20 gal and algae

[dhraako]

I have a 20gal and I had quite a hair algea outburst...my fish all slowly died (the last two due to Bryopsis I think...allthough I have not been able to locate a good enough picture of this algea to properly id it)...at any rate the corals are doing awesome...and due to fish deaths (all gone over a month ago now) my feeding has went down to once a weak (my brain..xenia etc)..the phosphates and nitrates that the hair algea love are basically gone so the hair algea is following suit with that (allthough slowly)....however a new algea is taking its place...literally...growing through the hair algea then killing it....the algea varies from 0.5cm to 1cm in length and the entire body (the stem) has rings of 5mm long thin green peices gowing up its length....I have not been able to obtain a pic of this algea ANYWHERE and I was wondering if anyone has seen or heard of it..and what it feeds off of...
thanks :notsure:
PS: I'm not able to get a pic atleast not now...but I'll try to borrow a digital cam from someone...but I would appreciate any info anyone can offer.

 

[cprdnick]

bump

 

[dhraako]

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[ncjetskier]

WOW I feel your pain. I suffered for three years with byrosis algae (sorry I am bad at spelling). My corrals did great, but the fish, not so well. The first thing to do is make sure you know what kind of algae you have. There is a huge difference in curing regular hair algae vs byrosis. If it looks like each hair is a microscopic fern like in appearance and it sometimes is blueish green then you have bryosis. Now you can get a clean up crew, tangs, urchines to try to eat, BUT YOU WILL BE WASTING YOUR MONEY!!! I ended up starting a small tank to put the corrals in and I completely cleaned the large tank with CLOROX water-yes clorox water. You will need to kill the spores even after removing the hair. All my live rock is in my garage in a garbage can. I plan on supper heating (cooking the rock) to get rid of the spores. Yes the spores are REALLY THAT BAD. There is absolutely no way to get rid of it, EXCEPT TO GET RID OF IT. Cook it, sterilize it with Clorox water is the only thing that I could get to work-and I tried everything!!!! My large tank started over from scratch (AND I MEAN SCRATCH) with nothing from my original tank except for the fish. The rest will go to the LFS for future credit.

 

[dhraako]

Man that's harsh...like really harsh...I've come to the conclusion that I don't have byrosis..I think...unless it comes in altered forms. I found a really good pic of it and it doesn't look like the other stuff I have...I have 4 kinds in my tank..the stuff that's killing the hair algea (the stuff I'm trying to get ided here) and the filementy stuff that I thought was byrosis..and the algea (bubbly type) that feeds on nitrates....I just hope I can figure out what this new stuff is so I know what it feeds on.
thanks again

 

[ncjetskier]

I really hope you do not have byrosis algae. Worst thing I have EVER dealt with. I would get some Culerpa and put it in the tanks. Be careful, Tangs and Angels love to eat it. The culerpa will suck up all the nutrients that the algae is living on and the hairy algae should go away. If it is regular hair algae I would get an urchin, but they will eat all of your coraline algae (if you have any). Culerpa is what I would try. Good luck.

 

[dhraako]

Yeah I agree with yah on the byrosis..that'd suck bad
but as for the culerpa I have some indiginous type growing, so I'm good for that..although its growing slow..so I'm inclined to believe my nitrate levels are low too...and my tank has been stabilized over a months time (thus why the corals are doing great...my pulsating xenia hasn't pulsed this much in awhile)..but I'm gonna keep a close close watch at things..keep up with the water changes..prolly once a week (5%) and get a turbo or astrea snail to see how they like the meal..heh
thanks again

 

[ncjetskier]

Actually it is probably more phosphate than nirtrates/nitrites. If it is just regular hairy algae, try to get a phosphate sponge. After about 3 days the algae should come off the rocks very easily. If this is the case, I would keep pulling the algae off and keep changing the phospate bag. It sohould get rid of it. Did you check your water parameters? In the real enviroment, algae is a balancing factor and is good. You noticed that your corrals are doing well (same as my tank). The algae is actually using up excess nutrients (phosphate, nitrates, nitrites and waste). A RO/Di is really important in removing some of the items above especially if you are doing water changes. (I am on well water and not municipality water. My water paremeters were good after the RO/Di but I still had algae). If you research algae, you will find out that it does not take much for it to survive (measurements below what our test kits will show). If you are doing the correct steps to get rid of it you will notice the algae gets easier and easier to pull off the rocks, if not you will notice it gets harder and harder and grows more and more. As far as the culerpa, the algae I had would out compete the culerpa for nutrients (but this was byrosis algae and not regular hair algae). Good luck!

 

[dhraako]

thanks for the info
I have very low phosphates (I'm basing this on the fact that my hair algae hasn't grown in a month...I'm just picking it away)...I only add food into my tank once a week and I make sure there is none that is not aten by my coral or shrimp/crabs...the hair algae seems cheifly on the decline...its just that new type that bothers me...I need to find out what it feeds on...the hair algae feeds on phosphates primarily and it isn't growing anymore...so there should be very low phosphates (I was using a phosphate sponge for a month...always changing bags of course..and it did nothing..the only change I got was when I started feeding my tank once a week..and stoped the phosphate removal treatments)....nitrites and nitrates should also be at a low since I do water changes often.....I would just like to know what's letting this new type grow...I'm gonna try to get my water tested at my lfs as soon as I can to see what the culperate is..
thanks again
:joy:

 

[ncjetskier]

Your welcome. Different types of algae require different types and amounts of nutrients to survive. The byrosis algae survived very well and my test kits showed absoulutely no phosphates, nitrates or nitrates. You may want to get your tap water tested. It may be the water changes that are contributing to the hairy algae survival. I would REALLY sugest that you take a pic and post it on this web site (pic needs to be as close up as possible) so somebody can tell you exactly what type it is. I sounds like you have two types, I hope the second type is not Byrosis! Also do a search and you will see different types. Good luck.

 

[dhraako]

I use some store bought RO water...but it wouldn't hurt to get that water tested I spose
as for the pic, I'll try to get my brothers digital camera and snap a few pics...that might help me out a lot!
thanks again

 

[ncjetskier]

I know we are discussing this to death, but if the store does not replace the RO membrain after every so often, it may not be much better than tap water. I will look forward to seeing the pic. Chris.

 

[dhraako]

cool, and no sweet I appreciate you helping me out .. I'll get the RO water tested (from Cold Springs..or that's what the company is called) and I'll get my own tank water checked..as well as work on that pic...till then have a good one
Adam