Red algae ID     2/11/18
Hello, I wrote in many months back and you were super helpful identifying some algae for me. I hope you can help again! I have attached a photo of the reddish pink tree-like algae that is spreading like wildfire through my tank. I didn’t see anything like it in your algae ID archives... can you tell me what it is?
<I wish I could... the regular branching... I don't think this is an algae/Thallophyte, but a very pink Hydrozoan of some sort>
Does anything eat it that I could use to help control the spread? Thank you!
-Sarah
<There are some notable Seaslugs that ingest various Hydropolyps, but I don't know anything re this particular one. I would remove it from the system, as it may be producing stinging elements that will bother your other livestock. Do you have a microscope with a USB connection? I'd like to see some 100-200, 400 time magnification shots. Bob Fenner>

Re: Red algae ID      2/12/18
Hi Bob, I don’t have a microscope unfortunately.
<Perhaps a local fish store does, someone from a marine aquarium club>
I have tried some manual removal but ripping it off leaves traces behind that I cannot remove, and it is widespread, including my tank overflow box and powerhead. It also grows very very fast.
<Yeeikes! I wish I could tell definitive what this is. I have never encountered something this shade of pink, nor with the array of branching it shows>
Is bleaching my tank and starting over my only option to eradicate this pest?
<It may well be>
Also, can it sting fish or just corals?
<Can't tell w/o testing or microscopic looking. BobF>
Thanks again.
Sarah

re: Can't ID hair like growth in reef aquarium(SMALLER SIZED PICS)     9/6/17
Mr. Fenner
<Matthew!>
Here I bought a stereo microscope and took pictures of the pictures of the hair like growth being told. Hydroid digitate, Bryozoan Bryopsis, algae of unknown... Can someone please help me now??
<Mmm; well the color, strands remind me of algae... are there cell walls in the strings? That is individual cells making parts of the strands? If not, perhaps a blue green "algae". The expanded tips remind me of the ciliate Vorticella... how big are these? Could be a digitate hydroid, but so green?
Sorry, can't make out more here. Bob Fenner>
Matthew

re: Can't ID hair like growth in reef aquarium (SMALLER SIZED PICS)     9/6/17
Some are 1/4" some maybe 1" but they come back quick...
<Umm; these are digitate hydroids... I'd be removing them>
Let me mess with the new Gadget it says up to 600x. I just held it with my hand and focused as best as I could I'm going to suction it down to a piece of glass I did add some distilled water to it I pulled it with tweezers from the base I
was hoping you could identify it by the circle tips at the ends of the object it looks like a red blood cell but green this is what they look like at there latest like largest... 1" tall Max. Look white not matter if I use a blue flashlight or if I use a white flashlight they look the same until I pull them out of the water then they are green right away I don't know if it's the oxygenation or if they're just green and look white but they have no feeding response when I feed my Montipora wouldn't a did you take hydrated have a feeding response to Reef Roids or Coral Frenzy or even Cyclops I see no change in anything actually the ones that have peaked in size have ingrown no more but if I were to pull them off or toothbrush them they would come back not as fast like tall wise but they come back on the Fred I brush them off when they were very small and within two days they're still back to their very small stage of maybe one 20th of an inch did you take my droid have a feeding response to reef Roids or coral frenzy or even Cyclops I see no change in anything actually the ones that have peed in size haven't grown no more but if I were to pull them off or toothbrush them they would come back not as fast like tall wise but they come back on the Fred's <?> I brush them off when they're very small and within 2 days there they're still back to their very small stage of maybe 1/20 of an inch. ..
<Pull the affected rocks out... dry>
if I can't figure this out I'm going to trash the library and then quarantine all my coral into a small 22 gallon frag tank because I'm worried that if I toothbrush this stuff off put them into a new tank it will just start the process all over again even though I'm using dry live rock next time or maybe I will just frag pieces of SPS that don't have any
near it but it's the track of philia that I don't know if it has these things on the small base underneath they don't grow on any fleshy Parts only on hard surfaces except glass... I noticed them growing on my overflow wall there is none in my refugium skimmer compartment because which is weird I have a 300 watt Mars light and a macro reactor and a CFL light growing some red color for red kelp tree like red grapes growing on a vine None but in the display...
<Thank goodness>
If I can't figure this out I'm going to most likely have to throw away a lot of corals that I've been nursing back from that product vibrant liquid aquarium cleaner and caused my anemones to basically shrivel up and it did nothing to this stuff after five doses I will try to get a better photo more detailed of the cell walls I mean the box of this microscope stereo microscope shows this thing looking at organisms not just maybe that's the picture I took of this stuff was maybe 40-50 X I mean looking at a hair is not that impressive when it advertises 600x maybe it's the distance I had it at it was too close Maybe I know it wasn't too far away... Just another question I bought some live rock drive from BRS.
<... see others opinions.>
The curing process. Just sit in barrel for few months small WC every week maybe and when no nitrite there ready? But how long do u leave em in there so there actually live and not just the decay wearing off and no po4 leaching.,. Also when I start so I have to seed with i.e. Biospira or an alrdy cured LR (NOT ONE OF MINE) even though some have these things on them while some but taking the risk isn't my biggest thing. I notice they don't sting cut irritate the sps and stunting growth. I have my macroalgae reactor running now and I also reinstall my algae Turf scrubber which the vibrant aquarium cleaner people told me to take off line so I'm hoping after that I've already
noticed a tripling of my Chaeto that I put in there a very small amount that you twist tie onto the plates and I'm also going to reinstall a new UV light I haven't had a UV running for about 8 months now but I think a recent tail rot and a Popeye incident in two separate fish I think UV would not be a bad thing
<Is a good thing>
and maybe when I toothbrush these things off it might stop the spreading of these or regrowth because the spores if any will die once they go inside the UV chamber fingers crossed thanks for your response and if you could please reply about the live rock curing that would be great thanks again you guys are wonderful for taking the time to answer regular folks like me that sometimes the answers might not even be there ever.
With much appreciation
Matt Macri
<Welcome to my input. Bob Fenner>

