Bryopsis removal

[zygote2k]

I have a heavy growth of Bryopsis in the overflow of the 90. I made a cover so the light wouldn't reach it, but some light still passes through the weir at the top. This stuff grows profusely and has occasionally started growing on top of a powerhead and even a tip of a millepora. It has almost become the dominant species in the 'fuge.

Does anyone have any experience battling this stuff?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[Nate]

Bryopsis is very sensitive to higher mag levels. I was using Kent Tech M to raise the mag level to around 2000ppm in my frag tank. I am now bryopsis and hair algae free.

[extreme_tooth_decay]

It is nasty stuff. I tried many things (and gave each plenty of time to work) a long time back when I had a bad problem with it.

 

Everyone will tell you something different. They are all right, and they are all wrong.

 

My own recipe:

 

1) Try to scrape/razor blade/siphon it out as much as possible.

2) Reduce lighting by 1/2 for at least a week.

3) I have seen 2 instances where a small hippo tang OBLITERATED it. Get one. I got one at Roozen's for like $40. He stayed for years until I broke the tank down.

I tried a kole tang with no luck once. Then got the hippo and it was gone a week later.

 

I tried sea hares and many snails/crabs with no luck at all.

 

Most folks will tell you the most important thing to do is look at your nutrient levels and try to starve it out. In my experience this is misinformation and a waste of time. It showed up because I introduced it, and once it was gone, it never came back. (in 2 separate tanks I saw this). I never paid the slightest heed to my nutrient levels before, during, or after, or changed my feeding habits in any way. Trying to starve it out is like trying to starve your lawn by not fertilizing it. I never fertilize mine, and it still grows. Just slower.

 

good luck!

Edited May 6, 2009 by extreme_tooth_decay

[sen5241b]

I was able to drive it into retreat. There is barely any left in my tank. The best thing to do is get nitrates and phosphates down to zero --especially phosphates. I did this by putting a big chunk of chaeto in a fuge with plenty of light. Algae can out compete another form of algae! Also, I scraped it out and immediately sucked it up with a clear turkey baster and then followed with a 40% water change.

 

Royal Urchins and Lettuce Slugs will eat the stuff.

Edited May 6, 2009 by sen5241b

[Origami]

There's stuff on ReefCentral talking about using Kent Tech M to raise magnesium levels to 1600 to control bryopsis. Better luck is said to be had using Kent than other magnesium supplements. When questioned about it, Randy Holmes-Farley could not offer an explanation except to say that it might be some impurity that's having the effect.

 

See this thread and read Cliff's (HighlandReefer's) response: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...;highlight=Kent

 

His post reads, "This subject has been discussed in the Chemistry Forum many times. Increasing the mag. level of your water to 1500 using Tech-M magnesium supplement is the magnesium supplement of choice to try to kill Bryopsis, IMHO. The theory is that the Tech-M supplement has some kind of a contaminate in it that is killing the Bryopsis. It apparently only works for Bryopsis according to many reefers who have tried it. This is speculation on the part of the hobbyists who have tried it, IMHO. There is no research that I am aware of that confirms this. If you try this method, I would love to hear if it works for you. IMHO, reducing the nitrates and phosphates may have more to do with it. I have never had problems with Bryopsis myself and have not tried it.

 

"I am not sure if AlgaeFix Marine will work on Bryopsis. I am currently using it for cyano problems and am getting good control with it so far, but have not achieved 100% control at this point in my dosing. This may be a good option if you do not have any fish, corals, invertebrates to worry about. The label for AlgaeFix Marine states that it is safe for all reef occupants when used properly."

 

Other thread references:

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...;highlight=Kent << This one's a good one

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...;highlight=Kent

Edited May 6, 2009 by Origami2547

[Black Mammoth]

I had a Magnificent Foxface that would eat the stuff. Sean at F&F suggested some Blue Knuckled Hermit Crabs. I put 5 of those guys in and they destroyed that stuff almost over night. After a week it was completely gone and never came back.

