Help me understand

[ZoWhat]

Help me understand the BALANCING-ACT once you're infested with GHA

On one hand, in order to minimize or eliminate GHA you have to STARVE the tank of Nitrates & Phosphates.... this leads to your corals STARVING.....where they just maintaining their size but NEVER grow.

On the other hand, if you try in any manner to feed your corals to get them to GROW, GHA is first in the buffett-line and GHA comes RIGHT BACK

Somebody please explain to me, what is the BALANCE of fending off GHA but feeding your corals for grow.

Because I dont get it....

 

[Ocelaris]

The only solution I've come to, is get a number of tangs which will keep it under control. I always had one algae kind that my yellow tang wouldn't eat. Now with a bigger tank I have 4 different genera (family) of tangs, yellow, yellow eye kole, naso, chocolate and a fox face, and they keep everything in control. I know not everyone has the room for everything, but I've got algae in the tank under control with that group.

 

[lapin]

I cant say what the balance is, because I have never had a GHA infestation. I have had it in all my tanks and still do.
PO4=.07 N=5
It has never gotten out of control. When my newest tank was new, I did pull out the stuff when it got long. I never treated my thank with chemicals. I started with dry rock. I now have a few strands here and there. I like the wavy look.

 

[ZoWhat]

The only solution I've come to, is get a number of tangs which will keep it under control. I always had one algae kind that my yellow tang wouldn't eat. Now with a bigger tank I have 4 different genera (family) of tangs, yellow, yellow eye kole, naso, chocolate and a fox face, and they keep everything in control. I know not everyone has the room for everything, but I've got algae in the tank under control with that group.

Thanks for the advice!!!

I have a Hippo, Yellow, Clown Tang, Tomini and a Foxface

The turf-GHA I have, NONE of the dag-gone fish will touch the stuff.

I have HUGE bowlingball sized LRs perfectly aquascaped BUT I so dang frustrated that I'm slowly in the process of removing one LR piece at a time.....

Removing turf-GHA with tweezers first, then a razorblade tip in tough tiny spots, then the final step of super-gently scrubbing the areas of turf-GHA with a old soft used toothbrush.

MY BIGGEST FEAR: Removing the LR one piece at a time, doing all the maticulus work, and in 2 weeks the turf-GHA returns. Making me trying to find my old aluminum baseball bat to just SMASH the whole tank into a pile of rubble. LOL

I'm afraid of using Hydrogen Peroxide on the turf-GHA areas because the areas of infection are either INSIDE the zoa/paly growing among the polyps -or- growing very very close to the polyps. I'm afraid H2O2 will kill the zoa-palys.

The only two fish worth a dang, picking at the LR for any NEW GROWTH of aglae-film or algae-hair, is the Yellow and the Clown Tang. The FRUSTRATING part is these two picking fish only pick at BRANDNEW types of algae and completely ignore any algae thats been hanging around for awhile.

I even tried a SeaHare and plopped him right in the middle of the turf-GHA. He too left the area quickly and only fed along the glass eating any algae film glass build up. I moved him 3-4 time in the mild of the turf-GHA...and right back to eating algae film off the glass. He lasted 3 weeks and found him black and dead. Waste of time. Urgh!

The Hippo, Tomini and Foxface just wait for the MEATY foods I drop in the tank, mussels, bloodworms, mysis.

I did have some FLAKE food and read tooooo many articles that Flake is really really bad with Phosphate. So my Flake is sitting dormant in storage.

Anyone else with ideas, thoughts, comments?

 

[Waterislife]

The more you scrub the more you scrape you help it move around and expanded self kind of like shaking the seas off of dandelion I know people don't like turbo snails but they will eat it

 

[Coastie Reefer]

Sounds like you have something that the fish do not find palatable... If you give us a pic we might be able to better identify. You could consider using Reef Flux or Vibrant, just know that Vibrant will nuke just about any marco algae you have.

 

[Ocelaris]

Try algaefix and fluconazole, it's the only thing that worked on the turf stuff, it's reef safe and once it's under control maybe your tangs can keep it at bay. And I mean really go at it. Do algaefix at normal dose age for 2 months and at least two rounds of fluconazole.

 

[Coastie Reefer]

Try algaefix and fluconazole, it's the only thing that worked on the turf stuff, it's reef safe and once it's under control maybe your tangs can keep it at bay. And I mean really go at it. Do algaefix at normal dose age for 2 months and at least two rounds of fluconazole.

I had a really bad experience with API Algaefix... I will never use it again.

Corals extremely stressed (some sticks died), and snails took a hard hit.
That's just my experience though.

