So my tank is about a month up and running. I was looking closely at the glass today and noticed these little green patches all over the glass. I put some frags in from my old tank which had some gha and bryopsis. I tried my best to clean everything off but guess didnt get everything. Sorry best pics I could get.
Start of Bryopsis or something else?
- Thread starter Mattj815
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mcarroll
10K Club member
Looks like the start of a tank! 
Too soon to tell. You and the rest of your CUC should be keeping it mowed down anyway – don't find out.
(Yes, you're the lead member of the CUC. Lead by example!)
Too soon to tell. You and the rest of your CUC should be keeping it mowed down anyway – don't find out.
(Yes, you're the lead member of the CUC. Lead by example!
)Lol. Im trying. Just scared of having a repeat of my last tank.
And there seems to be a snail shortage in my area. I went out last night as soon as I saw it and got some nerites and margaridas. Some of the only snails the lfs had and theyre usually pretty stocked. Luckily so far I only see it on the glass. Going to do a nice cleaning today after work.
But from what Ive read there isnt much thats eats bryopsis if it is in fact that, right?
And there seems to be a snail shortage in my area. I went out last night as soon as I saw it and got some nerites and margaridas. Some of the only snails the lfs had and theyre usually pretty stocked. Luckily so far I only see it on the glass. Going to do a nice cleaning today after work.
But from what Ive read there isnt much thats eats bryopsis if it is in fact that, right?
mcarroll
10K Club member
It's a species of green algae and most green algae, once established, become unpalatable to a more or less degree. So that's true of green algae generally and the reason behind NOT letting it become established.
Snails will graze nubbins....after that, not so much.
(Bigger grazers – sometimes ones you wouldn't expect – are the ones who will clean up a mature stand of green algae. Bat fish, for one example....not even known as an algae eater per se. Not likely to find those in a tank either.
)
higorc
Active Member
I fought with bryopsis for over 3 years before giving up and breaking down the tank and starting over.
Can't tell you for sure what that algae in the glass is, but hopefully u didn't use anything from ur last tank on this one. And I mean nothing.
I tried saving a couple of corals with no apparent bryopsis at all and had to restart again, the spores are even in the water.
There's pretty much nothing that eats bryopsis, some people are able to keep it in control but never fully beat once it is in the system.
I gave up and restarted my reef tank after 3 years of battling it, but I did have good results with Flunozacon after one of my failed restarts. There are many Reefers that have had success with Flunozacon treatment if you really have bryopsis, just fyi...
Bryopsis is the only algae that had beaten my efforts, I laugh when I see people having issue with diotoms, dino or hair algae. Those are all part of water chemistry and will go away with good practice and time where bryopsis is an introduced pest hard to kill with no natural eaters/predators.
I wish u luck my friend, hopefully that's just hair algae.
Higor
Youre scaring me! I know its the truth and after looking at it again this morning im leaning towards it being Bryopsis. Started to look "ferny".
Still dont see anything on the rocks but yes I did put corals from my old tank in there.
Im going to order fluconazole today and treat asap while its not a huge problem and hopefully can get on top of it. Still undecided if I want to order the actual flucon that I got last time or that stuff thats on brs "reef flux".
higorc
Active Member
Sorry man, but at least you catching it in the beginning.
Yeah, I learned the hard way not to use anything from the old setup with Bryopsis. Tried saving a few corals, and after a month or so Bryopsis started showing up. Luckily it was a temporary setup up until I sterilized my main display tank, equipment and plumbing. I ran my main tank for a week with freshwater mixed with H202 (Hydrogen peroxide) then left it dry for 2 months. After you have doubt with Bryopsis like I did for over 3 years and pretty much nuking the tank with all sorts or treatment, you don't take any chances.
I can however say I did treat the temporary setup that the Bryopsis showed up in with Fluconazole and had pretty good success with it. Wish we knew about that years ago. I would however get the real stuff instead of anything on bulk reef. Not sure if it's the same, but I wouldn't take a chance with it.
