surface including coralline, but yeah they absolutely strip it down….

Two thumbs

Okay the bicolor blenny I heard did a good job