Help

[mcdonaldjosh7]

Alright,

So I am usually fairly motivated towards my tank...but what kills that motivation is things like a breakout of bryopsis....and then the issues get worse and worse due to my lack of putting time into the tank and then my corals all start dying and yeah...

I fear I will have lost hundreds of dollars worth of corals soon...bryopsis is choking out corals, I can't see rock anymore....its pretty bad.

Is there anybody out there that would be willing to help me? I just don't know how to find the will to work on the tank when it is this bad...

 

[eww]

Can you post some pics of what it looks like? You may get more help/input if we see what you are dealing with.

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

I certainly can...it will have to wait until tomorrow because my lights are off.

 

[Daniel62]

hi, lots of people have had success by raising thier Magnisium levels, try looking into that. Good luck

 

[eww]

Raising the Mg works great but the thing you need to be careful of in raising Mg is bleaching or harming some delicate corals if you have them. Either be ready for that to happen or move them into another tank while you are doing this. Also, if you choose to do it this way you need to use Kent Marine's Tech M, and a lot of it depending our your water capacity. It is the only product that works (speaking from knowledge given to me by other long time reefers here and my own personal experience). All other Mg supplements seem to do nothing to the Bryopsis at all so they are just a waste of time and money for this treatment. You just bring the Mg up to 1700 for about 2 weeks and all Bryopsis dies. I've done it in both our QT and or main tank. Works great. However in our main tank I spiked it up too fast by accident (still not sure what I did) and we had several corals bleach out and lost a torch and a candy cane shortly after. Not sure if it was the spike that got them or if it was just coincidence on timing of their death. The corals that bleached are returning to their normal color over time. Once all the Bryopsis is dead you can lower the Mg again by doing some water changes. When it dies it turns gray and withers some and you will still have to go in and manually remove the dead material but once it's gone it shouldn't come back unless you reintroduce it somehow.

 

[returnofsid]

Here's the general consensus, based on lots of different threads, around the net.

Magnesium is not what actually kills the Bryopsis. There's thought to be some type of impurity, in Kent TechM AND in Brightwell's Magnesium Supplement, that kills the Bryopsis.

Dosing one of these products, to 1600-1700ppm will kill Bryopsis, however, 2 weeks is not near enough time, IMO. Many people have had it grow back, after a 6 week increase.

Because of this, you'll need to do LARGE and REGULAR water changes, in order to allow you to dose more of the product, at least every 4 weeks. Most have had good results with an 8 week elevated Mg.

In my own experience, I kept my Mg elevated for 12 weeks, with mixed results. The Bryopsis did die. However, recently, I've noticed very small areas of it, which I've been manually removing. I plan to do another 12 week regime soon.

A couple cautions and observations, from my own experiences, that I've also heard many others mention.

Some Zoanthids, Some LPS, Pocillopora and Turbinaria reinformis all bleached. They didn't bleach, in the normal sense of the word. They actually took on a very fluorescent coloration. They ALL recovered their original color, after about a month.

Majano anemone bleached, but unfortunately, did not die...lol

I have a strange turf algae, growing in a few spots in my tank. In the areas where the turf algae receives lots of light, the turf algae bleached and then died off. In the areas of lower light, the turf algae was not effected at all.

I raised my Mg, from 1250-1700, over a 4 day period. On day 3, all Bryopsis started to bleach. On day 4, ALL signs of Bryopsis were completely gone. On day 5, I noticed the Turbinaria and a couple Zoanthids appearing to "glow." From there, a few other LPS and one of my Pocillopora bleached. I have several different Pocillopora in the tank, only one was effected. The effected one is very high in the tank, receiving LOTS of light. I can't help but think that the amount of light had something to do with it, since the same seemed to be the case, with the Turf Algae.

 

[tike]

Maybe this will help

Step by Step guide on how to beat Bryopsis.

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

Ok, first off...it releases a toxin??? I have read quite a bit about this stuff but I don't remember ANYTHING about it releasing toxin!

Hopefully THAT is the reason that my corals are dying...much rather that then just straight up bad water quality...

