# Green Hair Algae



## Marz (Mar 1, 2014)

I have had green hair algae for the better part of a month. All params seem to be in check (although I am sure I overfeed at times). I read that P04 and Nitrates will not necessarily show up on test as the algae causes false readings (P04 and nitrates measure 0 in my tank).

I do weekly water changes of roughly 5 gallons in a 30 gallon tank. I have manually removed and made a smaller tubed vacuum so that I can rip it out and get all of the "floating" pieces. I reduced the light cycle and have skimmed wet.

I don't want to chemically treat yet, but wanted to know about the tooth brush and peroxide - will this work and can I attack areas as opposed to the whole thing at once? I don't/can't take the rockwork out, but can reduce the water level and scrub rocks (the "fury" method . *I have read the forum posts and this seems to be my next step?*

Here's a pic. Everything in the tank seems healthy and I have included some pics:


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## darcyr (Jan 24, 2014)

Phosban reactor and microbacter7 worked for me. I also changed the light and run a higher percentage of blues. Same size tank, same water changes but I have a higher bioload than you, aka my tank is crammed with corals and 4 fish. I also have never recorded more than 0 nitrate or phosphate.


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## PaulF757 (Dec 9, 2013)

I would decrease the whites and increase the blues in your lighting. I know a fellow reefer that had an issue and he dosed magnesium and it went all away.


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## Mikeylikes (Nov 22, 2013)

:d:d:d:d:d:d:d


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## darcyr (Jan 24, 2014)

PaulF757 said:


> I would decrease the whites and increase the blues in your lighting. I know a fellow reefer that had an issue and he dosed magnesium and it went all away.


Im dosing kent tech magnesium with the recommended daily doses and still cant get it over 1400. Maybe it helped get rid of algae but cant really tell. Ive read you have to get it up to 1600 for it to eradicate the stuff


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## CoralConnoisseur (Mar 5, 2014)

Cool looking tank, I had a green hair outbreak last year when I went away for Xmas. I guess the guy tending the tank left the lights on too long or over fed the fish?

Mexican turbo snails fixed the problem, I put them on different sections of rock and you could literally see the route they took, mowing down the fields as they plowed along.
Still have all 6 of them alive in my 90g. All the hair is long gone and I haven't lost one. They are bulldozers tho... Knock anything down that's not secure.


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## goobafish (Jan 27, 2015)

Can you post a close up shot of the algae? It looks like it might actually be bryopsis. Both algaes require different solutions. I'm ending my fight with bryopsis and finally have it under control without dosing my tank with any chemicals.

Edit: I zoomed in on my phone, it's definitely Bryopsis.

It is invasive and was introduced to the tank (probably on a frag) and thrives regardless of your nitrates and phosphates.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Easiest way to get rid of GHA is to get a larger tank...


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## Marz (Mar 1, 2014)

lol...going on Friday for the larger tank 
goobafish: thanks! I am going to try peroxide as there were some posts elsewhere that people had success. If that doesn't work, I will look at Kent's tech-m


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## goobafish (Jan 27, 2015)

I had it probably worse than that and I have gotten rid of almost all of it in 2-3 weeks. The first week was futile, kept growing back, then I did research and started doing things properly and it started clawing back.

Dip any affected lose corals in a 1.5% concentration hydrogen peroxide bath (50% commercial 3% hydrogen peroxide, 50% tank water) for 3 minutes, shaking/stirring. Rinse well before putting back into the display. Corals will recover within 2 days (way shorter for most, but LPS tend to take a bit longer). I've done this to 10+ types of coral with no ill effects. I have had to re-dip a few of them. I generally wait 5 days or so between dips.

For manual removal, make sure you use your hands or tweezers and physically pull out the algae into a garbarge. Your skimmer should be set to skim wet. Dip whatever you are using to pluck the algae in RODI water after each pluck to wash off algae spores.

For cleanup crew, if you are on snails only (like I was) you need to vary it up. Some emerald crabs and some hermits (luck of the draw) eat bryopsis, and even if they don't eat it most will yank it for you. If you can find Lettuce Eating Nudibranch who are bryopsis eaters this will be the biggest help. Despite a common name, there are many different morphs that eat specific algaes each. You need to know the origin or be able to identify the colour (brownish green) to determine if it will eat bryopsis. I had to look all over the city to find the right ones, and the store could not confirm the origin. Luckily they are bryopsis eating. I found them at Big Als Scarborough and they had quite a few.

I have read that dosing hydrogen peroxide and tech m over the long term can be effective. I was very hesitant to do either as I did not want to kill inverts or bleach my corals if I could avoid it.

Hope that helps!


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## Mikeylikes (Nov 22, 2013)

Yeah .. it looks like bryopsis to me now that you mention it.

I had a big bout with it awhile back and thats where my research led me to dosing Kent Tech Magnesium. For some reason its only this specific brand that will get rid of Bryopsis .. as well as GHA too I found out (IME).

within a week of raising Mg to 1400+ mg/l I noticed it all turning brown and dying.

Something to consider even tho you don't want to be adding anything ...