Good luck
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I ordered the reef flux on BRS just bc it was the quickest stuff i could get. The reviews are pretty good especially in regards to treating bryopsis.
The ingredients just said fluconazole. So hopefully this will work. I may order the other stuff just to have on hand.
The ingredients just said fluconazole. So hopefully this will work. I may order the other stuff just to have on hand.
mcarroll
10K Club member
@Mattj815 don't panic! ;Stop
At a month old, your tank is way way way way way too new to be treated for anything like this.
Plus you don't even know what you're looking at is bryopsis. Even if you did know it's bryopsis, you're jumping the gun – bryopsis isn't the boogeyman.
You have to let the tank develop and you have to be able to get a handle on it....inlcuding algae growth and CUC management, with you as a significant contributor. Algae is a big and natural part of reefs - especially new reef tanks.
For your part, you should be sure you're scaling back anything that could be contributing, such as
Also be scaling UP anything you can do to help:
2¢
At a month old, your tank is way way way way way too new to be treated for anything like this.
Plus you don't even know what you're looking at is bryopsis. Even if you did know it's bryopsis, you're jumping the gun – bryopsis isn't the boogeyman.
You have to let the tank develop and you have to be able to get a handle on it....inlcuding algae growth and CUC management, with you as a significant contributor. Algae is a big and natural part of reefs - especially new reef tanks.
For your part, you should be sure you're scaling back anything that could be contributing, such as
- excessive lighting (consider cutting back to half-days for a while)
- too much livestock too quickly (1 month old...almost too soon for livestock if you're being conservative!)
- overfeeding
- using sketchy RODI water
- etc
Also be scaling UP anything you can do to help:
- scrape the walls more or less frequently (easy for your to clean....like an in-tank algae scrubber to keep the rocks cleaner)
- use a toothbrush or something on the rocks to assist the snails
- Algae Cure!! Spot Treating Algae With Peroxide
- check rocks and sand with a pump or turkey baster to make sure you don't have a detritus issue already
- verify you have enough flow
2¢
@Mattj815 don't panic! ;Stop
At a month old, your tank is way way way way way too new to be treated for anything like this.
Plus you don't even know what you're looking at is bryopsis. Even if you did know it's bryopsis, you're jumping the gun – bryopsis isn't the boogeyman.
You have to let the tank develop and you have to be able to get a handle on it....inlcuding algae growth and CUC management, with you as a significant contributor. Algae is a big and natural part of reefs - especially new reef tanks.
For your part, you should be sure you're scaling back anything that could be contributing, such as
- excessive lighting (consider cutting back to half-days for a while)
- too much livestock too quickly (1 month old...almost too soon for livestock if you're being conservative!)
- overfeeding
- using sketchy RODI water
- etc
Also be scaling UP anything you can do to help:
Way too soon to go nuclear.
- scrape the walls more or less frequently (easy for your to clean....like an in-tank algae scrubber to keep the rocks cleaner)
- use a toothbrush or something on the rocks to assist the snails
- Algae Cure!! Spot Treating Algae With Peroxide
- check rocks and sand with a pump or turkey baster to make sure you don't have a detritus issue already
- verify you have enough flow
2¢
Well im happy to hear someone not thinking its the end of the world. Having had a problem in my last tank I was definitely worried and wanted to get on it asap and the only thing Ive seen that helps is the flucon.
I know I jumped the gun a bit but now that my few frags and the clowns are in there I am going to slow down. My old tank is pretty much empty and will be making it a qt tank and qt anything new for a solid month.
I will continue to clean manually, luckily I dont see anything on the rocks yet but to me its almost inevitable. I got a few snails and hermits in there now and hoping they do some damage on it.
My light right now comes on at 11 and ramps up, peaks around 4 then ramps down at 7 and moonlight til 11. Is that too long? Does the blue/moonlight count much towards algae problems?
Feeding Ive learned my lesson and cut down drastically from when I first started. Right now I feed basically every other day and mix up frozen and misys pellets. And make sure everything is eaten.
Rodi unit is on the list. Right now I get it from a good lfs. Anytime ive tested it it is ok. Tds like 2 but thats the best ive seen from any lfs.
