Ready to give up! GHA

[Jeff Jarry reef]

So I have hermits, and I bought some mexican turbo snails and some nassarius snails, but my hermits just ate them! I have the hermits, one big nassarius snail and a couple other smaller snails. I have a emerald crab and also a peppermint shrimp. Like I said, my hermits kill any snails I add. I have these corals glued down on the rock so idk how to get them off to take the rock out and scrub them without killing them?

Have you tried Reef Flux ? It cleared GHS and Bryopsis up in just a few days. It worked great for me.

 

[paparoof]

You don't need to remove the corals from the rock. Pull the rock, remove as much algae as you can manually, apply hydrogen peroxide directly to what's left, scrub scrub scrub, rinse the rock off in a bucket of salt water and replace in the tank. I did this a couple days ago with a rock in my tank and the corals are doing just fine.

Also - Vibrant takes more than three weeks to do its magic. Keep it up - you're just not there yet.

 

[ReefGeezer]

The tank looks fairly new. Algae will be an issue until the tank matures. It happens to just about everyone. Your job is to keep it in check until the systems matures to a point that algae gets squeezed out by other organisms.

Removing a rock and scrubbing it every time it gets covered will just delay the maturing of the system. CUC members don't deal well with long hair algae. Just one guy's opinion, but I'd just stick with the Vibrant and wait out the problem. It could take 8-10 weeks. I can't claim to know exactly how Vibrant works though. I believe it promotes strains of bacteria that: 1) consume organic waste; and 2) Break down the cells of the algae. I do know what it doesn't do. It doesn't disturb the substrate where the organisms that are responsible for maturing the system reside.

Once the hair algae is gone, a maintenance dose of Vibrant and your CUC should be able to do the job. Adding a Sea Hare will speed the process. You'll eventually have to take it out, but that's a good thing. Eventually, the Vibrant won't be needed either, but that's a ways down the road..

 

[Dana]

If you run a lot of white on your light that could be a culprit. Maybe try turning the whites down or off?

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

I just scrubbed around the corals. Best I could.

 

[Mical]

Dose Kents' Tech M (Magnesium supplement) for a couple weeks and it will dissolve.

 

[artieg1]

Read up on Fluconazole (Reef Flux). When my tank went through this stage (and it is a stage, don't worry) I tried everything listed by people above, and none knocked it out. Then did 2 rounds of Fluconazole (yes, had to go through the full process twice), and religiously removed GHA as it weakened from the treatment. I am fine and dandy now.

 

[jeffchapok]

Pick off as much as you can by hand and add some fairly large turbo snails. They'll keep the new growth down and my hermits leave them alone - they are too big for them to be interested in their shells.

Keep adding a few at a time until you get enough to keep GHA in check. They'll eventually get it under control.

 

[Mical]

The guy who owned Neptunes Aquariums in Colorado (home of worlds largest Hammer coral in captivity) sold me on the Kents Tech M - tried it and GHA dissolved within 2 weeks.

 

[Crabby48]

So I have hermits, and I bought some mexican turbo snails and some nassarius snails, but my hermits just ate them! I have the hermits, one big nassarius snail and a couple other smaller snails. I have a emerald crab and also a peppermint shrimp. Like I said, my hermits kill any snails I add. I have these corals glued down on the rock so idk how to get them off to take the rock out and scrub them without killing them?

Most coral glue won’t hold that strong. You should be able to grab the drag plug and twist as you pull to release them. 3 weeks isn’t a long time to fight algae.

 

[nanchil]

I had the worst GHA. I tried everything including Vibrant... Nothing worked. I did black out my tank for 5 days and all gone... Its been six months and no trace of any GHA. Good luck

 

[Cwentz758]

I use vibrant now and have been for about 3 weeks with also picking it off daily.

Vibrants takes about 8-10 weeks. BRS has a video on using it.

 

[Cwentz758]

i also just had GHA i didn't dose just blacked the tank for a week and manually picked it off.

 

[fishguy242]

i would put the hermits in the sump,nasty little critters,check and remove any phosphate,phosguard is the best in my opinion,also agree indo sea hare will gobble it up in no time,careful most hares are toxic when they die,make sure,indo dolabella sea hare

 

[mav3rick478]

Wow everyone is saying dose this and that, add this and that but only @ReefGeezer has asked how old is the tank, because I agree it looks fairly young. Rocks and sand look really white and if it is young and she used dry rock then the tank really needs to mature and the rocks need to leach out any stored phosphate. I personally prefer natural methods to deal with pest and don't like using chemicals till a final solution. So I say, stop using peroxide in the tank (your throwing off the bacteria balance and will end up with other problems), stop dosing vibrant and let it run its course. You can try a Lettuce Nudibranch, they are great at eating all types of algae and Bryopsis, your hermits should leave them alone since they have no shells and they are smaller than a Sea Hare. You can also shorten your light period till the algae subsides and running less white spectrum will help.

