Please help id

Thereefdoc · Feb 24, 2020

This red algae has taken hold on most of my rocks. At first I thought it was coralline, but now I’m not sure. It’s not easily removed from the rock and doesn’t blow away.

Tank parameters are very stable and I do a 20% water change weekly. Lighting is one radion xr30.

Please help ID.

Gareth elliott · Feb 24, 2020

Reef Cleaners

A good guide to identify most of the nuisance algae that plagues the hobby. Complete with pictures and suggested treatments

www.reefcleaners.org

This is my go to for Most algae ids. Does it match any of these descriptions?

fishguy242 · Feb 24, 2020

hi thats a good one seems to be plating with grow edges kinda like blue ridge,need more opinions ,they will come

0utworld · Feb 24, 2020

If you can't pick it off, it's probably coralline. Coralline can come in that color.

hyprc · Feb 24, 2020

Fascinating. It's like bubbly cyano. Definitely following along for a positive ID.

fishguy242 · Feb 24, 2020

can you snap off one of the plating pieces,and closer pic of white growth on edges
leaning blue ridge ,coralline

Thereefdoc · Feb 25, 2020

Gareth elliott said:
Reef Cleaners

A good guide to identify most of the nuisance algae that plagues the hobby. Complete with pictures and suggested treatments

www.reefcleaners.org

This is my go to for Most algae ids. Does it match any of these descriptions?

It doesn’t look like anything on that page. I haven’t found anything online that’s exactly like it.

Thereefdoc · Feb 25, 2020

fishguy242 said:
can you snap off one of the plating pieces,and closer pic of white growth on edges
leaning blue ridge ,coralline

It’s hard to snap off a piece but the sandbed has some of its crumbs that fell off. The edges aren’t white. On some rock it looks like something scraped a tiny patch off, so something might be eating it.

fishguy242 · Feb 25, 2020

interesting ?

Mr_Knightley · Feb 25, 2020

I've seen this algae before in my tanks; It wasn't a nuisance and dissapeared faster that it came. it was cool for the time though.

Thereefdoc · Feb 25, 2020

I might make a slide and take a look at it under a microscope when I get home. Purple coralline is also growing in small patches adjacent to it, but the red definitely spreading a lot faster.

Thereefdoc · Feb 25, 2020

Mr_Knightley said:
I've seen this algae before in my tanks; It wasn't a nuisance and dissapeared faster that it came. it was cool for the time though.

It’s been spreading for at least two months if not longer. How long did it take to disappear?

Mr_Knightley · Feb 25, 2020

Spinedoc5 said:
It’s been spreading for at least two months if not longer. How long did it take to disappear?

I'm not sure... maybe a week or two? What algae eaters do you have in the tank? In my tank that it had appeared in, I only had a few snails.

fishguy242 · Feb 25, 2020

snap a piece is it coral skeleton

Thereefdoc · Feb 25, 2020

I have a handful of snails, 1 turbo, about 10 hermits, an emerald crab, lawnmower blenny and a small two spot tang. They pick at all other algae constantly, but never this.

Thereefdoc · Feb 25, 2020

fishguy242 said:
snap a piece is it coral skeleton

I will definitely try when I get home tonight. But the scattered pieces I’ve seen on the sand do not. They just look like red pebbles.

Mr_Knightley · Feb 25, 2020

if it's hard like that, than it is for sure not the same as the stuff I had. My best guess is it's a type of coraline algae, so a sea urchin may be the best to get rid of it, if you want to.
Good luck!

Thereefdoc · Feb 25, 2020

Mr_Knightley said:
if it's hard like that, than it is for sure not the same as the stuff I had. My best guess is it's a type of coraline algae, so a sea urchin may be the best to get rid of it, if you want to.
Good luck!

I don’t necessarily want to get rid of it, just don’t want problems down the road. It actually looks pretty nice. Especially with the contrast from the purple coralline. I’ve never had coralline spread this fast. Everything I’ve read says that red coralline grows the slowest so I’m a bit confused.

Thereefdoc · Feb 25, 2020

It vaguely resembles this. It's also covering the bottom half of my rockwork and the edges, not the top parts.
Burgundy crust alga
Peyssonnelia rubra