Thanks for the input. Hopefully this doesnt turn into a headache.
higorc
Active Member
There's nothing in a clean up crew I'm aware that will touch bryopsis. Things are hit or miss at best, so in all my Reefing years Bryopsis has been my Boogeyman [emoji52].
Fought it for for over 3 years, bought everything people even hinted that would eat it, treated the tank with High Kent Mag, Hydrogen Peroxide, short to no light periods until I gave up.
At best I had periods where it would almost go away and then come back. Eventually you get tired of tank treatments where you clearly see it killing ur most prized corals and start remembering how good and easy you had it before the Bryopsis.
Bryopsis is not an algae that's "Part of the Reefing process". It's an introduced invasive pest.
Fluconazole was the only thing that actually killed the bryopsis and had no affects what so ever on any corals, fish or inverts for me.
By the time I found out about it, I had already given up fighting with bryopsis and restarted my display tank.
I was able to successfully use it in my temporary set up which I had reintroduced bryopsis (when I tried to save some corals from the main tank).
I know of people around my Reefing community that has it in their system and knowingly sells frags to other reefers. A disgraceful action.
If your cleanup crew hasn't been touching any of it, that's unfortunately a sign. If it's hair algae, they will be all over it.
Good luck man. Rant over, sorry... this topic brings back memories
Fought it for for over 3 years, bought everything people even hinted that would eat it, treated the tank with High Kent Mag, Hydrogen Peroxide, short to no light periods until I gave up.
At best I had periods where it would almost go away and then come back. Eventually you get tired of tank treatments where you clearly see it killing ur most prized corals and start remembering how good and easy you had it before the Bryopsis.
Bryopsis is not an algae that's "Part of the Reefing process". It's an introduced invasive pest.
Fluconazole was the only thing that actually killed the bryopsis and had no affects what so ever on any corals, fish or inverts for me.
By the time I found out about it, I had already given up fighting with bryopsis and restarted my display tank.
I was able to successfully use it in my temporary set up which I had reintroduced bryopsis (when I tried to save some corals from the main tank).
I know of people around my Reefing community that has it in their system and knowingly sells frags to other reefers. A disgraceful action.
If your cleanup crew hasn't been touching any of it, that's unfortunately a sign. If it's hair algae, they will be all over it.
Good luck man. Rant over, sorry... this topic brings back memories
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There's nothing in a clean up crew I'm aware that will touch bryopsis. Things are hit or miss at best, so in all my Reefing years Bryopsis has been my Boogeyman [emoji52].
Fought it for for over 3 years, bought everything people even hinted that would eat it, treated the tank with High Kent Mag, Hydrogen Peroxide, short to no light periods until I gave up.
At best I had periods where it would almost go away and then come back. Eventually you get tired of tank treatments where you clearly see it killing ur most prized corals and start remembering how good and easy you had it before the Bryopsis.
Bryopsis is not an algae that's "Part of the Reefing process". It's an introduced invasive pest.
Fluconazole was the only thing that actually killed the bryopsis and had no affects what so ever on any corals, fish or inverts for me.
By the time I found out about it, I had already given up fighting with bryopsis and restarted my display tank.
I was able to successfully use it in my temporary set up which I had reintroduced bryopsis (when I tried to save some corals from the main tank).
I know of people around my Reefing community that has it in their system and knowingly sells frags to other reefers. A disgraceful action.
If your cleanup crew hasn't been touching any of it, that's unfortunately a sign. If it's hair algae, they will be all over it.
Good luck man. Rant over, sorry... this topic brings back memories
Yea I had it in my other tank, thats why I want to try to get a handle on it now. Aa for my cuc, its pretty new and I dont know if theyve really touched it yet. I looked at it this morning and its grown a little and definitely has that fern appeaeance now.
I too used flucon and saw no ill effects. It did help a little but didnt totally wipe out the problem. There was more gha than bryopsis in my other tank though.
When you used it did it kill it for good? Did you wind up putting those corals in your current tank and no problems since?
