Algea ID?

[Twizted1]

At first I thought this to just be a turf algea. But now it's spreadeing over the rocks. Was wondering if anyone could positively ID this for me, Please.

[Ashlar]

If it looks feather-like (and the section on the right does from here), it appears to be bryopsis.

[Twizted1]

It's on the short side. And it looks to me that it is just a straight stalk, no branching that I can see. Would you be able to see that with the naked eye?

[Ashlar]

If you get up close to it, you should be able to tell, yep.

[chromiumlux]

There are many genus variations of bryopsis algae. I would recommend that you get a sample and positively identify it before taking action to eradicate it. Bryopsis is easily spread so be careful. Don't try to manually remove it. It will take over your tank. In my very humble opinion Joe, I would remove the few rocks it is on and treat them to a bath of muratic acid. I had the bryopsis pennata genus in my tank and it was unstoppable with common methods such as fish, crabs, inverts that were known to eat the stuff. Problem is that it is toxic to most fish and inverts so they dont eat it. The other problem is that those fish and crabs that do nip at it in the beginning will only spread it. I tried bleaching the rock and it just came right back. Acid baths are better but if the roots are deep in the rock this may only delay its return a little longer.
I fought this evil weed for a few years and have thrown away a lot of rock in the process. Make sure you check over the tank with a fine tooth comb...especially your sump! My sump was loaded with it and, I was not willing to tear down completely and start over. So I started researching. There are a few threads on RC concerning treatments. Last year I was at my wits end and decided to go with raising my mag levels using Kent Tech-M magnesium. This must be done slowly or you will wipe out your corals. I learned this the hard way. Lost 99% of my acros and chalices. Fish were unaffected. There seems to be the magic number somewhere between 1600ppm to 1900ppm that causes the bryo to melt and die. Kent Tech-M has several elements that bryo doesn't like. My tank is clear of bryo now and it has not come back....knock on wood....lol....banging my head on the wall. I would suggest a QT tank for corals if possible.
I keep my sump loaded with cheato to out-compete nuisance algae, lowered feedings, pay attention to parameters, keep my snail population at the high end, and skim 24/7 with one day a week wet skim.
Just a little info from a fellow reefer that almost quit the hobby because of this vile weed. I now love my tank again. Oh, almost forgot, I have been dosing several strains of bacteria that seem to help strengthen the rock surface. Prodibio, Zeobak, and recently started with the StartSmart.

[rayviv]

Have you looked at the Algae Guide from home page? I dont think your pic is clear enough for us to ID. Maybe for some but not with my eyes.

[Twizted1]

Have you looked at the Algae Guide from home page? I dont think your pic is clear enough for us to ID. Maybe for some but not with my eyes.

Mine looks most like the 6th pic down. The one that is on a paper towel. I have not been keeping up with regular maintenance the last few week. My scrubber looks awful. I have corals that haven't opened in a few days now. Been dealing with some personal matters. I did a huge water change last week, I think I dropped my salinaty a few points when I did. I also dosed flat worm exit for the second time. I should have waited as I did't have time to take care of it properly.

In my very humble opinion Joe, I would remove the few rocks it is on and treat them to a bath of muratic acid.

I wish it was just on a few rocks. It is on lots of rocks. It grows in sections. It is on my clams & I even seen it on one of the craps shell. It's not very long. I couldn't even pinch it of the rocks. I hope it's not bryopsis. Thanks for the info Andy. If it is, I have some more work ahead of me.

[chromiumlux]

If that is Derbesia you are still in for a fight. I would resume regular maintenance and research the options of eradicating it.

[Twizted1]

I have the perfect cure c4 algae no more. Lol frustrating.

[chromiumlux]

I have the perfect cure c4 algae no more. Lol frustrating.

Stay diligent in husbandry and don't give up. Good luck.

[Twizted1]

So this is just short gha?

[Twizted1]

How many rinse there frozen shrimp before they feed there tank? Reading up on my problem that was a big thing that I am not nor have I ever done.

[Ashlar]

That's actually a miniscule source of phosphate.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/3/chemistry

The first way is as a portion of the total phosphate in that food. A half cup of water at 1 ppm (1 mg/L) phosphate contains a total of 0.12 mg of phosphate. A cube of Formula 2 contains about 11.2 mg of phosphate. So the hypothetical rinsing step has removed about 1 percent of the phosphate in that food. Not really worthwhile, in my opinion, but that decision is one every aquarist can make for themselves.

[Twizted1]

Cool thanks for the info. I am lacki g Ina few other places as well. I had flat worms pretty bad & was sucking all the rock weekly. Well after 2 doses of fw exit, the seem to be gone. So I haven't done anything with the rock in about 3 weeks. Also my return pump don't see to be pumping as it did a few months ago. I have plans on changing that soon. I did clean the scrubber & pump. The pump was kind of dirty so I cleaned that & it's pumping a lot better now. I just need to get focused.

[Boonjob]

I will say I rinse... I have never tested phosphates in unrinsed vs rinsed...BUT My tank uses one cube every few days, so I save my leftovers in a rubbermaid and if I don't rinse after day 2 it starts to get a light brown cloudy color and has a strong fish smell.. If I rinse I can usually get through the entire cube before this starts to happen.

[Twizted1]

I may have to test that Cody.
 I think I have it figured out. I upped my feeds by a cube about a month ago. I had this idea that I needed to feed the sump as well as the tank. Not to long after that I is when I noticed this stuff start to spread. Then the last 2 weeks it has just exploded. So feeding has played a role in the problem. I also lost alot of snails during my flat worm eradication.

[Twizted1]

I just tested everything. My cal is very low. Not sure if I forgot to dose last week or what??? Also my mag is @ 1200ppm. So I need to get that up. I only bought half the stuff to make the mix. I didn't realize I needed 2 thing to mix to make the mag. BRS says to bring it up 100ppm a day. I may do it every other day. Because I need to go from 1200 to 1600. That just seems alot for just 4 days. Or would it be ok to do in 4 days?

[Ashlar]

100ppm per day never hurt anything in my tank, and I went from 1300 to 1700'ish.

[Twizted1]

Well this stuff had a take over point. So I changed a few things. Added some crabs. Started weekly water changes and some other things. Now this stuff is turning white. Does GHA turn white? I'm hoping it's because my redesigned ATS is starving it out. ANy thoughts? Thanks