Need help to ID and suggestions

S

shellyandsandy

The attached picture is what I need to ID. It is very fast growing. Sorry I cant give a better picture. We had a 46 gal. tank, and moved everything in it to a 92 gal about 6 months ago. We did not add anything new except one fish and some brand new crushed coral. Six weeks ago, this stuff started showing up. Three weeks ago our pink tip anemone moved and hasnt been seen since. Two weeks ago, we lost our porcupine puffer for no known reason, but everything else looks great. This green stuff is growing off of one area on our live rock. It has a root system kind of like St. Augustine grass, where the roots are growing out of the bottom as it grows. The "bulbs" dont open or do anything as of yet. The picture you see shows an area that is about 12 inches long.

I need help to get rid of this green hair algae. My tank is covered in it. I am already using RO water, and doing frequent water changes. I have even scaled back my lighting from 16 hours a day to about 10 hours a day. I cant seem to get the stuff to stop growing. Its to the point it has probably killed my christmas tree rock. I run my skimmer 8 hours at night in the sump. Im afraid to use chemicals because of the few corals and mushrooms I have in there. Any ideas?
 
Looks and sounds like a caulerpa species macroalgae- possibly c. racemosa or c. macrophysa.

Very invasive, and it will take over if you let it. Very few fish will eat it as it produces an unpalatable compound. Manual removal is the best option.
 
it is one my One Spot Foxface's favorite snacks.
but that is no guarantee that any other
one spot Foxface will eat it.

WoodDragon
 
Hi,

I suggest bookmarking this link to Marc's site. http://melevsreef.com/gha.html , you can find a lot of info that will help you identify and combat many tank issues. With the hair algae issue you could be a combination of things fueling it, high nitrates, high phosphates or old bulbs. With your previous lighting schedule of 16hrs :shock: , I would put that at the top of possible candidates. Could you post your current water parameters and bulb age here, also the type/brand of skimmer etc that you use. With more information we can better help you diagnose the issue.

Cheers,
 
We did not add anything new except one fish and some brand new crushed coral.

Crushed coral isn't a good substrate because it traps waste and can't really do much in the way of denitrification. I used to use it in my 29g, and had to gravel-vac out as much detritus as possible every three months. Nitrates were always an issue. How often do you siphon yours clean?

Sand is a much better option for our tanks.

Six weeks ago, this stuff started showing up. Three weeks ago our pink tip anemone moved and hasnt been seen since.

It may still be in the tank, or possibly dead.

Two weeks ago, we lost our porcupine puffer for no known reason, but everything else looks great.

Sorry to hear that. Those are beautiful fish.

This green stuff is growing off of one area on our live rock. It has a root system kind of like St. Augustine grass, where the roots are growing out of the bottom as it grows. The "bulbs" dont open or do anything as of yet. The picture you see shows an area that is about 12 inches long.

That is Caulerpa sp. and you can remove as much as possible manually. Same with the green hair algae.

I need help to get rid of this green hair algae. My tank is covered in it. I am already using RO water, and doing frequent water changes.

Here's my article of things to do: http://www.melevsreef.com/gha.html

I have even scaled back my lighting from 16 hours a day to about 10 hours a day. I cant seem to get the stuff to stop growing. Its to the point it has probably killed my christmas tree rock.

Your lights were running too long. Are those bulbs new (6 weeks old) or from your previous system? Older bulbs can affect and encourage algae growth.

I run my skimmer 8 hours at night in the sump. Im afraid to use chemicals because of the few corals and mushrooms I have in there. Any ideas?

Why aren't you running the protein skimmer around the clock? You should be.

While there are many products on the shelves at the fish store, most don't affect our corals adversely. You should let us know what chemicals you are referring to, and we can confirm that they are safe before you make that purchase. The things you should be testing for now are:

Temperature (high and low each day)
Salinity (and how you measure it specifically, including the device)
Nitrate
Phosphate
Ammonia (especially with recent deaths)

It would be nice to know:

Calcium
Alkalinity (need to know these since you have corals)
pH
 
Thanks to everyone who responded. My computer went down the day after I posted this, so I am just now getting to read the responses. When I did a water test, it showed everything (except calcium which I did not test) to be absolutely perfect. The tank lights are actually new. Im not running the skimmer 24/7 because it makes so much noise. I am running it at night only. It is a hang over the back filter that I have actually inside the sump. So it makes a lot of noise when the water goes back in.

As far as the brand of skimmer....I dont know what it is. I bought it on ebay a couple years ago, and I honestly dont remember what it is. There are no markings on it at all.

Again, thanks to those that responded. A lot!
 
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