# How to clean algae between star polyps



## soedmond (Apr 7, 2010)

Hey everyone,

My Star Polyp is being taken over by hair algae from within! I could not clean the star polyps with tooth brush.

Little by little the hair algae between the little the stems of the star polyp is starting to spread. I pick at it as best I can with my fingers. I am very careful. But I can only pick off so much, I cannot get my fingers between the stems, so I can never get all of it.

The hair algae is now starting to take over some of the smaller stems, and my Star Polyp is not opening up as much as it used to.

Any idea what I should do to clean the algae? Thanks for the help.


----------



## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

Hmmm starpolyps are really very hardy corals... do you have any cleanup crews? Mexican turbo snails eat hair algea. Are you sure its the hair algea that's causing the polyps not to open? It might be your fingers frequently touching the coral that's causing the reaction.

How big is the rock your starpolyps are on? If its small enough, you can take it out of the tank and use a dull nosed tweazer to carefully yank out the hair algea. But I think the best route is to go with natural deterrents, specifically Mexican turbo snails. 

By chance I have 2 that's done their job in my tank and Im thinking of selling them so if you're interested, PM me.


----------



## soedmond (Apr 7, 2010)

Cypher said:


> Hmmm starpolyps are really very hardy corals... do you have any cleanup crews? Mexican turbo snails eat hair algea. Are you sure its the hair algea that's causing the polyps not to open? It might be your fingers frequently touching the coral that's causing the reaction.
> 
> How big is the rock your starpolyps are on? If its small enough, you can take it out of the tank and use a dull nosed tweazer to carefully yank out the hair algea. But I think the best route is to go with natural deterrents, specifically Mexican turbo snails.
> 
> By chance I have 2 that's done their job in my tank and Im thinking of selling them so if you're interested, PM me.


Hi, I have 2 blue legged hermit crab. My tank is a 6 gallon nano reef tank. I was thinking to add the turbo snail but afraid it will knock down my rock very often. The hair algae is quite long, do you think the turbo snail will eat them? Thanks for your help.


----------



## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

I don't think the hair algae can spread over on top of healthy living tissues of GSP. Maybe you want to look carefully to see if GSP is having some issues. It's a very hardy coral IMO, are there others in your nano having trouble at all?


----------



## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

The only algae I have seen grow OUT of star polyps is bryopsis - aside from that, I would agree with conix: take a closer look and see if there is tissue recession or something.


----------



## soedmond (Apr 7, 2010)

conix67 said:


> I don't think the hair algae can spread over on top of healthy living tissues of GSP. Maybe you want to look carefully to see if GSP is having some issues. It's a very hardy coral IMO, are there others in your nano having trouble at all?


Thanks. All my other corals are doing great except the star polyps. I believe there are both green hair algae and bryopsis on the rock. I tried my best to pick them out manually. I cannot take them out completely. Any suggestion what cleaning crew would help me to eat those unwanted algae and bryopsis. Thanks for the help.


----------



## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

Young hermit crabs will eat hair algea when hungry not sure how old or big yours are.

My mexican turbo snails definately eat hair algea, but like most other turbos, you do run the risk of snails knocking down unsecured coral or rocks that are small and light weight.

My snails are about 1 - 1.25 inches in diameter, small for mexican turbo standards. I bought them this way to minimize their ability to accidentally knock down rocks lol.



soedmond said:


> Hi, I have 2 blue legged hermit crab. My tank is a 6 gallon nano reef tank. I was thinking to add the turbo snail but afraid it will knock down my rock very often. The hair algae is quite long, do you think the turbo snail will eat them? Thanks for your help.


----------



## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Most blennies, like the lawmower blenny will eat hair algae. As for bryopsis, nothing that I know of eats it. I've combatted it by raising the Mg in the tank to 1600+.


----------

