Lobophora Algae help

[choff]

Anyone done battle with this algae other than using a blonde Nash tang? I've read Sally light foot and certain urchins and I don't want to go that route for sure. I will do the blonde naso as a last resort. My tank is a 150 so I can support one for a couple of years.

I'm going to try a few rounds of kalk paste starting tomorrow. I have not read about anyone trying this. I might try caustic soda treatment that I read in the DSR thread GlennF used to treat bubble algae. API algaefix marine is another option I have read with mixed results, but I'm worried about my macro algaes.

Anyone have experience with any of these or other suggestions? Pulling the rock is not an option. I have a custom ceremeco rocks-scape and its a single enormous piece.

Thanks for any help!

 

[choff]

Bump

 

[fishroomlady]

do you have pictures of the algae?

 

[choff]

 

[choff]

No one has dealt with this algae?

Sickness rolled through the house and I didn't do the kalk paste treatment yet.

 

[brandon429]

sent a quick reference thread i want the job if nobody else does

ever so slowly im compiling a few recent before and after pics for a big peroxide thread here

so far got a red gelidium infested tank totally clean

and a dino one moderately under control lol

 

[Phishy McGee]

I had this infest a tank of mine years ago. Its the hardest algae to get rid of. The only thing that worked was a naso tank. I put one in and in a week he had eaten every scrap right down to bare rock and that ended my battle. Plus they are awesome fish so why not?

 

[Phishy McGee]

sorry tang, not tank...

 

[fungia_fiend]

I got rid of it with time and good husbandry. Manual removal was mostly a waste of time. You can get the ridges, but the parts covering the rock are near impossible. I've seen Naso tangs suggested, but that's no help unless you have a very big tank.

I've seen pulling the rocks and treating with peroxide suggested, but I've never tried that. Make sure to do a ton of research if you go that route. It could be very effective for this algae in particular since it's a generally slow grower/spreader (just very tough and persistant).

 

[brandon429]

another reason its indicated, depending on tank pics and whether or not there's lysmata cleaners in the tank, is because this invader is an obligate hitchhiker so once killed (if we can) it can't come back until reimported. just that biological factor alone totally sets the plan for the battle imo. focus on biomass removal w a true kill

 

[choff]

Man, I'm in analysis paralysis. I keep going back and forth over a naso vs spot treating. Thank god it's slow growing or my tank would be covered with how long I have been agonizing over this.

My tank is a 150 (66" long) so I can do a naso for a good 18 months or so before I would probably have to figure out how to get him out of the tank.

I do have a skunk cleaner shrimp and this may sound awful , but I wouldn't be upset if I lost him. It's just a matter of time before one of my 7 wrasses gets big enough to take him out anyway.

I think my hesitation to try spot treating is that I have it in 3 spots. It came in on a frag plug and of course I move that frag all around the tank. I'm going to do research on peroxide and I think I will give that a go this weekend.

 

[brandon429]

The best part is the low commitment test

simply inject some p from a brand new bottle right into a patch

slowly, pumps have been off five mins, slow reef down a sec

slow bleeding injection, diabetic syringe from k mart, Julian sprungs 'the thing' etc

slowly, in a tank your size you can slowly bastingly inject 10 mls as a test run.

The shrimp has a 10 pct chance of dying

test algae shows our decay period for rest of tank in sections

but one test hurts nothing, I know of no corals or visible tank wide details that would be hurt by a 5-8 10 mil test run

bet you like it
b

 

[brandon429]

When you want to rock n roll drain whole tank, spot treat, refill use half clean you know your tank would love it lol

but really thats zaps algae fast, where practical

 

[alexedeltoro]

Try sandshifter starfish or an urchin u could also use abalonies

 

[alexedeltoro]

Oh wait I got a really good way to get rid of it trust me I know ... If u have an anemone or coral that stings use it to sting the algae u wanna get rid of trust I should work just put the coral near it and make sure the tentacles touch the algae and watch it burn

 

[alexedeltoro]

So please try my idea

 

[alexedeltoro]

It also means u could get a new coral to use to sting the algae

 

[fishroomlady]

I've never dealt with this particular algae so I am sending you some positive vibes. Given the responses, if it were me, I'd go the tang route.

 

[choff]

When you want to rock n roll drain whole tank, spot treat, refill use half clean you know your tank would love it lol

but really thats zaps algae fast, where practical

I read through your threads today and was actually planning on draining halfway. Luckily the algae is pretty high up. I like the test idea though and think I will do that. BTW, 10 CC could probably do the entire large patch (4x6"). I'll test on one of the real small patches that is actually quite isolated from other corals.

Try sandshifter starfish or an urchin u could also use abalonies

I have read only long spine urchins having success, but never heard the abalone idea. Long spine also munch SPS so not looking to go that route. An abalone would starve in my tank. I have zero algae other than these patches of lobo.

Oh wait I got a really good way to get rid of it trust me I know ... If u have an anemone or coral that stings use it to sting the algae u wanna get rid of trust I should work just put the coral near it and make sure the tentacles touch the algae and watch it burn

Are you serious? I have never heard of this approach before. What do you do, cut a tentacle off and use it like a paint brush? Lol. I have 2 rbta, but the sting is so mild I can't believe this will work. I almost want to try just because I need to see test this out. Lol

I've never dealt with this particular algae so I am sending you some positive vibes. Given the responses, if it were me, I'd go the tang route.

Thanks for the vibes!

I'm one of those tang people that think they need really large tanks. This fish will grow to 18". The largest fish I have in my tank will be half that size. Yes, I can remove it before it gets that big, but I have had very little luck in trying to remove fish from my reef before and worry I won't be able to get it out.

If this was a normal algae that i was worries about coming back I'd also think hard about the tang, but once I get this out is only coming back as a hitchhiker. This seems ideal situation for spot treatment

 

[choff]

Oops