Unable to ID this algae

[A&Aaquatics]

A few months back, I noticed some branch-like algae growing in my tank. This was about 11 months into the tanks life, never had nuisance algae other than some GHA here and there. This stuff literally came out of nowhere. No changes to the tank, filtration, lighting, nothing. After some research I figured it was indeed Bryopsis. So I went the typical Fluconazole route. The only inhabitants are some starburst polyp and a Royal gramma.

A few days into the first treatment of Fluconazole, I noticed zero effects on this stuff growing on this rock. I dosed for 50 gallons, I've probably got around 45 gallons total water volume. So I decided to up the dose to 70 gallons. After 7 days since initial treatment, absolutely zero effects were noticed. I dump the last 2 Fluconazole doses in. By the 2nd week, this crap appears to be growing even faster.

So I thought maybe I got a bad batch of Fluconazole, even though the expiration wasnt until 2022. Ordered up another bottle (Reef flux is what im using). Now, I'm at day 7 of Bottle #2, currently with a 50 gallon dose. Still seeing zero effects on this algae.

I thought it was a variation of bryopsis, but I noticed it doesn't have that fern-like appearance. They just look like short, individual feathers sprouting from the rock. There is indeed a root-like system growing on the outside of the rock. Fluconazole appears to be completely ineffective.

Anyone know what this crap could be? Seems like the Fluconazole made it grow faster.

 

[reef lover]

Lools like bryopsis to me. Did you try vibrant yet?

 

[A&Aaquatics]

Lools like bryopsis to me. Did you try vibrant yet?

No I have not.

 

[A&Aaquatics]

I guess I'll just let the tank run for a couple more weeks and see what happens. The amount of Flucanozole in the system is enough to treat 150 gallons. My system is 1/3 of that. Something isn't right, and I don't know if I should keep dosing without knowing if the initial batch of Reef Flux was actually active or not. With that being said, I'm not going to dose any more fluconazole. Guess I'll try vibrant if nothing happens.

 

[Brew12]

What do you have for a CuC? I suspect that this will be easy to find a natural predator for.

Fluconazole works on a very limited number of algaes so I doubt the Reef flux was the problem. Vibrant would likely work if you do chose to go that route, just start with dosing no more than weekly.

 

[A&Aaquatics]

Currently there is no clean up crew. I had 3 scarlet hermits and 2 dwarf hermits in the tank at around 4 months in. Slowly lost them one by one, I figured it was due to not having any fish and I was only feeding the tank with some phytoplankton once a week to keep the pods happy. I assume they had extremely limited food sources. The only ones left by the time I added fish (a clown, gramma, and some chromis) were the 2 dwarf hermits. Last one died about 3 months ago.

 

[Brew12]

Currently there is no clean up crew. I had 3 scarlet hermits and 2 dwarf hermits in the tank at around 4 months in. Slowly lost them one by one, I figured it was due to not having any fish and I was only feeding the tank with some phytoplankton once a week to keep the pods happy. I assume they had extremely limited food sources. The only ones left by the time I added fish (a clown, gramma, and some chromis) were the 2 dwarf hermits. Last one died about 3 months ago.

I'd add a few turbo snails for now and see what happens. A few hermits probably wouldn't hurt either if you are feeding your fish more now.

 

[A&Aaquatics]

I'd add a few turbo snails for now and see what happens. A few hermits probably wouldn't hurt either if you are feeding your fish more now.

Sounds like a plan, will go ahead and pickup some snails and maybe try again with a couple hermits. Thanks.

 

[A&Aaquatics]

Alright, before I try vibrant, I'll be giving Tech-M a shot. I actually picked up a bottle just recently to increase my mag level, little did I know it was useful in controlling algae when you up the dose to a high level in the tank.

Skimmer is back on as well

 

[Brew12]

Alright, before I try vibrant, I'll be giving Tech-M a shot. I actually picked up a bottle just recently to increase my mag level, little did I know it was useful in controlling algae when you up the dose to a high level in the tank.

Skimmer is back on as well

Why do you suspect Tech-M will work? Do you suspect that this algae is intolerant of high magnesium levels? Very few algaes are harmed by magnesium levels that are healthy for your other tank inhabitants.

