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My wall hammer coral is being killed by algae..


Carp

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I was away from my aquarium for some time and when I finally got back to it algae had overgrown my pink wall hammer coral. The coral is in a T shape and the top left part of the T has algae on the skeleton and the tissue is receding. Im not sure what I can do because the algae is so small that I can't remove it by hand... What should I do to save my coral ?

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Hi Carp.

 

:welcome: to N-R.

 

Sorry to hear about the hammer. Which came first? tissue recession or algae? Did tissue recession leave the skeleton exposed to allow algae growth? If so, you need to figure out what caused that and correct the situation. If you want help with that, post water parameters, management practices, lighting, filtration, age of tank, tank mates etc. The more information, the more likely someone will help you ID the problem.

 

In the mean time, do you have anything that eats algae? Also you need to deal with the conditions that promote algae growth: nutrients in the water, lighting, age of tank...

 

Good luck,

hank

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Hi Carp.

 

:welcome: to N-R.

 

Sorry to hear about the hammer. Which came first? tissue recession or algae? Did tissue recession leave the skeleton exposed to allow algae growth? If so, you need to figure out what caused that and correct the situation. If you want help with that, post water parameters, management practices, lighting, filtration, age of tank, tank mates etc. The more information, the more likely someone will help you ID the problem.

 

In the mean time, do you have anything that eats algae? Also you need to deal with the conditions that promote algae growth: nutrients in the water, lighting, age of tank...

 

Good luck,

hank

 

I am not sure which came first because I was away on vacation for a while. The tank had ALOT of algae which makes me think that the algae caused the tissue recession and not something else. All my other corals are doing great. I had my water tested and had only a small amount of phosphate with no ammonia and no Nitrates. I had lighting up for about 12 hours a day but now I reduced it by a few hours.

 

The tank is 1 year old tomorrow. It's a 24 gallon nano that has a clownfish , a cardinal and a mandarin goby ( Successfully kept for over 7 months ) I don't feed the fish alot so it isn't overfeeding. I just got 3 astrea snails and 3 hermit crabs today to help clean up the algae mess. The room the tank is in has too much natural sunlight and I am getting curtains for it. So right now I am fixing the algae problem , I just need to know how to remove the small amount of algae on the coral without hurting it. My lfs suggested an iodine dip. Is this the best course of action ?

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The room the tank is in has too much natural sunlight and I am getting curtains for it. So right now I am fixing the algae problem , I just need to know how to remove the small amount of algae on the coral without hurting it. My lfs suggested an iodine dip. Is this the best course of action ?

 

IMO you may be chasing a red herring. I doubt that algae could grow on a healthy hammer so most likely something is causing the hammer difficulties and the algae is secondary, just moving in to fill the gap. Since you have been back, does the hammer continue to deteriorate or is it holding its ground? I suggest focusing on that. Without any idea what the problem is, all I can suggest is to accelerate water changes as that seems to be the "chicken soup" of dealing with issues. This problem could result from reduced water change during your absence.

 

Lots of algae with detectable phosphates indicates nutrients are coming from somewhere. I thought phosphates usually come from food but water could be another source. Have you tested your water supply for phosphates? They are commonly found in tap water and can lead to algae problems.

 

I'm not familiar with the use of iodine dips to control algae so I cannot comment on that.

 

Incidentally, I have a QT tank that gets direct sun and grows no algae except for some chaeto. I'm a fan of using chaeto in a fuge to export nutrients. Limiting light to suppress algae has to have a similar effect on photosynthetic corals, no?

 

-hank

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