What type of snail eats green hair algae

smallfish · May 22, 2012

What type of snail eats green hair algae ?

wysiwyg · May 22, 2012

from my experiences i have never seen any of my snails eating green hair algae i have turbo snails, margarita snails, and cerinth snails. the only thing i have ever seen eating it is sea hares

REEFKEEPER10 · May 22, 2012

Turbos will keed it under control but want eat big long strands so it requires so to remove it by hand first. The down side to turbos they get big and knock things over. Sea hares will make quick work of hair algae but if they don't have a steady supply they will die plus they are able to release and black ink int the tank if stressed. I'm not forsure if it is toxic but it can't be good. Most snails do better at control then fixing the problem. I hope this helps.

jonbar1 · May 22, 2012

If it's turf algae, Astreas do a good job. If it's Bryopsis then usually you have to remove it yourself.

pumarjr · May 22, 2012

jonbar1 said:
If it's turf algae, Astreas do a good job. If it's Bryopsis then usually you have to remove it yourself.

Funny thing is, is that most of the time is Bryopsis and is mistaken for GHA. Try increasing your Mg levels to around 1400 and leave it there for a week or so, if it is Bryopsis it'll turn white and die, running high Mg levels will not harm your inhabitants either. See if you can remove a small piece, look at it with a magnifying glass and see if it has structure, like a main stalk with branches.

Nanoreefbro · May 22, 2012

You could try a Sea Hare. They normally eat hair algae. Once they take care of it you can remove them from the tank and sell them to another reefer that could use them.

gmoney243 · May 22, 2012

If your tanks big enough get a tang. If the tang wont eat it its bryopsis.

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Kristine · May 22, 2012

Go to Reef Cleaners| Clean up Crews and Macroalgae. There's all kinds of info there. You can ask questions and they will even tell you what you need for your personal situation. Then you can order from them (which is the polite thing to do since they are helping you out) or you can try to find what you need elsewhere.

ruppertb · May 22, 2012

i had a sea hare and it did nothing for hair algea. It was on the glass all the time and never ate GHA unless right on top of it but that didnt happen much. He has since disappeared. Poor ugly guy

cdness · May 22, 2012

None in my experience. The best way to get rid of it is manual removal with a tweezer and toothbrush...

I have had emerald crabs pull it off the rock. I don't know if they eat it but they sure do make a mess some days.