frag covered in algae

[tdannhauser30]

so this guy gave me a frag, think its a tiny watermelon chalice in there but its covered in algae. I try picking it off but its so tedious and pretty much impossible. anayway anyone know a way to get it off? I set a turbo snail on it hoping he would go to town on it but not so much, cleared some though i think. Anyway was just wondering if anyone has come up with a good way to uncover this little guy, thanks.

[evilc66]

Manual removal will give anything else a massive head start, so get back to doing that. Your regular clean up crew will also be able to take care of it, but it won't be an instant fix like you have already seen. A peroxide dip can help start to break down the algae, but you need to be cautious with it. Too strong or a solution or too long in the solution could irritate the coral. Some people will apply undiluted peroxide to just the affected area without it touching the coral too much, which may be a better alternative.

[brandon429]

Totally accurate. Treat the problem not the polyp, q tip and perimeter application of 3% is an easy fix. You tweeze off the mass you can get to, leaving only whiskers abutting skeletal areas algae won't grow on the polyp

 

With the mass removed, treat the whiskers w q tip peroxide. Let sit one minute out in the air cooking, put back in tank. I leave LPS exposed to air for 20 mins when doing tank work, so one min is ok

 

Post befits and after pics. This method keeps peroxide off your polyp

[Elrato]

i had one starting to grow some hair algae & i just sat it in the sand bed for a few hours & the hermits cleaned it all off

[brandon429]

Yes that is an option, clean up crews are known to physically remove some. But they never get below the base, into the holdfasts so they are more like mowing a lawn w each grow back.

 

It really helps in algae control to simply define and maintain removers vs preventers

 

Imo this is why algae wrecked tanks exist, and will be seeded with frags like these (and reliance on a dispersive removal method, which grazing always does as fragments not eaten are cast around the tank to reseed)

 

What you use to prevent algae invasions must be kept separate in perspective from what we use to remove it when it exists

 

When you see algae or a potential tank invader, you take different action than what you do when you don't see it but are making tank designs to prevent it

 

Preventers are

 

Gfo and any form of nutrient management to -prevent- algae

Any form of animal grazing

Any form of plant utilization aimed at algae control (ats refugiums etc)

Any form of carbon boosting, designed to lower nutrients, designed to attack algae

 

Removers are

 

Peroxide

 

Fire burning

 

Simple removal of said problem rock

 

Any method involving a literal kill or lysing of the plant cell integrity, chemical treatments etc

 

Whatever method X will be treatment if the day next decade but it will be differentiated from preventers in that preventers typical attack the water, not the algae, and removers always do the reverse. They treat the algae and ignore the nutrients. In sixty pages of fixes, see in the pest algae challenge thread how many times we asked about the keepers phosphate levels

 

Not ever. But they were disclosed, as if that matters in tank cleaning.

 

Thats for a preventer thread elsewhere. My thread was about fixing tanks and getting pics plus follow up pics, a reset condition for a eutrophic tank, then the keeper works their own prevention method as they see fit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Currently all the books focus on group one as the only legit method of sage approved algae control, using preventers as removers.

 

And for that I get decades of free upcoming tank problems to collect and fix online in the threads I'll have 120 pages on the pest challenge thread within 4 more years

 

 

Anyone who wants to stop algae, stop using preventers as removers and take universal action the first time you see any invader. Or just continue thinking you have to treat nutrients to fix tanks and our problem algae threads will continue as only a lucky portion achieves algae balance with a preventer only design. As soon as that becomes effective across tank variables, problem algae threads will stop just by advising them to switch to an all prevention method.

 

But as long as people using gfo, ats and total nutrient control still present for problem algae correction, we will know there is a hole in the currently selected best algae regimen and the lucky few are not the norm.

 

See this thread as tank covered in algae, not frag, then decide how thorough of a plan you want. Its ok to wait till the desperation mode to begin targeted strikes, we play catch up well and are always pining for after pics

[Mr. Microscope]

It depends on what kind of algae it is. If it's bryopsis, you're better off removing the coral and putting it on something else. If that is not an option, you can cover the algae with superglue. Just make sure you cover all of it.

[peasofme]

i would never put anything contaminated in my tank. not worth it.