Encrusted Algae taking over. Please help.

[ricwilli]

Can someone please ID this algae? It is starting to grow fast and already on my coral. How can I get rid of it?

 

[Nickjr000]

You talkin about the fuzzy looking stuff

 

[ricwilli]

The brown stuff.

 

[Scottyrock]

almost looks like some kind of coraline... looks like it has a calcium base....

 

[onefish2fish]

ill take a frag lol

 

[Tazmaniancowboy]

ill take a frag lol

I was picking up some frags at a guys house a couple of years ago and he had the same stuff plating and growing up the rocks. It looked really cool with nice colors and I asked him for some to seed my tank. LOL then I found out that it was an algae. Nothing came of it though, it didn't survive in my tank.

I can't believe it is affecting your corals. good luck removing it. I'm going to try to find the info I found on it for you.

Taz

 

[john90009]

It is called brown wafer algae. You can get lucky if a tang eats it. I picked up the largest green emerald crab that i could find and he demolished the stuff- but hes gotta be strong enough to get it off the rock.

 

[ricwilli]

It is called brown wafer algae. You can get lucky if a tang eats it. I picked up the largest green emerald crab that i could find and he demolished the stuff- but hes gotta be strong enough to get it off the rock.

I Googled "brown wafer algae" as john90009 stated and that's exactly what it is. I now need to frag my coral and break the piece of rock that the algae is on.

Thanks everyone.

 

[ClimberChris]

I had this on several pieces of my LR. The only solution that worked for me was removing the LR and scrubbing it down. It was truly a pain!

 

[john90009]

I got lucky with the big emerald crab- i still have a tiny spot of it left in my tank im going to let it get big and see if only the full grown emerald crabs eat the stuff.

 

[Nickjr000]

Nice call John

 

[john90009]

Its funny wanting these red hermit crabs i have try to get it off the rock but they dont seem to be strong enough. if you dont feel like clipping the coral you can probably peel the algae off with tweezers.

 

[Tazmaniancowboy]

Interestingly, while searching for something else I found this statement on RC FWIW I always had algae problems when I ran ROWAphos. I switched to BRS HC GFO and it totally wiped it all out in under 2 months. I had been trying for almost 2 yrs to get rid of this brown wafer algae I had. Nothing worked but BRS hc gfo. The ROWAphos had zero effect and I always had algae when I used it. Not only the BWA but Red Turf algae also.


Here is the link If you'd like to read http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1684486&

Hope this helps
Taz

 

[ricwilli]

Thanks Taz. I will do some reading.

 

[tgee]

This looks very similar to the Lobophora that I've been battling. It started out as small patches here and there, and just kept growing. I thought more flow would help, but it actually grew even more anytime I increased flow. After searching a lot here and RC, I added a sally lightfoot crab, which didn't help much. Next step was to add a blonde naso tang, and this guys loves the stuff! I added the tang a few weeks ago and I only have a small amount of lobophora left in the tank.

By the way, I also have a blue-eyed kole tang, and he never goes near the lobophora.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

Tom