# What kind of algae or seaweed is this?



## darcyr (Jan 24, 2014)

It came on the rock that I bought my mushrooms on. Seems to be growing and nothing is eating it. Kill it or leave it?


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

darcyr said:


> It came on the rock that I bought my mushrooms on. Seems to be growing and nothing is eating it. Kill it or leave it?


I think that's hair grass. I hate the stuff. Kill it or it will multiply. It killed my star polyp colony.


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## deeznutz (Aug 21, 2013)

Bryopsis. Do yourself a favour and throw it all out. Those mushrooms are quite common and some feel as though they are pest as they are hard to contain and multiply like crazy. They will pop up everywhere in the tank and take over prime real-estate.

Just saying...

-dan


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

an easier way to take care of this is to throw the whole rock in the sump and turn off the lights for 4 days. The mushrooms will survive and the hair algae will die. Cheato will live thru a 4 day lights out as well so no worries about that.

Or you could trim off the shrooms and hope for the best but this isn't a great alternative. Although I'm not for just tossing out coral...


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## deeznutz (Aug 21, 2013)

Bryopsis is not just a regular hair algae. It's an infestation. You'll spend alot more then the $20 bucks you spent on the mushroom rock trying to get rid of your bryopsis. Not to mention the time and headaches. Bryopsis with smother your corals as well. Is takes no prisoners. You can take your chances and throw it in the sump, but bryopsis will release spores especially when it's stressed ie, no light source.

Do what you want, but don't make me say "I told you so".

I've been reefing for 8+ years and I've seen and dealt with it personally. If you enjoy pulling handfuls of this stuff out of your tank on a daily bases. By all means, be my guess. This stuff is nasty. The only thing I've dealt with that is worse are "dinoflagellates" Google it!

If you have no experience with this stuff, you need not comment on it. Giving bad advice helps nobody.

Again, just saying.

-dan


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Hi Dan!
I've had cyano, dino, and bryopsis all at once and had to deal with my daughter being in Sick Kids hospital with a rare blood disorder all at the same time. How did I deal with all 3? I did a 4 day blackout and dosed Chemi Clean. Although it did take two tries at this and about 2 weeks I did win. 

Do I have enough experience Dan?


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## deeznutz (Aug 21, 2013)

Yes you do, but my experience is enough for me to let the OP know to get rid of the rock! 

So your saying you would still take a chance with the algae in question and have to go through all that again???

You must be crazy!

Are you sure you had dinos? I yet to see people properly id them. Usually cyano mistaken for dinos. Two completely different bacterias.

-dan


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Lets stay on track please. Don't sidetrack the OP's question by wondering if I have experience.

Lets just say we all have different ideas on how to take care of it. In the end we're both right since both of our methods will get rid of the algae...right?

Really what's worse to have in your tank, hair algae or a kenya tree. I've had one piece of Kenya tree in my tank that someone left (without me knowing) and to this day I still have sprouts growing in atleast 8 different areas!!!!


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## darcyr (Jan 24, 2014)

Oh dear baby jesus this is the worst news. I just paid $40 for the mushrooms so dont really want to toss them. I also have way too many kenya trees. I will pluck these algae bastards as much as I can but i can just toss the whole rock. Is there anything that eats it?


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## ReefABCs (Nov 10, 2012)

deeznutz said:


> Bryopsis is not just a regular hair algae. It's an infestation. You'll spend alot more then the $20 bucks you spent on the mushroom rock trying to get rid of your bryopsis. Not to mention the time and headaches. Bryopsis with smother your corals as well. Is takes no prisoners. You can take your chances and throw it in the sump, but bryopsis will release spores especially when it's stressed ie, no light source.
> 
> -dan


I agree with this 100%. It sure looks like Bryopsis from the pic and this is evil stuff. It was the cause for me to close down my tank years ago. I tried black outs for a week at a time, scrubbing the rocks, water changes like crazy! The tank would look better for a few days and the stuff would continue to pop up everywhere from seams in the corners of the tank to just about anything. This went on for 6 months before I gave up.

Maybe this Chemi Clean stuff is a new option but if I ever saw this stuff in my tank again every pc of rock or coral with it would be removed immediately and never enter the system again. A $4o dollar coral vs the rest of the tank just think about it. I have heard of others beating this and that is encouraging but why go through it if can avoid it.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Emerald crabs and sea hares eat this stuff and I know there is one sea hare out there right now being passed around from tank to tank once its done eating the algae. It isn't a guarantee but the sea hare does an amazing job.

Good luck!


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

Ok so assuming what's popping up isn't the standard hair algae...tell me more about dosing with chemi-clean please? Step by step?


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Chemi clean is for cyano not for bryopsis. It also works with Dino a bit but not fully


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

altcharacter said:


> Chemi clean is for cyano not for bryopsis. It also works with Dino a bit but not fully


Ok...so I'm in trouble. This stuff has already wiped out my star polyp colony...it's spreading through my tank. I've already started the water changes and they're helping but what else can I do?


