Algae ID, Help, and Sympathy Please!!!!
 

My job took me down to the US for the entire month of November, I returned for 24 hours, then on vacation with my wife for 2 weeks. I had my father look after the tanks. Here's what I came back to:

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...2/DSC_7717.jpg

I had no algae at all before I left. I have no idea what this stuff is, or how to get rid of it. Clearly I have a nitrate problem, also, my lights ended up being on 24 hours a day for 14 days as my father messed with the timer and didn't reset it.

Here's a close up.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...2/DSC_7716.jpg

Any ideas what it is and what I should do? Strange thing is that the display tank which is on the same system as this just has a couple small area's of hair algae. Nothing else.

I've been in this stupid hobby for 5 years and I've never had an algae problem. I think I'm looking at the mother of all problems now. I'm seriously at a loss as to what to do. I vacumed for 30 minutes and didn't even make a dent.

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!! As a stupid stop gap measure I've actually place my bio pellet reactor in the tank..... This is redonkulious!!!

Any idea's or thoughts?????

Wow you have my sympathy!

Looks like a runaway case of cyanobacteria, of the 'cotton candy' vairety. The 300+ hours of light certainly won't have helped. You might want to start with a blackout period of two or three days and vacuuming out what you can before and after. Water changes and your biopellets should help bring nitrates back to acceptable levels. That and a lot of patience. I used to have a nasty plague of cyano and dinos but got through it. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Good luck!

Graeme

ugh, red "cotton candy" algae. I've heard Mexican Turbo snails eat it, no idea where to get them though. Get your water quality under control, that will likely help.

Good article

Thanks folks!!!!

Well, now that this evil has a name, let the battle begin. Mexican Turbo Snails on mass. Any idea's where to get them in Calgary?

Red Coral or Big Als actually would be two places I'd check. I'm trying really hard to remember if I saw any at Red Coral on the weekend but I'm drawing a complete blank, sorry.

red coral has some nice big fat ones for a great price, the ones at big als are very small size i have been to both stores within the last few days, call Kevin at red coral just to make sure but he normally has lots of them in stock :D

You have my sympathie! I habe been battling this pest for a long time in my nano 21 gallons and it's VERY persistant. The turbo snails goes on a rock and eat the thing as much as they can but this pest seem to always avoid them in some spots, then it detach and recolonize.

The mexican turbo does eat it though, but you would need to first clear it up a bit because the dend forest that you have right now is no match for turbo snails, unless you put 20 of them maybe? I am not sure they actualy eat it when it's that long either?

I don't know if high magnesium will help with this algae the way it does for bryopsis?

The slightest bit that detach is going to anchor itself somewhere else and grow like weeds :(

If you can cover some of the rock for light or take them out and give them a good scrub, that would help. YOu seem to not have much coral so maybe you can take out the rocks that have no coral and give them a good scrub with a brush in saltwater at the same salinity as not to kill the good bacterias and that will help.

Would also suggest a complete blackout , cover your tank and let in no light what so ever.... Before this I wiuld remove all you can manually.

Alright... blackout starts today. I'm relocating my clams and a couple corals to the display tanks, but all the Xenia, mushrooms, frogspawn, and zoa's are going to have to suffer. Thoughts on how long? I'm thinking 5-6 days blackout + snails + manual removal.

Hey Dave,

I had similar algae once and I just took a few clumps to my LFS and asked if I could throw it in certain tanks to see what ate it. I found a yellow tang that ate it and it took care of it in a month. Hope this helps.

D