re: Can't ID hair like growth in reef aquarium (SMALLER SIZED PICS)     9/6/17
What about taking one rock out... Putting in a bucket of tank water with heater and pump... Cover it dark for three days and see if it dies..
<Mmm; not likely to die this way; but go ahead and try it>
How long can you dark out a tank safely without killing Coral?
<Depends, but likely the corals will die at about the same rate/exposure>
Ppl do it for Bryopsis etc.. I can hammer a piece of rock that the top half has the largest strands of this stuff.. it's a large branch rock with s large green Monti growing from a small ledge in the middle of it.. I was thinking of
basically halving it and black it out for 3-4 days and if it kills it.
It's an algae and I should do it to my whole tank....
Your input?
<Physically systematically removing, scrubbing off (and rinsing) outside the tank is my fave, direct approach... There are folks who advocate chemical means of burning, sealing... There are some potential predators including Nudibranchs, Seaslugs, Urchins, possibly fishes (e.g. dwarf angels) that might consume this pest>
I've never had a pest issue in 2 years I always found natural remedies like Emerald crabs or Turbo snails are sea cucumbers to keep mice and overturned or Nassarius snails to do the same thing bristle worms to eat overfed food always having a quarantine tank at Bay in case something happens always not being cheap on equipment even though I'm on disability but I save my money rather than buying cheap stuff I buy the good equipment this way it doesn't break or electrocute me or there's all kinds of stuff that can happen but I also buy a backup that's less expensive just in case... I just don't want to have to somehow take my fish somewhere else to a fish store which I can't monitor mean for all I know they could be breaking out and diseases and dying cleaning my tank out putting my Coral in a small frag tank with an acrylic box filter and basically scrubbing my tank with water and bleach and then scrubbing out my sump as well..
Done cycling my tank curing my live rock which isn't going to be new dry live rock once it's cured I have to re cure it so there's no phosphates linking or put it in my tank fish only for a month or two while the phosphates Leach out and then put my corals back in my tank once the phosphate start reading zero again that's a very very long and tedious process and I would have to find a place for all my snails crabs cucumbers pet shrimp of many sorts but I have a quarantine tank that is medicine free I could just add a few of the bad live rock in there to give them places
to hide and just Neil
<?>
throw some food in there once in awhile some algae Wafers some other kinds of food just to keep him alive and sand on the bottom for my Tigertail cucumbers one is almost 2 ft long and the other is about 10 inches and I definitely don't want them to die them are one of my favorite things to look at when they come out
Matthew
<Bob Fenner>
re: Can't ID hair like growth in reef aquarium (SMALLER SIZED PICS)     9/6/17
What if I remove the affected rocks couldn't I significantly lessen my biofilter
<? I wouldn't remove the rock permanently... Just to scrub/clean it. B>

Re: Something Odd on my Green Star Polyps       11/23/15
I will remove the frag at once. Is there any chance that it has not spread throughout the tank? Or am I doomed?
<There is a chance; and you're not doomed. Sheesh. BobF>