bryopsis battles

[zygote2k]

In the 90 SPS tank I have an ongoing battle with bryopsis. It doesn't seem to be affected by high levels of Magnesium either.

Current water params-

Alk 3.9

Cal 420

Mag 1600

P04 0.01

Sal 1.027

N03 4ppm

temp 79

 

Tank has lots of current, big skimmer, 750w of light, and a HOB 'fuge.

'fuge has a 4" reef mud substrate and grows chaeto and halymenia.

 

Can the mud be a source of the problems? What kinds of fish will graze on turf algaes? Already have a YT and a HT.

Any help would be appreciated.

[steveoutlaw]

Rob-

I know that when I got a couple of rocks covered in green hair algea, I got a gold spotted (sometimes called orange spotted) rabbit fish and it ate everything in no time. Might be worth a try......they're cool fish too.

[Sharkey18]

Let me know if you find something that works!

 

My tang and algae blenny take care of everything else, but neither will touch the bryopsis.

 

Laura

[OldReefer]

I finally killed off mine when I started using ozone. The elevated ORP seemed to do something.

[El Camaron]

i had success when i raised my mag to 1850.

[davelin315]

There was a thread awhile back on battling bryopsis and the levels you had to raise the Mg to. I believe it was higher than the concentration you are indicating... I'll see if I can find it.

 

No fish will eat it (at least none that I've ever heard of and I have never seen one that will eat it). You might be able to get an urchin to eat it, but you have to kill it off or the roots will just let it come back again.

[davelin315]

Never mind, it was your thread! Nate did say that he raised his Mg to 2000 and it killed it off, do you want to try that?

[Jan]

Bring the magnesium up to 1500 by using squirting Kent Tech M Magnesium directly onto the bryopsis. This will kill it over night. Also get a tuxedo urchin. BRK had them. It's the only thing that eats bryopsis. These worked great for me in a matter of days.

[zygote2k]

I tried the Kent method, but that is expensive. I'm using Mag flake and Epsom. I can try to bring it up to 1800-2000. A rabbitfish would be cool too. Anyone got an extra? Urchin is out of the question since it will probably knock things over unless Jan knows that they won't... Jan, can I borrow your urchin?

Edited December 19, 2009 by zygote2k

[lanman]

I only have a bit of it, in a couple of spots... one frag, for example. I can not believe the speed with which it grows. I can scrape that frag down until I think I have every single spot gone. A couple of days later, there is a short branch of it back. Within 4-5 days, it is a big, healthy colony again! How can we turn this into bio-fuel?

 

bob

[Jan]

I didn't see that your magnesium is at 1600. Whether you use Kent Tech M or some other something that has magnesium in it squirting magnesium directly onto the bryopsis is what seems to kill it. Increasing the magnesium to 1500+ keeps the bryopsis in check. when i does Magnesium I squirt it right on the areas where the bryopsis appeared.

 

If frags are not glued down then the urchin will knock them over and give them a ride on it's back. My urchin looks like a decorator crab. Other than these things the urchin is a model occupant in my tank. It cleans the rocks so well they almost look white.

 

Sorry Rob, lending my urchin would be like lending my car. I don't lend my car.

 

I tried the Kent method, but that is expensive. I'm using Mag flake and Epsom. I can try to bring it up to 1800-2000. A rabbitfish would be cool too. Anyone got an extra? Urchin is out of the question since it will probably knock things over unless Jan knows that they won't... Jan, can I borrow your urchin?

[cabrego]

I have used Kent M for bryopsis control with good success too. Using it as a weed killer works particularly well, when feasible. I noticed when I elevated my Mg to 1600+ I did not see bryopsis degradation as fast as I would have liked and it wasn't until I used it as a a direct "weed killer" did I get very good results.

 

Are you user you have Bryopsis? Sometimes it is very difficult to identify the type of algae with out microscopic visualization of the cell structure. I would recommend positively identifying the type of algae before trying to treat it.

 

gl

 

p.s. why is your alk so low? I assume your P.H. is very low too?!

Edited December 19, 2009 by cabrego

[Sharkey18]

Hey Jan, How bad your bryopsis when you did this?

 

Thanks for the tip!

 

Laura

[Jan]

Hi Laura,

Long time no see. How are you? I have one rock that is 14x8 that was covered with bryopsis. I also had small patches in different areas. For some reason that rock is the one that also gets cyano. It still gets patches of bryopsis here and there so when I see the patches starting to come back I spot squirt them with the Kent magnesium. I also take the urchin and physically put it on the patches. Thanks goes to El Camaron for suggesting what level I should be keeing the magnesium at in my system and for suggesting that I use the Kent tech M like a weed killer.

 

Hey Jan, How bad your bryopsis when you did this?

 

Thanks for the tip!

 

Laura

Edited December 20, 2009 by Jan

[zygote2k]

I have used Kent M for bryopsis control with good success too. Using it as a weed killer works particularly well, when feasible. I noticed when I elevated my Mg to 1600+ I did not see bryopsis degradation as fast as I would have liked and it wasn't until I used it as a a direct "weed killer" did I get very good results.

