Concerned Pest algaes ?

[Jakesaw]

Continuing the Nano reef hobby - learning along the way

 

Went from DINO - low nutrients 

Have raised Nitrates 2-5 range

PO4 - dosing to keep around .03

 

Got healthy GHA algae growth on back wall, Added snail for CUC, DINOs still on rockwork, and getting some Bright Red ( I think coraline - it's crusty ) algae on rocks.  Tried my camera on PHOTO mode and got some more detailed looks at rock.  I'm a bit scared I may have an infestation of bubble algae.  

 

I've removed Bubble Algae from some frags in tank earlier - and I think this all started when I got my nutrients off zero.  Who know how long it had been seeded in my tank before that.  Should I be freaking out over this - not sure what to think?  But my corals all seem pretty happy and thriving

 

 

 

[Jakesaw]

2nd pic of same rock.  You can see the little dark green bubbles that look like they may be Bubble Algae.  Looks like it could be pervasive.

 

[growsomething]

It looks like bubble algae on my phone screen.   When I have an emerald crab, I have none.  When I decide I want macro and trade it in, I get bubble algae immediately. 

Some ppl say they get emeralds that don't eat valonia, so your mileage may vary per crab.  

[Jakesaw]

I was thinking about emerald crab today.  May get one eventually, but also 

 

Grabbed 3 astrea snails to add to tank today to see what they do with my rocks / tank walls.

 

Only took me a year of Saltwater to get my first snail.   Maybe by next year I'll have emerald crab!

[mcarroll]

11 hours ago, Jakesaw said:

Grabbed 3 astrea snails to add to tank today[...]

 

Only took me a year of Saltwater to get my first snail.

I thought you had snails already?????   If these really are your first snails, then this is 1,000% why you have rampant algae around the tank.  (Been there.)

 

(You didn't think YOU ALONE were gonna be able to keep all that rock work clean did you? 😉)

[Jakesaw]

3 hours ago, mcarroll said:

(You didn't think YOU ALONE were gonna be able to keep all that rock work clean did you? 😉)

I thought my rocks were SPECIAL!!!

 

I had a bias against Snails going into the hobby.  Got 3 crabs instead.  Rocking 0 nitrates for 7 months didn't have much in the way of algae that I felt I needed em.  Just the DINO monster that attacked me and put me on defense ever since.

 

 

[Jakesaw]

2 hours ago, Jakesaw said:

I thought my rocks were SPECIAL!!!

 

I had a bias against Snails going into the hobby.  

 

 

About 18 hours out,

1st of my Astrea has left the rock and has done a few inches of clearance path of Side wall of tank - VERY NICELY DONE

 

2nd Astrea - near where I put him in the Clown's cave opening.  Eaten half of some purple fuzz coverage algae that's a few days new.  Hasn't moved much of a distance otherwise

 

3rd - Still on top of rock I put 2 snails. Hasn't moved much, but there does seem to be some clearance down to rock.  Do these guys eat down past Coraline?  I see white where I did not before - not sure what to make of that?

 

So I have 4 snails in total ( 3 astrea, 1 Spiny Star turbo ) along with 3 Red Scarlett Hermits in my 10 gallon - Is that a good amount of snails, or should I be looking to add more over time. 

 

After returning home with snails, I learned these guys can reproduce sexually in an aquarium if you have a M & F snail in there.

 

If I should want to remove some of these over time, is there a good way to do so.   

I figure off the glass is pretty easy, but when I tried pulling one off the rock to reposition last night he had a really firm grip, so I just left him alone - not wanting to rip the life tissue apart. 

 

Thanks

[A.m.P]

Chrysophytes, they're a bit of a mystery still in the hobby and I don't have any solid advice for getting rid of them outside limiting the dosing of aminos and/or foods like benereef, don't worry about snails reproducing.

 

[mcarroll]

2 hours ago, Jakesaw said:

I had a bias against Snails going into the hobby.  Got 3 crabs instead.  Rocking 0 nitrates for 7 months didn't have much in the way of algae that I felt I needed em.  Just the DINO monster that attacked me and put me on defense ever since.

Makes sense.  Snails are what keeps watch on your tank tho....crabs are only scavengers.

 

I've been through something similar when I let my tank go without CUC for 4-5 years or whatever it was.  

 

It was fine until it wasn't...and then algae bloomed.  

