White spots on coraline algae

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[I think I may have a problem. I have a 58 gal. tank with about 90-100 lbs. LR. It has been set up for 5 months. I have a 96watt PC on about 10 hours each day. There is a lot of coraline algae growing on th rock, shells and it has even started growing on the power heads and glass. Recently, I noticed small white spots on the coraline. Now they seem to be growing larger. I aquired about 65 lbs. of the rock from a friend in December when he took down his tank, but I didn't notice any spots at that time. I use the ESV B-Ionic Calium Buffer System, the level was 420mg last night. The test kit said the level should be between 410mg/1 to 450mg/1. Is that too high/low for the coraline? I think that there could be more small holes in the rock and I have seen a strange worm on one rock that definately has a new hole(dust keeps appearing ouside the hole). It is sort of white and comes out after lights out. It 'telescopes' back into it's self when light hits it. Could this worm munching on the rock be causing my problem? I got a six-line wrasse this weekend,maybe he'll eat it! Any ideas?]

 

[melev]

[First of all, that little whitish worm is a Peanut Worm, and does no wrong that I can tell. It cleans up whatever it can reach.

The white stuff.. is it rather flakey? Can you take a toothbrush and brush that away revealing darker beautiful purple? Mine does that occasionally, but I don't bother with it any more, unless there is a lot of it. Then I'll just brush it off to get a better appearance.

Your Ca reading sounds good. It could be a little higher, but as you posted, 410 to 450 is the goal. (My goal is 400 to 450.)]

 

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[Marc,Thanks for your speedy reply. I'm a little concerned that the spots could be die-off, but I'm not sure. I just tried to scrub some of the spots,they are not flaky. However, I believe that some of the irregular shaped places have been eaten off by hermit crabs. I pulled out a couple of the small rocks and they look like the coraline has been chipped off. When setting up the tank, we got some information from one forum stating that you need a lot of crabs for clean up. There are about 12 blue legs and 3 scarlet in there right now. What is your opinion(Good, bad, too many?)I also have a hitchiker crab that was on a piece of LR when we bought it. It was so tiny when I first saw it , I wasn't sure what it was. Now it's body is about an inch across and it has hairy legs. He's sort of burgundy and cream colored and has big claws, I think he needs to go. Anyway, back to the spots... a lot of them are circular in shape and seem to be growing. Is there a white coraline? I'm reaching aren't I?! Jeanie P.S. I'm computer illiterate. How can I post photos?]

 

[melev]

[Jeanie,

It is true that some hermits will eat coralline. I'm sure I have some doing that as well, but I have more growing anyway so I'm not worried.

If your Calcium is 400 or better, your Alkalinity is 8 - 11 dKH, and you have decent flow and light, it should grow. That being said, for the first 3 or 4 years of my tank, I never grew any coralline whatsoever. I'd buy LR with the lovely purple stuff because that was the only way I'd get it.

About 3 months ago, I started to grow some on my powerheads much to my amazement. Now it is growing on the glass and plumbing and I'm very happy. The majority of the stuff that came on the LR is still present, and where there was none there is some now.

Hopefully someone else can tell you about your hairy crab. I can't remember if they are good or bad....

You can post pictures by using the "Image" button right above your box you type your reply in. However, all you can do is type in the URL or link where the picture is on the web (elsewhere). You can't upload them here to the club message board.]