 

Are you user you have Bryopsis? Sometimes it is very difficult to identify the type of algae with out microscopic visualization of the cell structure. I would recommend positively identifying the type of algae before trying to treat it.

 

gl

 

p.s. why is your alk so low? I assume your P.H. is very low too?!

 

I'll try the direct method next friday. alk @ 3.9 meq/l is around 10 dkh. ph is 8.2 day, 7.9 night. seems normal to me unless I'm missing something. What's your suggestion?

[Jan]

Hmmm, maybe it was Cabrego that posted about the Kent M? It was one of the two.

 

Hi Laura,

Long time no see. How are you? I have one rock that is 14x8 that was covered with bryopsis. I also had small patches in different areas. For some reason that rock is the one that also gets cyano. It still gets patches of bryopsis here and there so when I see the patches starting to come back I spot squirt them with the Kent magnesium. I also take the urchin and physically put it on the patches. Thanks goes to El Camaron for suggesting what level I should be keeing the magnesium at in my system and for suggesting that I use the Kent tech M like a weed killer.

[Sharkey18]

Thanks Jan, and Rob for starting this thread just when I needed it : )

 

I have been totally out of WAMAS touch dealing with other issues in my crazy life, but I am back now! And while I was distracted the bryopsis took advantage and took over. I physically removed as much as i could find / reach last week but I see small patches coming back. I will try the Mag as soon as I can get back on the road!

 

Laura

[Black Mammoth]

I found that the rabbit fish are hit and miss with that stuff. I had a Magnificent Foxface that loved the stuff, but I know that others that won't touch it. A vendor told me to use some Blue Knuckled Crabs. I got 5 of them and they completely destroyed it...and quickly at that.

[kngfisher]

i have an orange spot and tux urchin and neither can keep bryopsis at bay. Will try drect application tomorrow. Will be redoing the tank in the next month or so because of bryopsis. Cant believe it is even growing on my nano-streams.....

 

Die you PITA Die :-)

 

Mag 1500

dKH 12

pH 8.02

Cal 380

Mag 1600

P04 0

Sal 1.024

N03 .5

temp 80

Edited December 20, 2009 by kngfisher

[ctenophore]

Hi Laura,

Long time no see. How are you? I have one rock that is 14x8 that was covered with bryopsis. I also had small patches in different areas. For some reason that rock is the one that also gets cyano. It still gets patches of bryopsis here and there so when I see the patches starting to come back I spot squirt them with the Kent magnesium. I also take the urchin and physically put it on the patches. Thanks goes to El Camaron for suggesting what level I should be keeing the magnesium at in my system and for suggesting that I use the Kent tech M like a weed killer.

Great tip about Mg solution as "weed killer". Do you turn off all flow pumps while applying it, like with aiptasia killer? Let it form a cloud of locally high Mg solution for a few minutes?

 

I found that the rabbit fish are hit and miss with that stuff. I had a Magnificent Foxface that loved the stuff, but I know that others that won't touch it. A vendor told me to use some Blue Knuckled Crabs. I got 5 of them and they completely destroyed it...and quickly at that.

 

By blue knuckle crab are you referring to the black and blue banded ones, Calcinus elegans?

[Origami]

A while back, I read the thread over at RC. While I had success killing off some bryopsis that was brought in on a frag plug using Mag Pellets (the pelleted form of Mag Flake), the experience is by no means consistent among hobbyists. The only consistency seems to be in the use of Kent Tech M to obtain the high magnesium concentrations cited here. The inconsistency leads some to believe that the active agent here is probably some impurity in Kent Tech M rather than the magnesium itself. It's hard to say.

[Jan]

Place your tuxedo urchin with a pair of tongs right on the bryopsis. Once there it will eat it. I don't know that orange spot urchins eat the stuff.

 

i have an orange spot and tux urchin and neither can keep bryopsis at bay. Will try drect application tomorrow. Will be redoing the tank in the next month or so because of bryopsis. Cant believe it is even growing on my nano-streams.....

 

Die you PITA Die :-)

 

Mag 1500

dKH 12

pH 8.02

Cal 380

Mag 1600

P04 0

Sal 1.024

N03 .5

temp 80

[Jan]

Great tip about Mg solution as "weed killer". Do you turn off all flow pumps while applying it, like with aiptasia killer? Let it form a cloud of locally high Mg solution for a few minutes?

 

I just shut the powerheads off and squirt the magnesium right into the bryopsis. I do this on a rock that has no corals on it. I tried it on a mag rock that had an sps with some bryopsis growing out of it and well it's starting to grow back now. I've never used aiptasia killer solution but from what i read, yes, i'm using it the same way.

[cabrego]

I'll try the direct method next friday. alk @ 3.9 meq/l is around 10 dkh. ph is 8.2 day, 7.9 night. seems normal to me unless I'm missing something. What's your suggestion?

 

Oh right, I got the units mixed up meg/l vs. dkh nvm.

[Black Mammoth]

By blue knuckle crab are you referring to the black and blue banded ones, Calcinus elegans?

 

I believe so. Mine were black with blue stripes/bands. I would have to ask Sean about the scientific name as I don't know. The problem with those is that 2 of the 5 died after they got rid of the stuff. I think the didn't have enough to eat afterward.