Reef2Reef Pest algae challenge thread hydrogen peroxide

[Ryengoth]

I have some 2-part mixing cartridges and nozzles on the way. I'm thinking of shooting polysorbate 80 liquid and 3% h202 together at treatment site. I have a large bottle left over from methanol blend testing. It should be thick enough to sink but sticky enough to stay on near-vertical surfaces long enough to oxidize the algae. Only problem is, all of the reef-safe delivery options are carbon sources so it's going to react with the peroxide and cause the skimmer to run wild. So, have to mix and dispense on-site. Whatever is in the nozzle is going to react. Short wave UV 295nm torching options are also on the list of R&D. 295nm UV is a major oxidizer compared to h2o2 so while it's a faster killer, it's also more dangerous to use in general. Like, you need glasses or you'll burn your retinas, kind of dangerous.

 

[brandon429]

well done that's uberchemistry we want that here update as possible!

 

[Ryengoth]

24 hours post direct application of 50ml to location:

The algae stalks are oxidized completely from the looks. We'll see how it looks on Sunday (72 hours)

I dosed more (10ml) around this area tonight so it should be good gauge on how just dosing at the rock surface will work. So far, I can visually see that it's heavier than h2o (obviously) so it sinks and causes refraction in the water. It gets trapped in the fibers of the algae and saturates areas where fiber is the thickest. As you can see here, the 5ml did not migrate far from the injection site and that is enough to treat a space twice that size.

It looks like some of the algae has actually dissolved or the snails got to it last night. Again, the hair stalks are oxidized.

I noticed a bloodfire running up to a new bubbling treatment site by his "home" and grabbing oxygen bubbles out of the water right after treating it.

 

[Ryengoth]

I meant 5ml not 50ml, but I can't seem to edit the post.

 

[brandon429]

If we were in the nanos forum I could edit it out for ya but is no prob record stands 50=5~

there is a profound need for a sinking or localizing agent for whole tank doses. zero percent of large tank owners want to take out rocks, and, we know retreats are needed as we guide substrates back into compliance so that means multiple takedowns for them, its universally hated. If you can press towards any binders or sinking agents that amplify localized effects, and interact safely w the life, that w be the next break through. And, after reading all its wonderfulness documented, Im sure the idea will be stolen and repackaged for sale as a new fangled doser by someone cool or some cool company.




but we'd know where it was doc'd first.

 

[Maxxingout]

I didn't want to do it but it looks like I might need to be part of this challenge using peroxide I've been trying multiple natural methods, snail, emeralds, nudi, and plucking. It's been spreading and spreading, to the point of coving up my sps's. Heck the stuff started growing right out of the hardened super glue gel holding some of my sps coral! I just did a cut/syphon on a bunch of patches but I don't want to hit them up with peroxide yet. I did try that once and my snail just about froze for 3 days.

So if I start taking rock out and dip in 100% peroxide for 5 minutes, my sps should be ok? I'm not talking about submerging them, just the base where the bryopsis is taking hold. I do not have a picture of the rest of the locations the bryopsis started growing yet. Since I just trimmed it down it's kind of hard to tell atm anyway. Man am I NOT looking forward to taking rock out for dips

this little guy is not going to be able to keep up...


you can see how he basically acts like a lawnmower, unfortunately that's not going to be good enough.

 

[brandon429]

I think test rock approach. Bryopsis is on the upper challenging scale of invaders whether using kent tech m, peroxide, or any other mode we can see this invader is rather nutrient independent. We should work these amplifier approaches below on a test rock before taking up to the rest of the tank, these are things even beyond the dip you mentioned and are safe for the corals/

1. hand removing all invader before the work. Normally I like to leave GHA treatments in place, so the aftershots look all cool and stark in contrast to the before pics. GHA is not scary, easy to beat as invaders I list it as #1 easiest to beat back when external treatments are the mode. In your case we are anticipating growback, and acting accordingly to lessen it. You should literally clean the bryopsis off your test rock by hand, scraping around the base of the frag, rasping it off the rock. you may scratch your coralline etc while doing this. The logic is, we don't want to waste time with removable biomass, your entire efforts should go to holdfast attacking.

