Algae 1 Me 0

[burnofvengeance]

I've been in combat with what looks to me to be a combination of both hair and bryopsis. Awhile ago, it was a small patch and I tried to get rid of it through manual removal and frequent water changes. After a couple solid months of that, the algae spread, everywhere. Frankly, it took over my entire tank and has killed off quite a bit of my coral. I have essentially given up and I really don't know what else to do about it. Quite honestly now I just feed the two fish that I have and leave the tank alone keeping myself occupied with school and work.

 

Now that you've heard my tale, should I keep fighting this losing battle or break the tank down/save what I can/ and let the rock bake in the sun before putting it back in?

 

Here is the carnage this nonsense has caused. Looking at it, I'm angry/defeated/embarrassed. Share with me my plight.

 

 

Before

 

After (spreading and months later)

[7digits]

Kent Tech - M to the rescue. Most of it looks like bryopsis. Use kent techm to raise you magnesium level to 1800. It will die.

[jestep]

Have you tried the peroxide method? You'll need gallons of tech-m and months to get rid of it that way.

[Ezsharkman]

I pray that never happens to my tank... your tank was go beautiful before the alage took over

 

Here is the thread on the peroxide method... looks like it really works

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=268706

 

Good Luck

[burnofvengeance]

Thank you both. I'm looking into the peroxide method now. Hopefully it works. I think I would have to treat the whole tank, as you can see its everywhere.

[altolamprologus]

You could try mollies. It takes a day or so to acclimate them to full saltwater but they're cheap and will eat all the algae really quick, then you can bring them back to the LFS.

[Zer0]

Damn... this tank has legitimately gone to hell.

 

This is why I chose to go with dry base rock. Dude, if I were you, I would either try that peroxide method, because apparently it works wonders... or just restart the tank. I mean.. you already lost a ton of coral from the looks of it, so what's the point now anyways.. :/

[rbaby]

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry3520200

 

Dose peroxide?

[megability]

Do you test and try and maintain quality water? like nitrates, silicates, phosphates, calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, Ph, etc?

 

Just asking', I too have been overrun with GHA before, not pretty, and Kent's Tech-M, getting water back to normal, and time brought my tank back...

[mrit]

Well at this stage, it really cant hurt to try Algaefix Marine. Im currently using it in my tank because of a dumb mistake, but it is making a difference. I think that Im around dose 8 and about 50% has already disappeared. It does seem to cause some cyano outbreaks, but that is easier to deal with.

[neuwave]

What are nitrates/nitrites/phospates at? You could start over but if you don't know what you did wrong, it could happen again.

Also more flow wouldn't hurt. Maybe some phospate remover as well.

[burnofvengeance]

Damn... this tank has legitimately gone to hell.

 

This is why I chose to go with dry base rock. Dude, if I were you, I would either try that peroxide method, because apparently it works wonders... or just restart the tank. I mean.. you already lost a ton of coral from the looks of it, so what's the point now anyways.. :/

Yeah exactly. It started off as one small spot that I was trying to manually remove and then it just exploded. Manually removing it just made it 10 times worse. Then when I was dealing with the larger outbreak, the tank got all the way up to 92 one summer day when I was gone and killed off all of my frogspawn which then made the algae outbreak even worse. That's basically what I've boiled it down to. Peroxide and if that doesn't work then just start over. I really don't have anything else to lose.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry3520200

 

Dose peroxide?

That's what I'm thinking I'm going to have to do. If that doesn't work then I'm starting over.

 

Do you test and try and maintain quality water? like nitrates, silicates, phosphates, calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, Ph, etc?

 

Just asking', I too have been overrun with GHA before, not pretty, and Kent's Tech-M, getting water back to normal, and time brought my tank back...

In the beginning I was. It was just a small patch so I was testing, keep up with water changes, and manually removing and then it just got over run and I essentially gave up. Just fed my fish and got lazy with water changes because it wasn't making a difference anyways.

 

 

Well at this stage, it really cant hurt to try Algaefix Marine. Im currently using it in my tank because of a dumb mistake, but it is making a difference. I think that Im around dose 8 and about 50% has already disappeared. It does seem to cause some cyano outbreaks, but that is easier to deal with.

I've tried algaefix marine. It makes it easier to pull out but by no means does it get rid of any of the algae.

[Reef Miser]

I had a heater malfunction and kill a bit of my livestock. The algae I had been fighting manually and had been gradually spreading exploded. H2O2 was the only thing that worked for me. Believe it or not, I think it is salvageable.

[burnofvengeance]

I had a heater malfunction and kill a bit of my livestock. The algae I had been fighting manually and had been gradually spreading exploded. H2O2 was the only thing that worked for me. Believe it or not, I think it is salvageable.

You know what. Now that I think about it, I have one of those stealth heaters that have been recalled still in my tank. Maybe that's what is doing it. Will definitely be taking it out tonight.

