Is this red alge? How do I get rid of it? !!!
 

[img]http://www.canreef.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=3740&password=&sort=1&cat=500& page=1

[/img]http://www.canreef.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=3741&password=&sort=1&cat=500& page=1


I dont know if the photos made it to the post, just guessing on how to post them

I have this stingy, dense, branching stuff growing on my live rock, it is spreading fast and furious!!, Anybody know what it is and how I can stop it? I is a redish purple color

not cyano :redface:

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/dat...Dredalgea2.jpg

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/dat...eDredalgea.jpg

:razz:

I can't really tell from the photos Wade but I am guessing Dictyota.

If it is, limiting nutrients will help, my Yellow Tang ate it up but a Rabbitfish might be better to try.

[img]http://www.canreef.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=3743&password=&sort=1&cat=500& page=1

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/sho...cat=500&page=1

Here are a couple more pics, a little bigger, you can see it growing on the rocks on both sides of the open coral., it should give you a better idea of the size of it

only one that likes it is the brittle star, you can see one of its arms coming out of it[/img]

If it is like this stuff my Sea Hare ate it all up
http://www3.telus.net/public/dabbler...llon%20004.jpg

reply
 

That is cyano under those polyps.

Wade, I think you have dictyota sp. algae. Not the easiest thing to get rid of. Most guys I have talked to about getting rid of this type of algae say to just keep harvesting it and eventually it won't come back. This approach has worked for me also.

I think I had (and used to have a lot more) of the same stuff. It is a dark red (burgany) and grows in thick patches. Some areas have thicker branches than others (in low flow area it seems). I have had to manually attack it only and it is slowly going away.

All I can say, is don't wait around for it to dissapear. Get rid of it manually as fast as you can. It will spread like a weed otherwise, mine did....

Re: reply
 

No it was red fuzzy stuff, not slimy like cyno

this stuff is not slimy at all, so if Cyano is slimy, this is definitly not Cyano. It is dense and branching, kind of like those plastic potscrubbing pads, and taking over my tank

red and wooly right ....keep plucking it, or like I said my Sea hare ate it all

Red/burgundy and wooly, that is the perfect way to describe it. I will be in Vancouver next month, hopefully I can pick up some sea hares for my tank. Do sea hares do damage to anything else in a reef tank?

You guys are ID'ing two different kinds of algae in this thread. I see one that Wade is posting is Dictyota sp. and the algae Dabbler posted is called "Red Cotton ball algae" (Very scientific name, but I can remember the latin :razz: ) I did not know Sea-hares ate the Cotton ball algae previous to your post but "Mexican" Turbo snails also work.