Tiny white Hair Threads and Algae ID?

[Aquaphil]

Hey there,

I am pretty new here and I really need some help. In a period of one month I got a huge algae Problem. Maybe gold algae? And many of those tiny white threads. It started spreading around the Caulastrea which is now since one week completely closed. I try to remove most of the algae every week manually while water changing 10%.

Most of my water parameters are looking fine.

No2: 0,005
No3: 0,5
Po4: 0,01
Mg: 1300
Ca: 420
CH: 8,5
Salt: 34
Ph: 8,2

Would love to hear some advice.

Here is a link for the algae and white threads:




This was before.

 

[Gobi1canobi]

Hey there,

I am pretty new here and I really need some help. In a period of one month I got a huge algae Problem. Maybe gold algae? And many of those tiny white threads. It started spreading around the Caulastrea which is now since one week completely closed. I try to remove most of the algae every week manually while water changing 10%.

Most of my water parameters are looking fine.

No2: 0,005
No3: 0,5
Po4: 0,01
Mg: 1300
Ca: 420
CH: 8,5
Salt: 34
Ph: 8,2

Would love to hear some advice.

Here is a link for the algae and white threads:




This was before.

Wow I literally just noticed them in my clown lounge

 

[Gobi1canobi]

Wow I literally just noticed them in my clown lounge

Any info I’m open ears

 

[Paul B]

Very new but a pain in a new tank. Just wait it out. The bacteria are all fighting for dominance and eventually everything will settle down and do what it was supposed to do. Did you start that with ASW
(artificial sea water in a box) and dry rock?

(PS, it was way to soon to add corals)

 

[Gobi1canobi]

What are these white hairs

 

[Paul B]

Just looks like stringy algae to me but if they look like actual hairs they could be spaghetti worms. I have thousands of them and they are kind of OK but many people dislike them.

 

[Shon]

Do the white tubes put out a little flower at the tips? Might be a type of pipe hydroid.

Edit: referring to the second imgur image.

 

[Aquaphil]

Very new but a pain in a new tank. Just wait it out. The bacteria are all fighting for dominance and eventually everything will settle down and do what it was supposed to do. Did you start that with ASW
(artificial sea water in a box) and dry rock?

(PS, it was way to soon to add corals)

Yes Asw and dry rock correct.

 

[AstroCoral]

I’ve had this exact type of critter in my tank, I have never found a definite identification after scouring the internet and forums. You’ll hear a bunch of different IDs but nothing conclusive.

How I managed them and beat them back - time (I’m guessing your tank is newer), brush them off with an unused toothbrush and suck them up with a turkey baster to remove them from the tank. It seems other algae started to overtake them with time and their numbers dropped substantially, I see a few of them but they are not spreading or growing to large proportions anymore. Letting the tank microfauna stabilize with time is likely why they didn’t return after my initial few removal attempts. Another idea is that I wasn’t running any mechanical filtration so I added some filter floss to my HOB which may have helped to clean the water and limit any food/nutrients in the water column for them.

 

[Aquaphil]

I’ve had this exact type of critter in my tank, I have never found a definite identification after scouring the internet and forums. You’ll hear a bunch of different IDs but nothing conclusive.

How I managed them and beat them back - time (I’m guessing your tank is newer), brush them off with an unused toothbrush and suck them up with a turkey baster to remove them from the tank. It seems other algae started to overtake them with time and their numbers dropped substantially, I see a few of them but they are not spreading or growing to large proportions anymore. Letting the tank microfauna stabilize with time is likely why they didn’t return after my initial few removal attempts. Another idea is that I wasn’t running any mechanical filtration so I added some filter floss to my HOB which may have helped to clean the water and limit any food/nutrients in the water column for them.

Okay thank you very much I'll try that next weekend.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Okay thank you very much I'll try that next weekend.

Please post pics under white light intensity for better id. May be tube worms or hydroids

 

[Aquaphil]

Please post pics under white light intensity for better id. May be tube worms or hydroids

Here are 2 new Pics.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Here are 2 new Pics.

Hmmmm . .. . while it looks like a colony of tube worms, may also be clatharina sponge. Is it soft to the touch?

 

[Aquaphil]

Hmmmm . .. . while it looks like a colony of tube worms, may also be clatharina sponge. Is it soft to the touch?

Well its not like it feels kind of a hard shell. Its like grass. I tried to touch them with a long tube and many of them fell off really easily.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Well its not like it feels kind of a hard shell. Its like grass. I tried to touch them with a long tube and many of them fell off really easily.

Can be sponge or from description tubes

 

[Aquaphil]

Can be sponge or from description tubes

I know this is a zombie thread, but just wanted to add that I have these as well, and that they've been killing off my alveopora.

They grow up through the rock and continue up under the coral as it's still dark there. They grow up and into the skeleton irritating them from the inside.

I've started putting the alveo's on ceramic disks to try and prevent whatever the heck this stuff is from growing up into them.

White hair growing on live rock

So I had a piece of LR with algae on it and I removed it to clean and noticed this white hair stiff growing on the botttom side. I haven't seen it anywhere else. What does it look like to you?

www.reef2reef.com

So I found this thread. And this last comment is a bit troublesome I guess : /
Maybe thats why my Caulastrea is in complete shutdown mode.