[Reef Miser]

Yep. That's the one. A long time ago I made a bunch of changes to my tank at once. Corals were mad, shriveling, dropping polyps, etc. I couldn't figure out what was going on in my tank. I did everything I could think of and eventually took off all new equipment and put back in all the equipment I started with when things were going well. Eventually things stabilized and all went back to normal. Well, several months later I moved my tank and decided after moving that I will go with my newer/better heater (the stealth). The next day I check and my corals are pissed. I figured it was from the move...right? I wait another day and my corals couldn't be more pissed. I think to myself, I wonder if it's the new heater. Put the old one back on and things bounced back in half a day. I held onto the heater and used it for water changes. A few months later stealth heaters were recalled and I got $35 cash for it at Petsmart. Man that stupid heater gave me grief that I am still dealing with. Not to mention the livestock it killed. On the upside, I am glad that it didn't explode my tank all over the living room like others had happen.

[burnofvengeance]

I had Drs. Foster and Smith send me the replacement fluval heaters months ago, I have just been forgetting to take them out and send them back. Anyways, the old stealth is out and fluval is in. I dosed about 3.5 ml this morning so we'll see how that works. I might try dosing it twice a day. Kind of undecided on what I should do. Of course last night, my sapphire skimmer decides to stop working so I had to put in the original skimmer, which I've never used. Guess we'll see what happens.

 

 

Any advice on whether to stick with just one dose or try dosing twice a day?

[damage31]

You are in a similar situation to what I continue to be in - I have had a never ending battle with this stuff for months now. I just cant seem to kill _all_ of it so it keeps coming back.

 

Your problem looks a little different than mine - I'm not seeing feathers on the stalks like I have in mine..I'm not sure what you have but it sucks none the less.

 

Its time for War.

 

If possible, take the rocks out one by one and dip or mist spray with 3% peroxide. let it burn for a minute or so. Rinse in fresh sw and place back in the tank. The rocks will bleach, but that's about it. do a few rocks at a time then wait a few days with a water change to do more.

 

Prepare for livestock losses if you have no where else to put your inhabitants.

Depending on how hard you go at it you might loose some critters.

 

I have been able to dose 2.0 ml twice a day in my bc 29 (about 20 gallons of SW) without killing any fish. That has helped somewhat and kept the growth down to a slow crawl. But it isnt enough to rid myself of the problem. At higher doses (such as 2.5ml twice a day) I started to have livestock losses.

[brandon429]

thats a really helpful dosage amount post. if at any time you can drain the tank and do an emersed zap, plus this timed dosing run it will speed it up considerably. a big water change is so easy or like he said lifting out the rocks.

 

around corals use plastic as a deflector shield as you dropper peroxide on the target, you can tilt the rock to control how it runs down during application etc

 

its never killed any of my corals because I don't touch them to it...only the target organism dies

 

when you see you can kill 80% of an infestation with one good emersed spot treatment you'll never go back to a full tank dosing

[burnofvengeance]

Just posted this in the "official" peroxide thread but I thought I would post it here too, just in case.

 

I wanted to follow up with the peroxide route I've been taking over the last couple of days just to document how it works out (hopefully good).

 

Day 1: 3.5 ml morning dose and 3.5 ml evening dose (approximately 12 hours apart straight into the return area for a full system dose)

Day 2: same as day 1

Day 3: drained 15 gallons, manually removed as much as I could, squirted about 10 ml directly onto the affected areas even the ones under water, refilled with 10 old gallons and put in 5 new gallons.

 

Pics of how it went down

[FlCandy]

Looks better already.

 

I will remember this as I know I will have another outbreak one of these days and I am still battling the GHA and diatoms right now.

[BLoCkCliMbeR]

your screen name sounds like a clever name for an STD.

 

i have nothing constructive to add.

[brandon429]

ha lol post update pics it should be really bleached by now

[burnofvengeance]

Looks better already.

 

I will remember this as I know I will have another outbreak one of these days and I am still battling the GHA and diatoms right now.

Thanks. I wish you the best of luck with your situation. It can be really tedious and overwhelming sometimes. I certainly let it knock me down, but I'm fighting to get back up.

 

your screen name sounds like a clever name for an STD.

 

i have nothing constructive to add.

Hahahahaha. I suppose your right. A laugh, is always constructive.

 

ha lol post update pics it should be really bleached by now

It seems to be knocking it down pretty good. I think the next water change this week I'll be able to manually remove some more and spot treat some other patches.

 

 

 

 

Update pics: Since the water change, I have not manually removed any algae and I increased the dosage to 4 ml twice a day.

 

[bootes123]

I've tried algaefix marine. It makes it easier to pull out but by no means does it get rid of any of the algae.

 

That is my experience with Algaefix

[NewZealandReefie]

I've found Algaefix to be great BUT only for certain things.

 

Based on my experience I'd say it wouldn't do squat to the type of algae you've got, unfortunately...

 

Good luck with your battle, you've got more perseverance than me, I would have given up by now lol.