 

[A&Aaquatics]

Why do you suspect Tech-M will work? Do you suspect that this algae is intolerant of high magnesium levels? Very few algaes are harmed by magnesium levels that are healthy for your other tank inhabitants.

Just going off threads on here. Is it bad info?

 

[A&Aaquatics]

Something about an impurity in the tech-m that at high levels will eliminate certain strains of bryopsis. Looked like quite a few people had success with it

 

[Brew12]

Just going off threads on here. Is it bad info?

Not necessarily, it just may not be accurate. Tech-M used to be formulated a bit differently and was commonly used to treat bryopsis. This required raising mg to 2000+ppm which wasn't great for other things in the aquarium. My understanding is that as of around 2016 this is no longer very effective. But, what you have isn't bryopsis.
Keep in mind, if you are planning on this being a reef tank, that you want to be able to grow things in it. Trying to use chemical poisons should be a last resort effort, not a starting step. This particular algae you have should easily be handled by a decent CuC.
If you take all the algae eaters off of a healthy reef, it will quickly become overgrown with algae. We can do some things to get algae to grow in other areas, such as a refugium or turf scrubber, but our DT's should always try to grow algae. It's best (imo) to find something that eats the algae instead of poisoning it.

The snails I recommended above should work. If you want it to go faster, and a lawnmower or starry blenny fits in your stocking plans, they would likely make short work of that algae.

 

[A&Aaquatics]

Not necessarily, it just may not be accurate. Tech-M used to be formulated a bit differently and was commonly used to treat bryopsis. This required raising mg to 2000+ppm which wasn't great for other things in the aquarium. My understanding is that as of around 2016 this is no longer very effective. But, what you have isn't bryopsis.
Keep in mind, if you are planning on this being a reef tank, that you want to be able to grow things in it. Trying to use chemical poisons should be a last resort effort, not a starting step. This particular algae you have should easily be handled by a decent CuC.
If you take all the algae eaters off of a healthy reef, it will quickly become overgrown with algae. We can do some things to get algae to grow in other areas, such as a refugium or turf scrubber, but our DT's should always try to grow algae. It's best (imo) to find something that eats the algae instead of poisoning it.

The snails I recommended above should work. If you want it to go faster, and a lawnmower or starry blenny fits in your stocking plans, they would likely make short work of that algae.

This would be far from a starting step though. I have coral thriving in the tank already, using chemicals has been the last resort option. I have chaetomorpha in my sump and the skimmer takes care of a large portion of the nutrient load. I even cycled through some GFO to bring nutrient levels down to try to starve the algae, but obviously couldnt go long term with this route without suffering from 0 phosphate. Further research indicates that it's nearly impossible to starve the algae in an established tank. My nitrates are only about 14.

I will say this though, It seems the algae took off shortly following the loss of the last dwarf hermit. I'm with you on the Cuc, in about 2 weeks I'll add some hermits and snails.

Not going to rush things that's for sure

 

[A&Aaquatics]

Honestly now that I look back on it, it would have been beneficial to wait a tad longer before I added the first set of hermits. I dont think they had the sources they need to survive, hence the slow die off. Now that they're gone completely, nothing is being eaten. There is certainly an abundance now.

 

[A&Aaquatics]

Update: I believe the shear volume of bryopsis was causing some really delayed effects with the Fluconazole. I noticed a large portion has actually recently died off, but new growth is sprouting in areas. I think the Flux was working finally. Pretty sure the skimmer pulled most of the fluconazole out within the past few days, which is when I noticed a majority of the old bryopsis was now dead and gone, but new bryopsis is growing. I'll let my future Cuc take care of it. Will hopefully pick some snails and hermits up this weekend.


Tested again today,
nitrate 13
phosphate 0.08.
Calc: 441
Mag: 1440
Alk: 8.2

I'd say the tank is ready to be stocked

 

[MattJS]

Vibrant could be a real simple way to take care of any algae that’s left. Works quick too. It’ll surprise you.
IMO I don’t think a clean up crew would help too much. With the turbos I’ve had they’ll eat some hair algae’s and some macro algae’s, but with the macro it only seems like they eat the ones you’d want to keep- like dragons breath.
Vibrant can be a bit much for one bottle- around $26 I think. One bottle does last a long time though. And you only dose once a week while you have some work for it to do, then you can back off to once every two weeks or less.