Our reputation here is on the line!

[frankl15207]

You know you are in trouble when two guys that operate aquarium maintenance services and and an LFS owner say "let's get Frank - He'll find the answer on that bulletin board he uses. This is third or fourth party, so it is going to be a tough one to ID.
When I went into my LFS today he handed me a bag of fuzzy hair type algae that Captain Al, the Aquarium maintenance guy, brought in five days ago to give to me. By the time I got it, it looked more like dried up felt than any type of algae.
This stuff is growing in one of his customer's tanks. It is not conventional hair algae. Based on the description that I was given, it grows in balls or tufts and nothing that they have tried in terms of fish go anywhere near it. Mark, who owns my LFS, said he has never seen anything like it (and he has been doing this for a long long time). Gary, who operates an aquarium maintenance service for businesses (along with a really expensive LFS) also said he had never seen anything like it.
I don't know if they have tried anything along the line of snails or crabs on this stuff. I have attached the best picture that I could get of the dried up stuff. I've seen a lot of types of hair algae dried up, and this isn't anything that I have ever had the displeasure of encountering either.
Any suggestions or links to algae pics would be helpful. From that I may be able to pass it on and try to get a better ID.
Come on experts. Our reputation here is on the line! If we get this one right, one of them may even buy a computer and quit bothering me.

 

[richard rendos]

An in focus picture would really help.

 

[frankl15207]

I stuck this stuff in some salt water to see if I can get it to reconstitute a bit. I'll try to get a better picture of it in water a little later this evening once the water clears up some. Thanks.

 

[bang guy]

I believe it's a hair algae that is also harboring Dinoflagelates as a bonus. That tank must have some serious Phosphate/Nitrate levels.

 

[nacl-h2o]

Can we get a better pic?
The last time I heard a discription like that they were talking about Bryopsis. But I would think anyone in the trade long would recognize it.
Bryopsis

Thats as close as I can get without a clear pic. HTH

 

[frankl15207]

Used the camcorder this time. Hope this makes it easier.
Please note that if you can ID it, we also need to know what will eat it.

 

[blondenaso1]

I think I have the same thing growing in my tank. I think it came in on a piece of Tonga branch LR. It is only growing in one isolated tuft. Its probably a type of filamentous hair algae, but I have yet to find anything that eats it.

 

[glazer]

I am assuming since it was dried and reconstituted it was perhaps more green????
I dunno, looks like Maiden's hair to me... and to my knowledge snails and fish pretty much stay clear of it. But if these guys have been in the biz for a long time they would know what it was, so I guess it's not... I'll shut up now, hehe

 

[frankl15207]

It is a deeper green than the picture shows. Tangs, angels, lawnmower blenny wouldn't go near it. Unless there are variations on maiden's hair, it definitely is not. It was still a little damp when I stuck it in the water. I don't think it's dead.

 

[new]

it looks very similar to some i have growing in my tank, phosphates are good but trates are high bang, good news is if its the same as whats in my tank my bahama starhas ate about half of the colony, bad news is he likes mushrooms and other corals a whole lot more, he hasn't eaten any of my zooanthids(sp?) though and he knows they are there.

 

[frankl15207]

Bumping this up to the top. Better picture is in both places.

 

[richierich2000]

I never had a hair algae problem till I put a pice of live rock in my tank and it had like dark green fuzzy stuff on it I though it was sea weed or something. I was new to this and not thinking I let it grow alittle and it started looking like hair algae. so I removed that rock but it must have spread because I have had it in there since and I have put like 300 snails and crabs in there and tangs and algae blennys and they will not eat it I have not found anything that will so if you find out what it is please let me know

 

[frankl15207]

I didn't see the stuff that they took out of the tank, but based on the description that I was given, you may have the same thing. Hopefully this thread will get you some help too. I read your previous post on that stuff but had never seen anything like it, so I couldn't help you out with it.

 

[richierich2000]

it started out looking like that stuff in NaCl-H2O picture and now it looks like this I even got a yellow tang, a fox face and a algae blenny and they pick at rock that doesn't have that on it but will not touch it

 

[richierich2000]

one more pic I can pull it off in thick layers I pick it and couple day go by and it is back

 

[fshhub]

richie, yours sounds like hari algae
is your rock live rock?? and was it live rock you bought, or a pice of rock that they were using that was in a sw set up(became bacteria covered but is not live)
we had some of that for a while, when we first set up our 75, and we had to prune it back, eventually our snails and lawnmower helped to finish it, but they would not touch it if it was over 1/4 inch long. We literally had ot go in and pick it by hand for a couple of weeks, until we got it under control, now between our crew and the coraline and what not our tank has seen noen in several months

 

[richierich2000]

I tool 175# out of another tanks and I ordered the rest I have even took all the rock all 275# of it and scrubed it and put it back in and still nothing ate it I just suck it out with the hose my nitrates are high right now so I have been doing water change 2 a week till I get them down

 

[von_rahvin]

looks like the hair algea that grows on the rocks of the indian river down hear in fl. had some accidently get introduce to my dad's tank about 1 yr ago and i am still fighting to kill the stuff in the long term. think i have it mastered though, some yellow cucs, scartlet reefs and lawnmover. they have started to take a chunk out of it in his tank.

 

[frankl15207]

I now remember some green fuzzy stuff starting to form on my live rock when I first got it (literally the first couple of days). Since I never had live rock before I thought it was the "live" part of the rock, but in a few days realized that it was some sort of hair algae forming. I added some red and blue leg hermits and some Mexican turbos and it was gone in a few days and never returned. It wasn't as long or thick as the stuff that they gave me, but it is definitely similiar in appearance. It was fshhub's description that made me recall it. Apparently it has gotten so far out of hand in this guy's tank that is it no longer a "tasty morsal" for anything.
Thanks so far for the feedback. I'll pass this along and anything new that arises. Based on the responses, it isn't all that isolated and it is something that needs to be addressed by hobbyists, so we'll still hang on hoping someone has the magic potion to deal with this when it gets big. At least a specific name for it.
It seems that the live rock and sand carries all sorts of surprises in it. I've had fish only tanks for a long long time, and I never saw half of the things that are happening with the live rock in the tank. It makes you realize that a closed eco-system, no matter how diversified, is still never close to the real thing.