Algae ID Assistance

[TN_Reefer]

Hello all,
New to the forum & looking forward to learning from all the great reefers. I've had my saltwater tank up for about 1.5 years now.

I have continued to battle two different types of algae/creatures.

1. One seems to be a green hair algae or bryopsis type
2. The other seems to be more of an invasive type of microorganism/coral

I'm almost positive this came in when I didn't dip a few corals early on in the hobby. I have attempted:

• numerous water changes
• ensured all nutrients in line (recently swapped out RODI filters as I noticed my tpm was getting too high)
• taken out the rocks and scrubbed
• Doses of Fluconazole but had limited success with that (attempted while tank was invaded, it's gotten better but still present)

Any ideas on what I could be doing better? Better scrub/manual removal? Snails?

Thanks for any guidance!

 

[Cali Reef Life]

Im not sure on the alage type need a better picture. I would definitely manually remove as much as you can. The other type is Aiptasia.

 

[Formulator]

You have GHA and aiptasia anemones. Aiptasia need to be your first priority. They are possibly the most invasive and evil organism in our hobby, but don’t worry - most reefers encounter them at least once in their journey.

Get yourself some F-aiptasia and some peppermint shrimp or an aiptasia eating file fish.

For the GHA, get a pincushion urchin and some trochus snails.

 

[TN_Reefer]

You have GHA and aiptasia anemones. Aiptasia need to be your first priority. They are possibly the most invasive and evil organism in our hobby, but don’t worry - most reefers encounter them at least once in their journey.

Get yourself some F-aiptasia and some peppermint shrimp or an aiptasia eating file fish.

For the GHA, get a pincushion urchin and some trochus snails.

Awesome, thank you for the response & guidance on each of those.
I am waiting for my LFS to get some peppermint shrimp. Wanted to try that first before chemicals or aiptasia eating file fish.

Got myself a good selection of clean up crew as week as trochus snails. Going to combine that with a little manual removal with scrub and toothbrush over the next week

Thanks again!

 

[Formulator]

Wanted to try that first before chemicals

I’m really happy to see this attitude in a new reefer, as I often advise against any chemical remedies. That said, F-aiptasia and most other aiptasia fighting products are locally applied to the aiptasia anemone with a syringe and aren’t systemic treatments for the entire tank that somehow would taint the water. They are perfectly safe and you shouldn’t hesitate to use them if the aiptasia start spreading before your shrimp arrives.