Notice how every method used so far is like a lawn mower effect maxxingout...even animals cut the tops off, the roots are left, the bryopsis comes back. What we do here is cellular lysis kill of algae, and since bryopsis is a staunch holdfast algae we need this prep work of pre removal to reduce the number of retreats you need. Since your tank has been like this for a little bit, a week or two of gauging a test rock isn't a big deal. If the test rock proves to growback too fast, you haven't wasted time with the rest of the tank.

I wouldn't dose anything to the water of a bryopsis tank, not even the Tech M approach. It would be 100% external treatments with either or both of these options, doing the work required to take out the rocks and pre remove invaders since its the best we currently have as options until these concentration ideas up above are honed.

2. Can consider higher percentages of peroxide, if the pre removal and 3% doesn't hold up well on the test rock (prevent growback by killing holdfasts buried in the rock) higher percentages of peroxide as external treatments take tanks that needed 3 retreatments on 3% down to zero retouches needed at times, peroxide work focused solely on 3% is incomplete, so consider that as well.

I got some peroxide at the base of my new sps frag when I was doing your type of dip as a pre screen before putting into my tank. Id scraped off all the little bryopsis from the pet store display and rinsed down the sink. I set the frag in a shot glass and used 3% to bake it, right up to the base of the coral and some did get on the coral, bleached and grew back on that area within two weeks.

 

[Ryengoth]

Try a bulb syringe from the drug store that holds 5-10ml and fill it up with 3% peroxide. Turn off all of the pumps and slowly dispense it at the infested rock surface like you're pouring lava on it. 5ml is enough to treat about a 2.5-3" square area. The peroxide will flow down with gravity since it's heavier than the water. Let your hand sit for a few seconds before you move to another spot to prevent a current from washing it away. I focused 1-2ml (3%) on yellow polyp frags in the pictures above to stop bubble algae, which I had to remove manually, and to burn off any bryopsis the small snails didn't get already. They weren't too happy for a few hours, but they opened back up like nothing happened. As far as SPS, I don't have any to test. Try focused dosing first and let it touch a small area on the base and see what happens.

 

[Maxxingout]

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll have to see which of the rocks would be best to remove and try the peroxide on.

Few weeks ago when I tried a peroxide, baking soda, and tank water slur. I got a few pieces of bryopsis to gray out some. Sucking on it with a tube, the stalks would pull out with just the suction force. I think I will also try a small spot in tank at 100% peroxide to see how that does as well. I will admit, this stuff has stopped me from wanting to buy more corals that's for sure. Kind of like being sick and not wanting to go out to play. Putting a bit damper on my reefing that's for sure.

 

[shollis2814]

I am having some trouble with either brown slime or diatoms. It does not reassemble itself when poured through a coffee filter. I have pictures in this thread. http://reef2reef.com/threads/another-id-brown-slime-or-diatoms.228894/

I have a new piece of live rock that has some leather corals and a tunicate. It is starting to get this stuff on it. Are leathers OK to dip in peroxide? I need to dip my zoas again. Last time I did 4:1 tank water: peroxide for 5 minutes. It dented the stuff, but didn't eradicate it. Can I up the ratio a little?

 

[Ryengoth]

That looks like red slime. I used the red slime "stain remover" a few times to remove it the last time I got it.

If leathers are ok in air for 30-60 seconds you can use full strength 3% directly on the rock. Use some cotton gauze roll and lightly soak it in peroxide and wrap the rock where you want treatment. Be sure to press it onto the rock for good contact. You can then squirt more peroxide on the gauze surfaces to saturate it where you need it. The bubbles do not treat. You want the liquid to contact the algae at the rock surface.

 

[shollis2814]

Thanks. It didn't act like diatoms (no bubbles, no reassembly), but some of it sure looks like it. I did get new lights and reduced the white for a while. I have since bumped it back up. I am beginning to think the light adjustment is what caused my breakout.

Off to read up on red slime. Thanks.