Im all for not adding chemicals to my tank, but this seems to be the only thing to get rid of it. I think for now I will fo my best to keep the tank clean but if it even starts to get a little out of hand I am going with the flucon.
higorc
Active Member
The corals I transferred from my DT with Bryopsis to the temporary setup did bring Bryopsis with it even though I couldn't see any on them and gave them a Hydrogen bath (not on the fleshy parts, just the bases). I tried to save some high end Acan colonies, some chalices and euphilias. Everything else on the temporary setup was new (dry sand and dry rock). Give it or take a month in I started to see what I thought was hair algae which ended up being Bryopsis.
A few months in I had bryopsis on the corals, sand and rock again, that's when I tried flucon. Like you said, it worked but not 100%. I would say it was 90% gone. Maybe if I did another treatment it could have gotten rid of it 100%, but I never went that far.
By then I had already restarted my display tank (and all plumbing and equipment which had been dry going on almost 3 moths now) with new dry sand/rock and had it almost cycled. Only thing I transferred over was 2 fish. I gave away the corals to a friend of mine that wanted to do more experiments with the Flucon on them to see if he could get them Bryopsis free.
I lost all my corals and all fish but 2 (I was so desperate to get rid of the Bryopsis I accidentally nuked the tank in the end trying Hydrogen peroxide), but it's been 8 months now and a slow come back but boy am I glad not to have bryopsis. I don't have space for a quarantine setup, so I am super careful who I get corals from and anxious when adding anything new. But I do keep flucon on hand for a worse case scenario I wish to never see again
I've had a reef tank since 2006, and had never came across bryopsis until 2013. Only thing in the hobby that made me throw in the towel after fighting it for 3 years and losing all my corals and fish.
I really wish you luck man.
Tank w/ Bryopsis
Tank Bryopsis Free
A few months in I had bryopsis on the corals, sand and rock again, that's when I tried flucon. Like you said, it worked but not 100%. I would say it was 90% gone. Maybe if I did another treatment it could have gotten rid of it 100%, but I never went that far.
By then I had already restarted my display tank (and all plumbing and equipment which had been dry going on almost 3 moths now) with new dry sand/rock and had it almost cycled. Only thing I transferred over was 2 fish. I gave away the corals to a friend of mine that wanted to do more experiments with the Flucon on them to see if he could get them Bryopsis free.
I lost all my corals and all fish but 2 (I was so desperate to get rid of the Bryopsis I accidentally nuked the tank in the end trying Hydrogen peroxide), but it's been 8 months now and a slow come back but boy am I glad not to have bryopsis. I don't have space for a quarantine setup, so I am super careful who I get corals from and anxious when adding anything new. But I do keep flucon on hand for a worse case scenario I wish to never see again
I've had a reef tank since 2006, and had never came across bryopsis until 2013. Only thing in the hobby that made me throw in the towel after fighting it for 3 years and losing all my corals and fish.
I really wish you luck man.
Tank w/ Bryopsis
Tank Bryopsis Free
sp4zzy
Active Member
Just my $.02, it looks more like hair algae to me. But even if it is Bryopsis I wanted to jump on the "not the end of the world" train. I got Bryopsis from a frag at my LFS and it got way out of hand. Manual removal and Flucon treatment got 90-95% of it and a dosing regimen of Red Sea NO3-PO4-X took care of the rest. So far 3 months free of any sign!
For now though, just keep an eye on it and manually remove when possible. Medicating a month old tank for that little bit would be pretty extreme.
For now though, just keep an eye on it and manually remove when possible. Medicating a month old tank for that little bit would be pretty extreme.
higorc
Active Member
That's awesome man! It's really good to know we finally have something that seems to work for Bryopsis!
higorc
Active Member
What's Vibrant?
So I was doing some more looking around and found an old thread on here. Someone posted something very similar to what I have and also stated it was a new tank. Someone mentioned something about "filamentous turf algae" and said it wasnt a big deal. I was reading about that and hoping its more towards that. When I wiped the glass and took it out it def wasnt hard and its structure broke down easily when out of the water.
