Red Nuisance Macro

[littlebigreef]

Hi, I’ve been dealing with this stuff for a few years. It’s constrained to my sump but it’s stubborn and had a penchant for growing directly in the middle of zoa colonies. Treated for bryopsis over the summer. Didn’t do anything to stuff. I also have a tomini tang/hermit crabs and snails and they don’t touch the stuff either. Open to any ID and suggestions for removal. To this point doing manually had kept it in check but I’d like it gone.

 

[P-Dub]

Could you pull some out and take a macro shot of it with a white background?

 

[kireek]

Could you pull some out and take a macro shot of it with a white background?

That would be helpful.Be careful when you do it !

 

[Bret Brinkmann]

Marine Plants in the Aquarium

macroalgae, marine plants, caulerpa, refugium substrate, marine macroalgae for sale

www.marineplantbook.com

Great ID site above. Blues do make ID next to impossible, especially with red things. I'm guessing gracilaria hayi or a halymenia sp. I'd need white pictures to be sure.

 

[littlebigreef]

Ok, sorry for the delay, here’s a chunk of it outside the aquarium.

@Bret Brinkmann thanks for the resource, I’ll do some looking around.

 

[P-Dub]

Gracilaria Curtissae is my vote.

Clean Gracilaria Curtissae Marine Algae From The Macroalgae Experts

Macroalgae from fish & copper free tanks! Livealgae UK - 1st choice for premium macroalgae since 2014. Satisfaction Guaranteed + Free UK delivery

www.livealgae.co.uk

 

[littlebigreef]

@P-Dub looks right to me. Next question is how to completely eradicate it? I guess it’s time to do some googling on this stuff.

Thanks folks!

 

[minus9]

Looks more like dictyota to me.

 

[Nanoreefer4ever]

That's good macro algae, just take it out and throw it if nothing eat it. Another way for nutrients export

 

[littlebigreef]

Looks more like dictyota to me.

This looks even closer.

@Nanoreefer4ever I've been manually removing it for sometime. The problem is that its got a penchant for landing and growing on in the middle of zoa colonies... to the point of choking them out if not managed.

 

[minus9]

This looks even closer.

@Nanoreefer4ever I've been manually removing it for sometime. The problem is that its got a penchant for landing and growing on in the middle of zoa colonies... to the point of choking them out if not managed.

If you can take the rocks it's on out, including zoas, I would get a bucket of tank water (maybe leftover water from a water change) and a brush and brush off the algae as best as you can. Have another bucket handy with saltwater to do a final rinse before putting it back in the tank. Any loose pieces of algae can take hold and spread, so pay careful attention when returning things back to your tank.
I dealt with this stuff before in the 90's when fiji rock was more common. It's okay in a refugium, but it only takes a small chunk to take hold before it becomes a problem.

 

[Bret Brinkmann]

I hear tangs and rabbit fish love to eat it.

 

[littlebigreef]

I hear tangs and rabbit fish love to eat it.

Unfortunately not in this case. I manually removed some off the racks last night. Looking like I'm just going to cut new eggcrate, swap those out, and then grab it in the few other places its going. I had been hoping for a Reef Flux - Bryopsis like solution here but good ole fashion elbow grease seems like my only option.

 

[shred5]

Looks like Gracilaria Hayi to me.

 

[Bret Brinkmann]

Things that work on bryopsis should work on other macros from what I've read. But it works on ALL macros, so not an option for planted tanks.

 

[littlebigreef]

Things that work on bryopsis should work on other macros from what I've read. But it works on ALL macros, so not an option for planted tanks.

This hasn’t been my experience. I mentioned before I treated for bryopsis over the summer (using Reef Flux) and both this stuff and the chaeto were unaffected.