Bacteria or ??? ID!!

[rlablan]

So this stuff has been growing in my tank for about a week now. It is brown and sort of hairy or fuzzy looking up close... It is up on the top portion of my LR and it spreading ever so slllooowwlllyyyy. I have two emerald crabs and a hermit and they are not eating it... What do you think about it? What is it?
Thanks mates!

 

[jackri]

It looks like a brown slime algae or maybe the start of hair algae (IMO they can go hand in hand). Turkey baster can help to blow it off, more circulation -- a clean up crew may or may not touch it.
I have a massive CUC in mine 100 snails/100 hermits in a 90 as I like to feed my fish and corals but causes excess nutrients -- which causes your algae problem.
Your avatar scares me too.... looks like you're

[hr]
and trying to kiss me and I'm happily married lol

 

[rlablan]

LMAO

Well it's not directed at you, but thanks for the info on the married thing. I couldn't have guessed since you have a baby on your avi... Cute... BTW....
Thank you for the info, I thought Hair algae, someone said Cyano... and I got scared... Should I pull it out or leave it? Is it bad, I thought algae was good?

 

[rlablan]

and not n@ked... wearing a tube top

 

[jackri]

Hey it's late and my first night back working overnights lol
I would try and take care of it as soon as you can... blow it off, scrub it off with a tooth brush and suck it up with a siphon IMO.... but something is fueling it -- excess nutrients. If it is hair algae the sooner you can get it out the better, could be cyno too hard for me to tell plus I'm tired.
There are good and bad algaes -- usually the macros are good and this isn't it. Caulerpa and cheato are macro algaes normally considered good but I personally don't include Caulerpa in the list. That stuff will root in and spread and make it nearly impossible to get out of your main tank given the chance to get in there. Chaeto just balls up and easily removed if you no longer want it in there -- all mine stays in the sump and out of sight... did have some caulerpa that got hitchhiked in on a some coral I assume... took awhile with tweezers pulling out roots to get it all out.

 

[jackri]

Oh and thanks for the comment on my daughter -- I'm a little biases but she is very cute

 

[florida joe]

How big of a rock is that? Can you remove it? It looks like hair algae to me. If it is it can be a nightmare to get rid of once it gets a foothold.

 

[rlablan]

Well sure I can always remove it but I paid 40 bucks for the large chunk... I'm not giving up a bargain like that. is there something I can get that will for sure eat it, or something I can use to kill it off??

 

[jackri]

Honestly.. I would take it out of the tank... get an old toothbrush or one dedicated to your tank and run it under hot water (that portion only) and brush it off really good.
I did this to a piece of my live rock and scrubbed one problem end... then put it back in the tank... the tube worms living on it came back out within 15 minutes and the problem was gone.

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by rlablan
http:///forum/post/3068842
Well sure I can always remove it but I paid 40 bucks for the large chunk... I'm not giving up a bargain like that. is there something I can get that will for sure eat it, or something I can use to kill it off??
i was not talking about taking it out Permanently

 

[rlablan]

I got a few tiny hermits and I now have 3 emerald crabs. I put them all on there and They f--ked that algae up!! These crabs had to have eaten 3 times their weight in algae... Thank you for the Id on this stuff... These crabs are having the feast of a lifetime...