 

[Mushroom Boy]

Hi everybody. I'm looking for some advice as to how to treat my outbreak. I've got what appears to be bryopsis and some GHA. It's primarily at the top of my tank, but shows up in other places as well. Here's my tank's info: 29 gallon biocube (estimated 15 gallon water volume); 4" DSB; ~20 lbs live rock; Steve's LEDs; Tunze 9002 skimmer; InTank media basket with pre-filter at the top stage, chaeto in the middle (24/7 lighting) and carbon at the bottom stage. I run BRS high capacity GFO in an Eheim canister filter under the tank. I drip kalk for make up water, and use BRS alk, Ca and Mg as needed to maintain parameters. Monthly 4 gallon water change. All make up and water change water is RO/DI with 0 TDS. The tank is about 6 months old and has been plagued since very near the beginning. I have only a few small coral frags and a couple of corals that came with the rock (heliopora and some form of acropora). Enough background What I'd like to know is whether or not I should treat my whole system with peroxide at 1 ml / 10 gal, or if I would be better off removing the rocks and spot treating. There are 3 pieces of live rock in the system, so removal is pretty easy, but because of the fact that algae is on all three I was considering just treating the whole system. My concern is the killing of snails and hermits that I have. I only have 1 fish (tail spot blenny). So, the question is, what would you do if this was your tank?

Sorry for the glare, it's a rare sunny January day in Seattle

 

[brandon429]

If you really want to hit it fast, just lift out that rock and put peroxide on the bad parts, wait four mins, rinse and set back in. Pics in three days it'll be mostly gone I bet it dying

Three days after dip, and even direct action accidentally on the polyp by 3% around the edges of the living tissue, no loss and for sure no bryopsis imported, this frag came from discounted invaded frag tank

You can squirt gun some saltwater on your corals during any emersed treatments
Lysmata shrimps are known to be sensitive, isolate and rinse well

Heres my pre treat of a pocillopora frag before entry into my tank, preventative
Only fill up to the base area the rest can stay in air a few mins

 

[VJV]

I am having some trouble with either brown slime or diatoms. It does not reassemble itself when poured through a coffee filter. I have pictures in this thread. http://reef2reef.com/threads/another-id-brown-slime-or-diatoms.228894/

I have a new piece of live rock that has some leather corals and a tunicate. It is starting to get this stuff on it. Are leathers OK to dip in peroxide? I need to dip my zoas again. Last time I did 4:1 tank water: peroxide for 5 minutes. It dented the stuff, but didn't eradicate it. Can I up the ratio a little?

Hi, I have documented my experience a couple of pages ago and can tell you that:

Zoa's: I have sprayed straight with non diluted 3% peroxide and left them for 7-10min out of the water without any issues. They took some days to open up but are all fine

Leathers: I kept my sarcophyton in open air for 10min while I was waiting for the peroxide to work on the rock it was attached to and nothing bad happened. I even accidentally sprayed a part of it in the process and it made no harm either. It closed up for a couple of days but now it is looking as good as it ever did.

 

[shollis2814]

Thanks. I just did a dip for some small frags: 3 zoas and 1 leather corals and a tunicate. I upped the peroxide ratio, doing 2 1/2 cups of water to 3/4 cup peroxide.

The leather coral frags lost some small bristle or fire worms, but other than that I didn't see anything super beneficial crawling out. The diatom/algae on the zoas turned white and when I put it back in, some small hermits started cleaning them. I suspect the peroxide acts as a 'meat tenderizer' for the algae and makes it more palatable for the CUC. The leathers are opened back up. The zoas are all still ticked off.

 

[shollis2814]

After seeing the effects of my last two dips. I am almost to the point of trying a tank does at 1 ml 3% peroxide to 10 gallons of water. My hesitation is that I am leaving the country next Wednesday for a week and my wife is not reef tank savvy and won't be testing anything. I want to leave as stable a tank as possible.

If I am going to do a WC right before I leave and feed, is there any reason not to dose the next 4 days?

 

[Ryengoth]

I have seen no visible results dosing 10ml daily in my 90g. It just makes me clean the skimmer out daily and it is horrible... like a sewage treatment plant.

 

[Ryengoth]

Initial dose was 10ml around the area that is lighter in the top picture.
Second does was 10ml of glyercin and peroxide again there plus the surrounding area.
2-days elapse time, so this looks like it may be a daily dosing method and from what I've seen so far I'm going to modify the treatment mix some and continue testing. There is some volume loss of fibers and some receding of the growth lines around the bare spot. The solution needs to stay put for longer to oxidize longer.

 

[Ryengoth]

4th dose over the course of 5 days. same 2 rocks from post [HASHTAG]#123[/HASHTAG].
My alk is whacked out though. Keep an eye on it if you dose heavily in your DT like this.