So what about testing it? Do regular magnesium test kits go up that high? Could someone send me a link to one online?

I really hope this works...seeing rock again will hopefully be enough to get me back into the hobby....

And my phone is charging, so rather then post in a few hours Ill provide this pic which is similar to what my tank looks like

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/Algae and Plt Pix/Green Algae/Unknown Greens/hair algae tank wwm.JPG

 

[returnofsid]

Typical test kits test to 1500ppm. If you're familiar with Salifert, all you do is: when you've emptied to titration needle, meaning you're at 1500, you re-fill it, just like when you started, and keep dripping it, until you get a color change. Then, you take the results of the second syringe and add that result to 1500, giving you your final Mg level.

As an FYI, you can do the same with a Salifert Ca test kit, to test higher than 500.

 

[estanoche]

:amen: to all thats been said so far.

You will be amazed (and will be kicking yourself in the a$$ for not doing it earlier) at how really easy it is to kill off your bryopsis using the MG method.

I have done it twice - and have yet to loose a coral - but, I didn't let my tank become overgrown with bryopsis. Be prepared to do some water changes. The bryopsis will go white and disappear literally overnight - which means all those nitrates are now in your water column! You WILL have a hair algae outbreak if you are arent ready to pull those nitrates out with water changes, while still keeping your MG up to keep the bryopsis from bouncing back.

In my 80 Gallon tank it takes 1 of the gallon jugs of Kent Tech M for the entire dosing schedule. So, $30, + the cost of salt. Way cheaper than a prized frag!!! :flypig:

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

Whoa...1 gallon is quite a bit. I just got the 64 oz shipped here...and I have a 72 gallon tank (85 gallon system).

I am not familiar with that test kit brand....but I watched this video on it (YouTube - Marine aquarium Magnesium (Mg) Salifert test HD) and I think I get it...

I will run carbon and phosguard during the process, and I will make sure to over-skim for a bit. I will try to do a 100% water change over one or two weeks as well.

 

[NC2WA]

As a former bryopsis survivor, I echo the statements by eww and returnofsid, the only other thing I would add, is DO NOT scrape this off in the tank water..it will releases spores in the tank and will multiply exponentially.

IME, it took a good 3-4 months to completely rid it..You need alot of patience and tenancious to beat this algae..keep plugging along is the key.

good luck
kirkl

 

[mfinn]

I will run carbon and phosguard during the process, and I will make sure to over-skim for a bit. I will try to do a 100% water change over one or two weeks as well.

If your trying to get the mag levels up, I'm just guessing, but I think you might want to not use carbon during this process. Plus if you do excessive water changes, you will just end up having to add extra mag to make up for the extra large water change.

 

[returnofsid]

Actually, doing extra large water changes will be needed. As I mentioned, it's not actually the Magnesium, that kills the Bryopsis. It's thought to be an impurity in the Kent TechM and Brightwell Mg supplement. However, this impurity seems to have a shorter "lifespan" than the actual magnesium. Because of this, you need to do large water changes, to actually lower your Magnesium, so that you can dose more Magnesium, adding a fresh dose of the impurity. I hope that makes sense...lol.

 

[mfinn]

I knew that the impurity in the Tech M was the real killer. I've done it on two tanks in the past couple years. I was mostly wondering if the carbon would remove some of the chemical.

 

[NC2WA]

I was mostly wondering if the carbon would remove some of the chemical

Good point. IMO, I would not run carbon while you are dosing Mg. but that is me.

 

[returnofsid]

I do think, since it's thought to be the impurity, there's a more than likely chance, that carbon would definitely remove said impurity. I wouldn't run any carbon at all, during treatment.

 

[mfinn]

I didn't either, but I do so many things wrong as it is..................

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

Alright, so I now have a half gallon of Kent M Tech Magnesium...hope its enough

Placing an order for the Salifert test kit...

Excited for this to arrive and start being able to rid the tank of bryopsis!!

 

[the6goat6man6]

here check this out The Sea Slug Forum - Bryopsis - who eats this algae?