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## simba (Jun 9, 2009)

I am fighting the same right now .Be careful raising mag.I have use tech m and notice high level of mag cause clown fish ulceration.I looked like a certain part of there body parts bone bulged out (stick out.)They still swim and eat o.k .I notice as mag level deplete the smelled up are decreases. I find only with clown fish the other fish are fine.I have also reset my timer lightning to shorter period total of 5 hours of lightning as i have a 12 bulbs 2 fixtured ati t5 on a 200g tank.I added a few diferent tangs blue tang, kole yellow scopas ,sailfin They seem to eat only certain algae not the tought hair algaa .the more they eat the more they polute your tank.I have been changing more then 40 % water then 25%.everyweek The algae are still there .I also added phosban media and carbon.Also nitrate guard .Added 3 seahares and emeral crab and sally foot crab .also hermit crab.Hermit killed all my tank snail and again pollute my tank even more.nothing works


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

Marz said:


> lol...going on Friday for the larger tank
> goobafish: thanks! I am going to try peroxide as there were some posts elsewhere that people had success. If that doesn't work, I will look at Kent's tech-m


finally 

Try to do right things from the beginning and you there will be no need to use peroxide

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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

Peroxide worked for me. I knew %100 that I had my nutrients under control. There is a huge thread on RC about it and also one on nanoreef. A google search will get you loads of results. 
I took my rocks out to apply it. If that's not an option draining your tank down to where it is exposed will work but may be slightly more "risky". It will kill any decretive macros, pods, starfish and is not tolerated by sps, chalace and most LPS. Zoas and acans seem to be fine with it. 
I had amazing results, good luck.


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## goobafish (Jan 27, 2015)

fesso clown said:


> Peroxide worked for me. I knew %100 that I had my nutrients under control. There is a huge thread on RC about it and also one on nanoreef. A google search will get you loads of results.
> I took my rocks out to apply it. If that's not an option draining your tank down to where it is exposed will work but may be slightly more "risky". It will kill any decretive macros, pods, starfish and is not tolerated by sps, chalace and most LPS. Zoas and acans seem to be fine with it.
> I had amazing results, good luck.


Is that hydrogen peroxide at full concentration? I have dipped these at 1.5% for 3 minutes with no harm:
chalice (i've dipped about 10 frags, they are very resistant to the peroxide, heal very quickly) 
frogspawn/octospawn
hammer coral
montipora
mushrooms - yuma, ricordea, rhodactus, fuzzy (many times, recovers quickly)
trachyphillia - open brain (the longest recovery time, absorbs a lot of the peroxide)
zoas and palys
green star polyps/rainbow clove polyps
marble coral
symposium
acans

The only coral I've had recovery issues with is Favia, something I wasn't having success with in the first place. I am sure each coral is different and the stress that they undergo being dipped is a lot to handle, so results may vary.


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

Yup, I am talking about full concentration 3% H020 brushed onto GHA spots on liverock, left for 5 minutes then rinsed off. 

As for dipping into diluted H020 I am sure most corals will tolerate it but I have not tried dipping chalice or sps myself... too chicken.


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## goobafish (Jan 27, 2015)

I will have to try that with the couple pieces of rubble I have that are covered. Definitely seems like the way to go if you can get all the rock out.

Finding the peroxide dip saved so many of my corals. They were doing so poorly with the bryopsis covering their plugs and manual removal was very difficult due to my unsteady hands and the protest of the corals with their secretions, and scrunching up, I ended up damaging a few trying to remove the algae. It is amazing how quick and effective the dip is, you actually see the algae turn brown in the dip, and the dead bryopsis falls off the frag within a day or so.

My worst affected coral was a large open brain, damaged by manual removal, who I have dipped 4 times. It is by far the most affected coral, tons of bubbles form under its "skin" and it secretes a ton of mucus. I was certain I was going to have to give up on it after the first dip. Despite this, after a day and a half it always looks better than it did before the dip, and is now bryopsis free and slowly healing it's wounds.


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## Marz (Mar 1, 2014)

Well wish me luck! This weekend will attempt to "inject a few areas with a 50/50 mix as suggested. I do not have the option of taking the rock out. 
I guess as part of my "dipping" new frags I should quarantine and then peroxide dip before moving into DT.


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## goobafish (Jan 27, 2015)

Marz said:


> I guess as part of my "dipping" new frags I should quarantine and then peroxide dip before moving into DT.


That's exactly what I do, I allow the frag to recover from the pest dip then do the peroxide dip and wait for it to heal before moving it to the display. Been working well.


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## goobafish (Jan 27, 2015)

In case anyone is dipping hydrogen peroxide I have recently had very bad experiences dipping only Acropora. Althrough I successfully dipped it in the past, in general it seems to affect it a lot, and it killed a few of my new frags.


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## Marz (Mar 1, 2014)

Could you spot "inject" the area? I was also planning on trying this on some of my frags-on-a-plug


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## goobafish (Jan 27, 2015)

I am just going to let the nudibranch clean up the plugs, and I will be sure not to buy any acro with macro on it . I was lucky I noticed/smelled the damage to them before I dipped anything pricey.


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## Marz (Mar 1, 2014)

What kind of nudibranch? And will it eat the bryopsis?


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## goobafish (Jan 27, 2015)

Marz said:


> What kind of nudibranch? And will it eat the bryopsis?


I mentioned it in my post earlier, they are Lettuce Nudibranch (technically Sea Slugs), and certain morphs eat bryopsis. Mine do.


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## Marz (Mar 1, 2014)

Thanks...I should have looked back.


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## Marz (Mar 1, 2014)

Spent some time on the weekend testing this out on some frags and plugs. Seems like it has worked, but time will tell. 
I am away this week, so will try it in the DT over the weekend...after the frag fest.


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