 

[Crashjack]

I've had to fight it since raising nutrients to battle dinos (I've been dino-free for probably 9 months). My best advice is repeated removal. We've been brushing-off with a toothbrush every bi-weekly w/c (I say "we" because I'm handicapped and have a guy that comes and helps me every two weeks). We do it before removing water so we can siphon out the hair algae. At the end of maintenance, we rinse the socks to remove the GHA that made it through the overflow. It has taken a few months but over time, the hair algae got less and less but isn't gone. I believe fish and most clean-up crew are much more likely to eat most any algae when it just begins to grow. I think the constant removal not only stunts the algae growth but it makes a tastier environment where algae eaters are much more likely to feast.

Last maintenance day, (within the last two weeks), I also added an actinic T5 to where I had a Purple+ (I have an LED/T5 retro that now runs (2) Blue+ and (2) actinics). New GHA growth has all but disappeared, and pretty much the only GHA I see is where we couldn't reach to brush-off last maintenance day.

 

[ZoWhat]

Others?

 

[RichReef]

Sally Light Foots.
Destroy any and all algae.

 

[WiscoFishNut]

Sally Light Foots.
Destroy any and all algae.

Will Sally Lightfoot crabs munch on corals at all? They sound promising for a coral QT setup.

 

[Thales]

Help me understand the BALANCING-ACT once you're infested with GHA

On one hand, in order to minimize or eliminate GHA you have to STARVE the tank of Nitrates & Phosphates.... this leads to your corals STARVING.....where they just maintaining their size but NEVER grow.

On the other hand, if you try in any manner to feed your corals to get them to GROW, GHA is first in the buffett-line and GHA comes RIGHT BACK

Somebody please explain to me, what is the BALANCE of fending off GHA but feeding your corals for grow.

Because I dont get it....

I don't think it makes much sense. I mean, it makes sense, but doesn't work out. There are plenty of tanks that show low nutrients and have algae problems, and plenty of tanks that show high nutrients and don't have algae problems. I think it has more to do with phase shifting than nutrient problems.
Herbivores and coral coverage seem to be good ways to deal with algae problems. If you can get something to eat it, great, if you can take away real estate, great. But there are no magic bullets, though there are always candidates for that.
Herbivores are hit and miss and have preferences. Manual removal of most of the algae seems to help herbivores - when they are grazing on rock, they can eat all kinds of algae they won't eat when it is mature.
I don't think there is an easy answer, and I think you have to be the primary herbivore. Or do something that seems drastic - can you post some pics of your system so we can get more info? Thanks

 

[jeffchapok]

Snails, snails, and more snails.

 

[Phycodurus]

... a small army of scarlet and/or blue-legged hermit crabs?


i had bad GHA earlier this summer ... i tried my best to bring the nitrates down, and eventually i went with two applications of fluconazole about 4-6 weeks apart (the second application i let sit longer; i delayed resuming my regular water changes). i was genuinely surprised that the fluconazole took out the GHA but, i do have small growth lately in one upper corner of the tank.

i'll soon be placing a major replenishment buy of SHC and BLHC + assorted trochus/turbo/cerith snails to boost my CUC population.

good luck with the battle plan! i tip my hat to your efforts!

 

[mta_morrow]

I think your problem is like you said, you have turf algae. GHA as I’m sure you know is easy to beat or control. Turf is a different beast. I beat it in my last tank with 2 rounds of fluconazole. Zero effect on corals or nems or anything else. I believe it’s now sold at BRS as reef flux or something like that. There are no know natural ways to combat. My urchins wouldn’t touch it. And they ate anything in their way! There is a whole thread on here about fluconazole.

 

[Phycodurus]

it's my understanding that GHA is typically Bryopsis ("GHA" is something of a catch-all term, i believe). what is turf algae? (i think, in the hobby at least, "turf algae" is also something of a catch-all term).


respectfully,
rick

 

[tripdad]

I've battled this and I think it comes down to a blend of herbivores, in large enough quantities, to get it under control for good. Don't overfeed your fish. They will take the easy meal, same as a human, make them a little hungry and they will graze more. I use a Tomini to some success. I had little luck with the "mature" algae until I got a couple types of urchins. They each have their own likes and dislikes but between them they keep it mowed down. Good luck, it can be maddening.

 

[mta_morrow]

it's my understanding that GHA is typically Bryopsis ("GHA" is something of a catch-all term, i believe). what is turf algae? (i think, in the hobby at least, "turf algae" is also something of a catch-all term).
respectfully,
rick

 

[Florida Sunshine]

Be careful with fluconazole. It will kill your inverts, Xenia, and gorgonians that I know of.
It did hit my colonial hydroids hard but didn't eliminate them.