[zygote2k]

This tank is going through an incredible growth spurt of the SPS and I don't want to upset the balance right now. I'll look into the Kent M as my Mag level is currently at 1250ish. A Hippo Tang is soon to be added anyway. The tank currently has less than 10ppm N03 and less than 0.4 phosphate. I grow Halymenia and Chaeto in the fuge as well. There is virtually no Bryopsis in the main tank, it lives primarily in the overflow and the fuge.

As far as the suggestion of cutting the lights back by half, I would think that would do damage to the corals.

[astroboy]

I had quite a bit for at least a year which I simply couldn't get rid of by improving water quality. Of course, its probable the algae was snarfing up the NO3 and phosphates which accounted for the essentially zero readings.

 

Eventually I pulled out as much as I could, raised the Mg to 1600 using Seachem's Mg mix, and it went away within a few weeks. I had a little hair algae that also vanished, possibly a coincidence. However, the overall health of my corals seems improved with elevated Mg.

 

Over 3-4 months I let the Mg slip to 1100-1300 and the byopsis started coming back. Elevated the Mg and it was history again.

 

One thought on reef central is that elevated Mg might work only for particular species of byopsis, since elevated Mg hasn't seemed to work for everyone and in any case no one really has a sound idea of how it works. However, as I said, all my corals seemed to perk up a bit more at 1600, lps and sps and toadstools, so I'd say give it a try. In my experience, once it starts growing on an sps the only cure is amputation...

[Highland Reefer]

The quote that referenced my thread on RC, should have stated to increase the mag. level to 1600, using Tech M.

 

This is another little tid-bit I found interesting about bryopsis:

 

Bryopsis has special features about it that enable it to heal much better than most other algae as stated in this article:

 

Two Distinct Steps for Spontaneous Generation of

Subprotoplasts from a Disintegrated Bryopsis Cell

http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/reprint/96/3/819

 

From this article:

 

"Concluding Remarks

No protoplasm from other plants and animals generated

such protoplast-like structures spontaneously under the current

experimental conditions; the algal cells must contain a

particular and effective material for agglutinating and fusing

algal cellular membranes with the sequential aid of vacuolar

sap and seawater. In fact, when separated from vacuolar sap

by repeated centrifugation (12,500g, 30 min), the algal protoplasm

no longer aggregated nor spherated even under the

optimum conditions ofpH and salts. Isolation and characterization

of the effective material occurring naturally in Bryopsis

cells are under way.

Thus, our final hypothesis is that a large amount of a

certain effective material is contained in the huge central

vacuoles, and this introduces a series of wound-healing reactions

through agglutination of the particular cellular mem-branes through the sequential aid of acidic vacuolar sap and

then alkaline seawater. Although membrane recycling is a

common phenomenon in animal and plant cells, Bryopsis

cells apparently have unique membrane systems to protect

their gigantic unicellular organization from injury, as seen in

clathrin-coated membranes of Boergesenia cells to produce

aplanospores by wounding (7, 24).

Kobayashi and Kanaizuka (13, 14) separated extruded

Bryopsis cell contents into chloroplast and nonchloroplast

fractions, together to make subprotoplasts, and thus attempted

application of the wound-healing algal ability to

artificial cell construction. Subprotoplast regeneration from

disintegrated higher plant cells was partially successful using

vacuolar sap and cytoplasmic vesicles of this alga under the

experimental conditions of the two essential step reactions.

The detailed experimental results will be reported elsewhere."

 

 

You may find this article interesting also:

 

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

(CYANOPHYTA)

http://pkukmweb.ukm.my/~ahmad/buku/.../cyanophyta.doc

[zygote2k]

I'll try the Tech-M first and let you know if it works. The Hippo Tang will be coming in the next few weeks too. Maybe it'll eat the stuff. I do have experience with the HT eating Chaeto though.