Algae ID please
 

I've been looking all over for an ID on this stuff but I can't find a reference. It looks like pink cotton candy. I can suck it out at water changes but it grows back pretty fast. Any idea what it is?

Common name Red Hair algae
scientific name Asparagopsis (sporophyte stage)
to control it: strong biological filtration (nitrite)& hand removal
Herbivores: long spine urchins, seaslugs

Except for the part where you can suck it out I'd say it looks conspicuously close to an Erythropodium sp. but I can't find anything about them being red/pink, only blues and greenish brown. Nasty coral it seems. Let's hope it's the Asparagopsis.

Doug

Thanks for the info. Using the scientific name above I looked for pictures and what I have appears to be Falkenbergia Rufolanosa, which is a form of Asparagopsis. Where did you find the info above?

This bookhttp://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s...ct_ID=lit-apsg

I've been meaning to buy that book for a few years now.

Doug

Well it's time to get it ,BCOrchidGuy !

After some hunting around I found this post on RC:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...e&pagenumber=1

Mexican Turbo Snails will make short work of that stuff.. (just make sure they are the Mexican variety as the others most likely wont touch it)

what about a foxface? In the RC thread some dude said he had a foxface that munched any kind of algae to no end. I plan to get a foxface anyways so that's why i ask.

I have a Foxface in the tank now and he does not touch the stuff. He eats lots of other algaes but not the red cotton.

I have called J&L, OA and other LFS here and they all say the Turbo Snails they carry are not the variety that will eat this stuff. Does anybody know where I can get them here? Failing that, where else could I get them?

Thanks,
Scott.

Unfortunately, they'll also sometimes eat your corals!

Scott, I too had the unpleasant duty of riding my tank of this ugly pestilence. Check your ph! I am willing to bet a boston cream donut and a XL double-double that it is lower than 8.2. I noticed that once my ph started to rise, (due to dosing Kalkwasser) this vile junk remarkably dissapeared.

Terry

Well, my handheld pH meter shows 8.1, so.... I'll give it a try.

Thanks,
Scott.