 

I actually lost a big (basketball sized) orange-skin green-tip birdsnest to it before I regained control.  

 

One can't manually pull hair algae from inside a giant birdsnest colony – fingers can only access the outside.  And it took almost a year to come up with an effective CUC due to having no stores around me....and no inventory in the stores that were far away from me.  

 

Very, very frustrating as I grew that coral from a tiny frag.

 

Ironically as F, Petco was the store that saved my bacon – I bought a yellow tang from them.  Not long after that a friend found a Turbo snail that was almost Tennisball sized and donated him to me....too big for the tank where he was anyway.  I ended up finding another few Turbos and Astreas somewhere (can't actually remember now LOL) within a few months.

 

Eventually the tank transitioned back to growing Coralline algae.  Hair algae only grows around the protein skimmer outlet now..and only a tiny amount.  

 

(Note to Self:  Clean skimmer more often!! 😉 Daily is best!  But at whatever rate, prevent it running for long periods with lots of skimmate buildup in the skimmer neck....that leaches nutrients back into the tank as bacteria, et al, continue to process  it.)

 

5 minutes ago, Jakesaw said:

After returning home with snails, I learned these guys can reproduce sexually in an aquarium if you have a M & F snail in there.

It's possible but it hardly ever happens.  Hitchhiker snails breeding are much more likely.

 

6 minutes ago, Jakesaw said:

If I should want to remove some of these over time, is there a good way to do so.

Just scrape them off the glass into a container with something thin/stiff but not sharp, like a credit card.  Done.  

 

8 minutes ago, Jakesaw said:

I tried pulling one off the rock to reposition last night he had a really firm grip, so I just left him alone

If you tweak their foot gently AND persistently enough they will let go without drama.   Just ALSO be patient about it – try later or tomorrow.   🙂

 

[Jakesaw]

7 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

If you tweak their foot gently AND persistently enough they will let go without drama.   Just ALSO be patient about it – try later or tomorrow.   🙂

 

I'll leave him there for now, just curious for future reference if I need to remove one.  One of the snails went to glass last night anyway.  He's got plenty to eat there for a good while.

[Jakesaw]

9 minutes ago, A.m.P said:

 don't worry about snails reproducing.

 

OK. 

 

It's my first tank, and my goal for it was to learn anyway.  Lots of lessons learned along the way.  Many to go.

[mcarroll]

13 minutes ago, A.m.P said:

Chrysophytes, they're a bit of a mystery still in the hobby and I don't have any solid advice for getting rid of them outside limiting the dosing of aminos and/or foods like benereef, don't worry about snails reproducing.

 

Are you referring to the yellowish coating on the rocks in the pics?  (The OP was talking about the bubble algae.)

 

You could be right, but wonder what the OP says about that growth?  @Jakesaw is it kinda slimy?  How hard is it to remove if you try?

 

FYI, Chrysophytes preceeded my hair algae bloom.....and in my case were (apparently) promoted by my lack of CUC as well as a salinity spike (to 1.031 s.g.) due to DIY 2-part dosing at a high rate without water changes over a long period of time.  (There's history behind this....keeping it short here.)

[A.m.P]

43 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

Are you referring to the yellowish coating on the rocks in the pics?  (The OP was talking about the bubble algae.)

Oh, didn't catch that, yeah I'm talking about the yellow-white, semi-translucent, bubbly-foamy slime carpet on the rocks. I've had chrysophytes half a dozen times now lol, they seem to come and go as they please in my new setups but never really seem to bother anything.

[Jakesaw]

1 hour ago, mcarroll said:

Are you referring to the yellowish coating on the rocks in the pics?  (The OP was talking about the bubble algae.)

 

You could be right, but wonder what the OP says about that growth?  @Jakesaw is it kinda slimy?  How hard is it to remove if you try?

 

FYI, s preceeded my hair algae bloom.....and in my case were (apparently) promoted by my lack of CUC as well as a salinity spike (to 1.031 s.g.) due to DIY 2-part dosing at a high rate without water changes over a long period of time.  (There's history behind this....keeping it short here.)

They golden hue on rock came after I raised my nutrients to battle the DINOS which largely resided on my aquarium walls.  I have been  under the assumption that they are walls outcompeted the surface of glass, and the stuff on rock is remaining DINO.  

 

If I touch it on the rock surface, feels kindf like a thick fluffy paste feeling.  I've been blasting it with Turkey baster and it floats in water column before settling back down on rocks again.  