 

[Mhart032]

I did test my water parameters yesterday and were as follows.
Salinity 1.027
(Red Sea Test Kit)
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
pH-8.2
Mag:1400
(salifert)
Alk:8.6
Cal:435
Phos:0

A bigger cleanup crew would definitely help, John at Reefcleaners.org has a great selection and is always a good resource for inverts and macro to help you out. Also I notice some numbers in your tests that could be an issue, specifically with the No3 and Po4 some disagree but those numbers should be a little bit higher to keep the algae away or atleast manageable with a solid cleanup crew. I forgot about this long ago and focused on zeros struggled with gha in the new tank 9-10 months old setup. I started dosing nitrates and keeping them at roughly 5-7 and phosphates at .12 and walla. I have a recent thread on this matter. I would suggest Dr Rorest Rohwers Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas, it's a quick read just a few pages, after it was mentioned to me about my No3 & Po4 being to low, I went back and relearned what I had forgot. Just my .02

 

[Lalaallieu]

Wow everyone is saying dose this and that, add this and that but only @ReefGeezer has asked how old is the tank, because I agree it looks fairly young. Rocks and sand look really white and if it is young and she used dry rock then the tank really needs to mature and the rocks need to leach out any stored phosphate. I personally prefer natural methods to deal with pest and don't like using chemicals till a final solution. So I say, stop using peroxide in the tank (your throwing off the bacteria balance and will end up with other problems), stop dosing vibrant and let it run its course. You can try a Lettuce Nudibranch, they are great at eating all types of algae and Bryopsis, your hermits should leave them alone since they have no shells and they are smaller than a Sea Hare. You can also shorten your light period till the algae subsides and running less white spectrum will help.

My tank is 4 months old. I did use dry rock. The rock has went from pure white to green with some spots of coralline. I do not have control of my lights, it’s either white/blue or all blue. Tank is the Fluval 13.5.

 

[Conor_K]

Get vibrant. Give it 8 weeks.
Worked wonders for me.

 

[Fish_N_A_Box]

(Edit: we cross posted I was typing while you was replying to others so some questions you just answered)

How old is the tank? That one single rock... where did it come from and was it cycled prior to adding it. If so how was it cycled?

There could be excess nutrients locked into that rock and that is what is feeding the GHA.

I've had mature systems, add a new rock and all of a sudden I look like I have a chia pet growing in the tank.

GHA isn't the end of the world... it's ugly.. it will drive your OCD mad, but just wait it out. Once the nutrients are released from the rock it will die out on its on. As long as it's not being fed from over feeding.

You will need to replace the snails. I don't have a issue with my red (scarlet) or blue leg crabs killing off my snails. Normally if I see them going after a snail it's because it's kicked the bucket and they are having a dinner party at the funeral.

make sure you acclimate the snails slowly... that could be why you are loosing snails as it can take a couple of days for them to die off if not acclimated properly.

A urchin would help, but that tank is going to be to small to sustain one log term, not to mention they are great for knocking one coral into another as they are like bulldozers. Same goes for larger mexican turbos... so make sure everything is glued down well.

You can kill the lights for 2-3 days and boost your snail clean up crew and that should put a dent into it. Snails are cheaper than most of these additives being suggested.

In 15+ years of having reef tanks I've never dosed anything to kill GHA.

Like others said it looks to be a fairly new system and you have to let the tank mature on it's own and it will settle down.

Your showing zero most likely on your test kits due to the GHA absorbing it as a fuel source.

Is this in your 13.5 system? I glanced over your past threads and noted you had one.

 

[Loggerhead]

Your nitrate and phosphate levels at 0 are misleading you. They are there but being consumed by the algae so they don’t show up on the test. The rock probably has phosphate locked inside and is slowly leaching out, which is why this rock in particular is worse than others. This is all part of the first year tank uglies. I’m not familiar with the fluval tank. If it is glass get a small tuxedo or pincushion urchin. I put a purple pincushion urchin in a 90 gallon and it stripped the gha from the rocks in under 2 weeks. If it is acrylic I would trade the hermits for a big Mexican turbo snail. Personally I prefer natural fixes when possible.