Algae ID - Cladophora? Treatment successes/failures?

[Reefing Qs]

Hello,

After vacation I came back to some algae outbreak which is normal due to auto feeder use, but in the mix of GHA there is a different type of algae that is becoming a problem. The GHA is now nearly gone, but the other stuff has not been touched. Neither my tuxedo urchin nor turbo snails have have gone for it, nor any other smaller snails.

15g IM Cube, limits any fish options for treatment
10-15 no3
.1 po4
UV
Skimmer

I've tried so far:

Nutrient reduction (levels were elevated after vacation)
Manual removal (too rooted, can not get it all even with hard bristle brushes - regrows and has spread)
Tuxedo urchin
Turbo snail
Trochus/Astrea/Cerith snails

Considering potential options:

Fluconazole treatment
Macro-algae eating crabs (Pitho?, Emerald?)
Direct h202 application/scrubbing


Has anyone successfully dealt with this before? I've come across a few threads in my research, but very little common information or treatments across them. I believe I've identified the algae as some form of Cladophora, an ID confirmation would be great. The photos are a couple weeks old now, the thin/wispy GHA in the photos is now almost entirely gone, leaving just the fibrous, hard, rooted algae.

 

[Reefing Qs]

Bump! Upon further research I don't believe Fluconazole will be effective but may try it anyways. Likely going to move a pitho crab or two today from a different tank to see if they will touch it.

 

[JoJosReef]

That a mix of Cladophora and GHA?

I have Cladophora (presumably) and I just pluck it out of the rocks at the base when it grows long. Almost like trimming macro from a refugium. I have a pitho that does not touch that stuff.

 

[resortez]

In my experience, your inverts will take care of it but needs to be manually trimmed. Invert’s would not touch it while the algae was long & fully grown but after manual removal, any snail or crab would come in & keep the thinner softer leftovers trimmed, eventually cleaning up the rock. At the same time, I would perform mini overhauls & target the sand behind the rock work. I divided the tank into thirds & syphon vacuum the sand behind the rock work to remove buildup within the sand. The removal of all that buildup helped in curving the algae growth & cutting off its energy source, feeding off of any excess nutrients or phosphorus buildup trapped in the sand bed. The reason for dividing the tank in thirds was to avoid unwanted rapid swings or fluctuations that can lead to a potential crash & losing any animals in the tank. After the overhauls, no form of GHA has appeared since. I would feed slightly heavier during the overhaul periods in order to avoid dropping NO3 close to zero & potential swinging the nitrogen process in a negative direction that could spell a disaster. So a good safe number in NO3 readings is recommended. Hope all that makes sense, hope it helps & good luck.

 

[Reefing Qs]

That a mix of Cladophora and GHA?

I have Cladophora (presumably) and I just pluck it out of the rocks at the base when it grows long. Almost like trimming macro from a refugium. I have a pitho that does not touch that stuff.

Yeah, the GHA at this point is gone and just what I believe is the Cladophora remains. I've been plucking out what I can, it seems that no one has really found a reliable treatment for it. It does seem to grow relatively slow and should be OK to manage manually, was just hoping to avoid that. It has spread to a few other places in the tank (I'm assuming mostly due to me spreading pieces when I remove it), I don't want to end up with it everywhere.

Unfortunate to hear about your pitho. I will probably still try just because I have them on hand, they've picked at bubble algae, gha, and some other macro in my other tank so who knows.

In my experience, your inverts will take care of it but needs to be manually trimmed. Invert’s would not touch it while the algae was long & fully grown but after manual removal, any snail or crab would come in & keep the thinner softer leftovers trimmed, eventually cleaning up the rock. At the same time, I would perform mini overhauls & target the sand behind the rock work. I divided the tank into thirds & syphon vacuum the sand behind the rock work to remove buildup within the sand. The removal of all that buildup helped in curving the algae growth & cutting off its energy source, feeding off of any excess nutrients or phosphorus buildup trapped in the sand bed. The reason for dividing the tank in thirds was to avoid unwanted rapid swings or fluctuations that can lead to a potential crash & losing any animals in the tank. After the overhauls, no form of GHA has appeared since. I would feed slightly heavier during the overhaul periods in order to avoid dropping NO3 close to zero & potential swinging the nitrogen process in a negative direction that could spell a disaster. So a good safe number in NO3 readings is recommended. Hope all that makes sense, hope it helps & good luck.

I generally agree, but the normal algae fighting tools have not been working here. There is no more GHA in the tank, just the hard fibrous algae remains. I do have inverts (snails/urchin) in this tank and it has been trimmed short, they still avoid it like the plague.

Sandbed is pristine white and no other issues in the tank. From what I've read, nutrient starvation is not a viable method for Caldophora unfortunately.

Will update the thread if I find anything that eats it or some product targets it directly

 

[JoJosReef]

Yeah, the GHA at this point is gone and just what I believe is the Cladophora remains. I've been plucking out what I can, it seems that no one has really found a reliable treatment for it. It does seem to grow relatively slow and should be OK to manage manually, was just hoping to avoid that. It has spread to a few other places in the tank (I'm assuming mostly due to me spreading pieces when I remove it), I don't want to end up with it everywhere.

Unfortunate to hear about your pitho. I will probably still try just because I have them on hand, they've picked at bubble algae, gha, and some other macro in my other tank so who knows.



I generally agree, but the normal algae fighting tools have not been working here. There is no more GHA in the tank, just the hard fibrous algae remains. I do have inverts (snails/urchin) in this tank and it has been trimmed short, they still avoid it like the plague.

Sandbed is pristine white and no other issues in the tank. From what I've read, nutrient starvation is not a viable method for Caldophora unfortunately.

Will update the thread if I find anything that eats it or some product targets it directly

Fluconazole works at the concentration used for bubble algae (4x concentration for bryopsis). I recommend taking extra precautions such as an air stone, bacteria/diversity dosing, and other forms of nutrient management while running Flux Rx. Never hurts to be on the safe side!