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## ReefABCs (Nov 10, 2012)

Raising Mag. Level to 1800 with tech M has worked for some, it didn't seam to work for me when I tried it for a few months. If Nitrates are high it will be even more difficult to beat this. I wanted to try a sea hair before but could not find one at the time. 

Wish you guys the best on this.


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

Yup, looks like bryopsis. Good luck with getting rid of this...Nitrates and phosphate will have to be kept at 0 to get it under control.



altcharacter said:


> Really what's worse to have in your tank, hair algae or a kenya tree. I've had one piece of Kenya tree in my tank that someone left (without me knowing) and to this day I still have sprouts growing in atleast 8 different areas!!!!


Are those the pieces that I brought to the frag swap that you got stuck with? My apologies if so, but you could have tossed them...


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

I had about 20 pieces of Kenya tree and I don't point fingers. Especially if you bring beer


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## ReefABCs (Nov 10, 2012)

+1 for keeping phosphate low as well, but this stuff absorbs phosphate and tricks you to think it's low. 

I ran rowa phos as well but thinking back maybe not enough and I didn't change it often enough. Just some thoughts for you.


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

ReefABCs said:


> +1 for keeping phosphate low as well, but this stuff absorbs phosphate and tricks you to think it's low.
> 
> I ran rowa phos as well but thinking back maybe not enough and I didn't change it often enough. Just some thoughts for you.


Thanks for the info, I'll look for a phosphate remover tomorrow. Good luck OP, seeing how it took out a large green star polyp colony I'd suggest you toss the rock or put it into a QT for the time being. The stuff overtakes a tank like crazy.


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

just get a few turbo snails and it will be gone in no time, as well as being mowed down should it pop up again.


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

teemee said:


> just get a few turbo snails and it will be gone in no time, as well as being mowed down should it pop up again.


That's when it really went nuts...when my two big snails died. I bought sea hares and both disappeared within days. I have improved my water regiment since and started buying RO water.


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

snails are very susceptible to poor water conditions. maybe think about doing water changes more often, or more water... and then get more snails!


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

teemee said:


> snails are very susceptible to poor water conditions. maybe think about doing water changes more often, or more water... and then get more snails!


Yes I'm on it! I was surprised I figured the pistol shrimp would be the first to show signs... Plus I have a crap load of little baby snails in there that are doing just fine...(which I still need to identify) I'm seeing improvement with the algae already but I want it gone!


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

Personally I'd take the Seachem Phosguard over the Rowaphos because I find the GFO puts too much iron in the system and you end up with brownish residue on all your equipment. At least that's my experience when it is dealing with elevated levels of nutrients.

Also make sure your skimmer is working properly.

But if algae is overtaking your tank, and you've tried everything else and you're ready to give up, read my Ocean Oasis build thread to see how one angry reefer dealt with a GHA apocalypse.



altcharacter said:


> I had about 20 pieces of Kenya tree and I don't point fingers. Especially if you bring beer


Then it wasn't mine. I only brought 3 or 4


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## darcyr (Jan 24, 2014)

It hasnt moved to any other rocks so Ill just pluck as much as I can off for now and cover it in sand. Is there any way to move the mushrooms off the rock?


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## ReefABCs (Nov 10, 2012)

If not to late I would try to avoid plucking the Algae off the rock while in the display on this one if you can. Take it out and but in a small bucket with water from the display and pull the stuff off, even take a tooth brush, (ah... not your better halves) and clean as much as possible. Rinse very well with clean salt water and return to display. 

The purpose here is to avoid small pcs of the Bryopsis from floating aro the display and anchoring on to something else.


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## ReefABCs (Nov 10, 2012)

Just a few more ideas on this pest, Some have used a small hobby /butane torch to nuke this stuff. With a small patch you could also remove as much as possible and cover the area with epoxy. 

You can tell I dread having to deal with this stuff myself.

PS snails wont help on this stuff, at least not the strain I had its to rough and believe me I tried many, many, snails.


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## darcyr (Jan 24, 2014)

Ok I cut the mushrooms off the rock and threw it out. Hopefully it doesnt show up on any of my other rocks.


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

Getting rid of the offensive rock is a good start but you really need to think about where the nutrients are/were coming from and have a good nutrient export strategy. 

This is how I got my excess nutrients and therefore GHA under control 
- run GFO in a reactor 
- good skimmer 
- regular waterchanges (I do 10-15% every 7-10 days) 
-don't over feed


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## ReefABCs (Nov 10, 2012)

darcyr said:


> Ok I cut the mushrooms off the rock and threw it out. Hopefully it doesnt show up on any of my other rocks.


Best solution for sure.

Now you know one of the things to look out for when picking out rock and coral.


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## darcyr (Jan 24, 2014)

It was on the rock that i bought from big als in mississauga. It didnt grow much or spread to any other rocks. I have an emerald crab, astreas, ceriths, nassarius, and hermits. None of them ate this particular algae, but anytime i add a new rock with any algae on it, they all attack it. Probably means my cleanup crew are hungry. Im adding a skimmer this week and am already running phosban but will add a reactor soon too.


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