Tangs won't eat my GHA

[just4kicks]

I have a terrible problem with GHA and Aiptasia. I know the Tangs I have will not touch the Aiptasia but they don't touch the GHA either. I have
Yellow tang
Blue Hipo tang
Clown Tang
Yellow Eye Tang
Tomini Tang
I am at my wits end and about ready to nuke the tank and start over. Here are pictures. I know I have a lot of work to do but I am trying to figure out how to fix these issues. Any suggestions would be helpful.

 

[lmm1967]

That's not that bad IMO.

Get an urchin or sea hare - all that will be done in a week and then you can re-home.

You want to get your nutrients balanced though or it will come back.

 

[ScottR]

Tangs are picky about what they eat to some degree. I’ve found GHA keeps the better types of algae away that tangs love. GHA is a hard fought battle. There are blennies, urchins, chemicals, bacteria (vibrant) and other ways to control it.

 

[ScottR]

Looking at your pic and it looks more like turf algae. And it’s not bad. Urchins may help like @lmm1967 said.

 

[vetteguy53081]

And rarely do they. A rabbit fish may be more apt.
Best is to pull as much as you can by hand and reduce white light intensity for a few days. Liquid vibrant or fluconasal (flux) will help alot
Is tank at or near a window ?

 

[Lowlandreef]

With all tank problems, you will first need to figure out the cause. So with algae it's elevated nutrients. Best thing to do is test your water, to know the exact parameters. Make sure you get the parameters in check by doing waterchanges. Try to do manually remove as much algae when changing the water, you can try to take rocks out and scrub them in the dirty water. This will probably take care of the problem in just a matter of weeks.

Best thing to do is also get to know where the elevated nutrients come from. Are you using RO/DI water? Do you change water regularly or do you have some other nutrient export methods? How old is your tank?

 

[anthonygf]

What are your parameters, tank size etc. I used Aiptasia X for most of them, my file fish takes care of some. for the algea, remove most by hand. I use a small canister filter in reverse and suck up the algea while scrubbing with toothbrush, keep the suction hose close to the algea while scrubbing.

 

[just4kicks]

Looking at your pic and it looks more like turf algae. And it’s not bad. Urchins may help like @lmm1967 said.

I have 2 Tuxedo urchins about the size of a quarter. They seem to eat it but not very quickly. What kind would you recommend?

 

[ScottR]

I have 2 Tuxedo urchins about the size of a quarter. They seem to eat it but not very quickly. What kind would you recommend?

Manual removal. Keep your parameters in tune. Vibrant is useful for these situations. Takes about a month maybe to see results.

 

[just4kicks]

What are your parameters, tank size etc. I used Aiptasia X for most of them, my file fish takes care of some. for the algea, remove most by hand. I use a small canister filter in reverse and suck up the algea while scrubbing with toothbrush, keep the suction hose close to the algea while scrubbing.

I will get the parameters after work but last time I checked the phosphate was high and I am working getting that down. I have so many Aiptasia and I can't reach them all to inject. Is there just a general treatment for them or do filefish eat them as advertised?

 

[Kfactor]

I find my urchin lazy lol I got some turbos and it’s crazy how much they helped out my tank

 

[spiraling]

Manual removal. Keep your parameters in tune. Vibrant is useful for these situations. Takes about a month maybe to see results.

+1 Vibrant. It takes about a month but completely gets rid of it.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I will get the parameters after work but last time I checked the phosphate was high and I am working getting that down. I have so many Aiptasia and I can't reach them all to inject. Is there just a general treatment for them or do filefish eat them as advertised?

Some files will eat the aptasia - a blue face kleini butterfly Will for sure

 

[anthonygf]

I will get the parameters after work but last time I checked the phosphate was high and I am working getting that down. I have so many Aiptasia and I can't reach them all to inject. Is there just a general treatment for them or do filefish eat them as advertised?

File fish also cannot get to some of them. I used aiptasia X on the ones I can get to, the ones I can't I just leave them. So far for six months I think the filefish is taking care of new ones that pop up because I don't see any new ones appearing.

 

[ThePurple12]

There are tons of species of "green hair algae", and tangs don't eat all of them. That's why I don't think you can rely on fish/inverts to fix an algae problem.

 

[Sdot]

I also notice at least in my experience, that Tangs like to "graze" on short or fuzz hair algae. Anything long you will need a Lawn mower blenny or a Sea Hare.