GSP vs hair algea

[nyreefer]

I had a small break out of hair algea. It's finally under control but my green star polyps have a lite covering of algea on their mat. Is there anyway to get this off without damaging the polyp? Thought about a toothbrush...

 

[dacia]

I had some hair algae on my green star polyps. I waited until after the lights were out and the polyps were not out anymore. Then I just pulled it off myself without scrubbing any part of the coral.
I also bought a new emerald crab, mexican turbo snails, and lettuce nudibranch to take care of the hair algae so I wouldn't have to yank it out myself.

 

[nyreefer]

Thanks for the help. The hair algea is so fine I wouldn't be able to pull it off, it looks more like a fuzzy covering. My snails, hermits, and emeralds don't seem to be much of a help.

 

[clarkiiboi]

Yes a soft, new toothbrush will do fine. It wouldnt be a bad idea to do this regularly just to be safe. I lost mine due to a still unknown algea smoothering it, even though it was in a good flow area (fuzzy and fine like you mentioned, a dark red color, not cyno though). I learned that even with the right flow some algeas will still take hold anyways. Exceptions to the rules I guess........HTH.

 

[nyreefer]

I'll try the toothbrush tonight. They are really going downhill, if that doesn't work I may cut out the covered regions with a razor blade and discard them. Everything else in my tank is doing so well, it's frustrating.