zoas and algae

[luisse25]

i have small clumps of bryopsis here and there in my tank...i cant say im free of it but i dont see it anywhere anymore after putting a yellow tang plus i keep dosing magnesium...

 

[luisse25]

Brown/green algae that makes your zoas close and slowly kills it. Can't even scrub off this algae.

yeah i hate those brown/green algae that is really hard to scrub off unless u totally peel the skin which is not recommended,thats how the algae sticks in the zoas...what i do is once in a while i do a quick dip on most of the zoas/palys that i can dip of in iodine just to loosen up some algae,or just a way of cleaning it off...i read this somewhere...its like giving them a spa treatment

 

[Cameloter]

After reading saltwaterfishes post on the hydrogen peroxide dip, yesterday I decided to give it a try on a frag I had that was almost completely overrun with bryopsis.
I removed as much as I could by hand and then dropped it in a container that had approx. 25% to 30% hydrogen peroxide to 70% to 75% tank water for about 1 to 1-1/2 minutes.
Then as Caitlen said, made sure there was no more hp on the frag by putting it in the direct stream of a powerhead for a minute.
Today the frag looks to be 99.9999% algae free.
The polyps are still angry, but there is color showing.

When I dipped a frag in the past I had good results but noted a return of algae in a week or so. Recolonized or not completely eradicated? Redipping might have helped. 2 week vacation interrupted my seeming success so now back at it with hand picking and everything else that's been suggested. Corals look great and everything is healthy including the algae. Trying to be patient. Give me some feed back on whether algae recurs on that frag, please.

 

[Scott-CapeCoral]

You should fix the reason why it's growing before you try to cover it with a band aid. Tangs eat nuisance algea, some blennies will, hermits will, but none of these will stop it from growing. Nitrates and phosphates are fertilizers for nuisance algea. That's where you should be doing your work. Even if you test a 0 on phosphates and a 0 in nitrates, your tank could still be producing them, but the algea is just sucking it up faster than you can get a reading.

Reduce your feeding,
check your bulbs age,
lower your temp a degree or two,
lower your photo period an hour,
run some good gfo in a gfo reactor,
make sure you have a sufficient skimmer,
increase your flow
keep up on water changes


Do all of these and I'm sure that algea will disappear. Good luck,

Scott

 

[mfinn]

many times algae will show up with the frag itself and then you have to deal with it on a frag by frag basis.

 

[Cameloter]

You should fix the reason why it's growing before you try to cover it with a band aid. Tangs eat nuisance algea, some blennies will, hermits will, but none of these will stop it from growing. Nitrates and phosphates are fertilizers for nuisance algea. That's where you should be doing your work. Even if you test a 0 on phosphates and a 0 in nitrates, your tank could still be producing them, but the algea is just sucking it up faster than you can get a reading.

Reduce your feeding,
check your bulbs age,
lower your temp a degree or two,
lower your photo period an hour,
run some good gfo in a gfo reactor,
make sure you have a sufficient skimmer,
increase your flow
keep up on water changes


Do all of these and I'm sure that algea will disappear. Good luck,

Scott

Yes, been doing those things and algae is definitely decreasing. Biggest collection of detritus and possible source of phosphates was bottom of my overflow.Anybody have any simple tips for keeping that area clean?

 

[Scott-CapeCoral]

Blasting down there with a Turkey baster a couple times a week should help you.