Wiry Algae Treatment and ID

Arktos · Feb 29, 2020

Hi,

I'm seeking some assistance for the identification and treatment options for a tough, green, wiry algae breakout.

The algae tends to grow from small tufts in the rocks that extends several 4-5 mm wiry strands. It's difficult to manually scrape and remove and is popping up all over the rock work. My bristle tooth tang doesn't touch and urchin won't go out of its way to mow it down.

I appreciate any suggestions.

Hemmdog · Mar 1, 2020

Do you have any hermits?

Auquanut · Mar 1, 2020

I don't think I've seen this particular algae either. Doesn't look like the run of the mill hair algae. Did you start with live rock? If so, was it present on the rock when you added it? I'm sure someone will have an ID for you.

Welcome to R2R by the way. When you get a chance, why don't you wander over to the "Meet and Greet" section and introduce yourself? There's a lot of great folks here that would love to meet you.

Arktos · Mar 1, 2020

Hemmdog said:
Do you have any hermits?

I don't have any hermits. I thought they're better scavengers than algae grazers.

Arktos · Mar 1, 2020

Auquanut said:
I don't think I've seen this particular algae either. Doesn't look like the run of the mill hair algae. Did you start with live rock? If so, was it present on the rock when you added it? I'm sure someone will have an ID for you.

Welcome to R2R by the way. When you get a chance, why don't you wander over to the "Meet and Greet" section and introduce yourself? There's a lot of great folks here that would love to meet you.

Thanks @Auquanut. No, I started with a synthetic rock about 9 months ago. I suspect this algae hitchhiked on a frag and then one day overnight it instantly spread over the whole tank.

Auquanut · Mar 1, 2020

Arktos said:
I started with a synthetic rock about 9 months ago. I suspect this algae hitchhiked on a frag and then one day overnight it instantly spread over the whole tank.

Okay. That's a little scary. There are products you can use to try to beat it back. Brightwell Vibrant is probably the most popular. It won't be a quick fix. Takes time. I'm still certain someone will chime in with some experience with what you're dealing with.
I would ask you about your nitrate and phosphate levels, but to be honest, my NO3 and PO4 run a little high and I depend on my tangs and CUC to keep the tank purdy. So no help there.

Arktos · Mar 1, 2020

I'm only just taking my tank out of ULNS as it was running at undetectable NO3 and PO4. Annoyingly the outbreak started before I started raising nutrients. So I have a suspicion this algae is resilient low nutrients which I guess would make it a long fight with Vibrant.

I'm wondering if flucanazole or hydrogen peroxide treatment would be a better option.

ylreefer · Mar 1, 2020

I'm no expert but if this is at all bryopsis then flucanazole might help.

One of our local reef club guys had an outbreak of bryopsis and treated for 5 days. I was pretty amazed by the results. I'll attached 2 pics he shared which are day 1 and day 5.

I can't recall the dosage he used but I'm sure that's would be an easy Google search.

john90009 · Mar 1, 2020

Turf algae if it’s really hard to rip out with your finger nails. They start out like that and when they form strong patches it’s like a layer of sod. I have tried emerald crabs and a variety of urchins and manual removal. I’m just putting more corals on the rocks and hope that they just grow over it slowly

fazilosman · Mar 1, 2020

I've noticed the same algae on my bare bottom. New tank, dry rock, been running since Thanksgiving. Had bad GHA in my past reefing and it's not that for sure. Still looking for ID myself. So far, it's not spread to my rocks.

Help identifying algae

New 10g nano, been running since November 2019. The tank is bare bottom and have this algae growing on glass. I'm familia with GHA but not bryopsis. Wondering what this is? Thanks.

www.reef2reef.com

Arktos · Mar 2, 2020

@fazilosman your photos show the algae in great detail. Mine looks exactly the same. I suppose you're keeping on top of it since its only limited to the glass. Just be wary though, mine was confined to a single frag plug that I plucked off a few times until it rapidly spread to the whole tank.

It is really difficult to scrape off the rocks so it could be turf algae. It doesn't propagate by horizontal strands though. It just gets longer and more wiry strands form from the base of the tuft. Unfortunately we can't get emerald crabs in Australia.

fazilosman · Mar 2, 2020

@Arktos - I removed them from my glass using a butter knife as a scraper. Even though they were on smooth glass, they were stuck on very well and needed some effort to remove. I cant even imagine having them on rock! It would seem futile to even attempt manual removal given how this algae is bonded to the surface. Good luck my friend - keep us posted.

Beau_B · Jun 13, 2020

Any update? I have this stuff too. I'm 7 days into fluconzole treatment and it doesn't seem to be effective.

Arktos · Jun 15, 2020

Beau_B said:
Any update? I have this stuff too. I'm 7 days into fluconzole treatment and it doesn't seem to be effective.

Hi Beau, I'm about 2.5 months into a fluconazole treatment with not much success. The wiry algae growth has definitely stopped. Some of the bristles have gone pale/white but it hasn't been the fix I was hoping for.

I followed the initial guidance of 20mg/gal and have been maintaining it with a similar dose during water changes. I haven't been precise with this and I suspect the concentration may be a bit higher.

I'm open to suggestions.

Beau_B · Jun 15, 2020

I'm... 9 days or so in now at a precise 20mg/gal (50gal system vol), GHA has died back, unidentified algae is unchanged. If anything it's gaining ground because the GHA is gone; or maybe it was there already and I couldn't see it before. Urchin doesn't appear to be consuming it.

I had started the fluconazole because I thought I had bryopsis. Evidently not. All the scrubbing in the world doesn't get it off the rock. I've got a 10g QT tank that I threw some of my CUC and macros into as a fail safe before dosing DT and now the wire stuff is starting to grow on the glass in there.

Likewise looking for solutions that don't involve tank tear-down!

C. Eymann · Jun 15, 2020

looks like cladophoropsis, urchins are your best bet IMO

Beau_B · Jun 15, 2020

Looks plausible, not sure it's a match though. Mine is much thinner and doesn't clump like what I'm seeing for examples on Google.

Certainly could be some variety of. It's awful. I'll continue to watch my tuxedo and see what sort of damage it can do. Thus far nothing noticable.

Beau_B · Jun 29, 2020

Update: the wiry stuff appears to be gone or at least not visible. GHA was knocked back.

Fluaconzole single dose for however long it's been and no water change. It doesn't appear the urchin ate it, but I can't be certain.