 

Yesterday I was looking for alternatives to strain the water after I blew things out to remove the suspended muck.  Was considering filter sock to strain into, but seemed like an expensive route.  The guy at LFS suggested a very fine mesh fish net ( though they didn't have any in stock at store ). 

 

Like this ...  Fine Fish Net

[Jakesaw]

1 hour ago, A.m.P said:

Oh, didn't catch that, yeah I'm talking about the yellow-white, semi-translucent, bubbly-foamy slime carpet on the rocks.

That about describes it perfectly... .  ( Not sure about bubbly though )

[mcarroll]

2 hours ago, Jakesaw said:

If I touch it on the rock surface, feels kindf like a thick fluffy paste feeling.  I've been blasting it with Turkey baster and it floats in water column before settling back down on rocks again. 

Yep...that sounds like chrysophytes.  These things can make "foam" layers a foot deep or more in the ocean.....smothers everything.

 

In my tank I had to keep it off my corals on a daily basis with a soft toothbrush cuz it seemed to eat the flesh it landed/grew on.....or something bad like that.

 

 

[Jakesaw]

1 minute ago, mcarroll said:

In my tank I had to keep it off my corals on a daily basis with a soft toothbrush cuz it seemed to eat the flesh it landed/grew on.....or something bad like that.

 

YIKES !!

 

Any suggestion as to clearing them. 

 

Will my snails do that for me over time.  It looks like there was a little bit of work done on my first rock,  too early to be conclusive, and one of the 2 snails left for GHA on tank wall.  Maybe it tastes better. 

 

 

[mcarroll]

Persistent removal and addition of CUC.    (Your nutrient levels are already positive, correct?)

[Jakesaw]

20 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

Persistent removal and addition of CUC.    (Your nutrient levels are already positive, correct?)

Yep

 

With supplementing Phosphate.

 

I wonder if I get the algae under control, my nutrients will go up as the algae growth goes down, b/c all this algae is consuming nutrient in the water I presume?

 

May have to lighten the dirty feed if that happens?

 

I guess that's why we test

[mcarroll]

21 minutes ago, Jakesaw said:

I wonder if I get the algae under control, my nutrients will go up as the algae growth goes down, b/c all this algae is consuming nutrient in the water I presume?

I don't see a whole tank picture, so not sure.   Doesn't seem like there's all that much alga growing, so I'd guess any difference in uptake would be offset by improved coral growth – any difference you see would be small.

 

You aren't dosing that much quantity now anyway are you?

 

20 minutes ago, Jakesaw said:

May have to lighten the dirty feed if that happens?

Shouldn't be doing that anyway – especially not if you're dosing liquid nutrients.  👍

[Jakesaw]

59 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

 

You aren't dosing that much quantity now anyway are you?

 

I dose once or twice a week when PO4 drops to unmeasurable.

[Jakesaw]

1 hour ago, mcarroll said:

I don't see a whole tank picture, so not sure.   Doesn't seem like there's all that much alga growing, so I'd guess any difference in uptake would be offset by improved coral growth – any difference you see would be small.

 

Algae is mainly on the back wall of my tank with some on sides.  The largest Astrea is doing a bang up job on clearing one side wall.  Back wall is still pretty heavily GHA.  Pre-snails, I scrap it with razor blade and it grows back.

[Jakesaw]

Ended up removing a small rock from my tank to get rid of a large source of bubble algae.  It's got small bubbles all over the rock piece.  I started removing the large bubbles, a few burst, and I found a ton of small ones embedded into dips in the rock fragment itself. 

 

I've given up on this piece without nuking it ( guaranteed way to kill off whatever life is on the rock ) prior to placing back in tank. Whether that be via Hydroge Peroxide or Bleach or whatever.  It's sitting outside of tank right now.  Not worried about protecting any life it had on it. 

 

I can toss this piece of rock altogether or Nuke it somehow.  I'm open to suggestions, but I do not want to place it back in tank with any chance of re-infecting my rock.   I'm on a Mission to get rid of bubble algae.  

 

Thanks

 

 

Looking for rock nuking suggestions -- Thanks. 

 

 

[mcarroll]

superglue over all those spots?

[Jakesaw]

7 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

superglue over all those spots?

I've got the rock drying out in window that gets sun.  Gonna nuke it with Hydroen PEROXIDE  tomorrow.  Wish me luck