First Vacation away from tank, so how do I tackle this?

[DAWREEFER]

Hello Reefers,

I was away for the first time for a little over a week from my tank and I have come home to some challenges. My tank has been overrun with hair algae and from what I think is Aiptaisa. If it's not please let me know and what are the remedies that have worked for you? I think it's best to get rid of it naturally, but my LFS did not have the critters/fish to eat Aiptaisa. I have AiptaisaX, but I'm afraid to use it as I've heard that the little buggers release a bunch of eggs after you spray them. I can start to pluck them out, but I'll be here for hours because at first glance there are at least 100 in there. I have fish and corals in the tank just an FYI if any remedies don't work with corals/fish. Thanks!!

In the tank:
Two Clowns
Blenny
Snails
Hermit

Any Solutions?
Is it Aiptaisa?

 

[ccole]

I don’t see any aptasia in those pictures. I do think I see pineapple sponges and some hair algae.

 

[Kershaw]

From the pictures I don’t see Aiptaisa, but I could have missed it.

first think I would do is test your tank. And then do a normal water change. Does not look to bad to me

 

[Sharkbait19]

Just some sponges and algae is all I see. Nothing bad, but still a pain to remove. How old is the tank? It’s probably just part of the ugly stages.

 

[New&no clue]

I don't see aiptasia in the pictures. Possibly pineapple sponges, which are good and not issue.

For GHA there are many thoughts. I personal think manual remove and lower nutrients works best. It does take some time though.

 

[DAWREEFER]

I don’t see any aptasia in those pictures. I do think I see pineapple sponges and some hair algae.

Thankyou I was not sure... should I get rid of them in the display? or will they kind of die-off over time?

 

[DAWREEFER]

Just some sponges and algae is all I see. Nothing bad, but still a pain to remove. How old is the tank? It’s probably just part of the ugly stages.

Its been up since February of this year

 

[ccole]

No need to get rid of them! They are harmless filter feeders and will likely die back when your tank gets more established.

 

[DAWREEFER]

No need to get rid of them! They are harmless filter feeders and will likely die back when your tank gets more established.

Thank you for your input. I'm relieved it's not Aiptaisa

 

[Lowlandreef]

GHA is very normal in a new tank. I had a lot of it in the first year of my tank. Regular water changes will probably be sufficient to keep it down. You can add a fish that eats it to speed up the process. The type of fish really depends on the size of the tank. For me a lawnmower blenny worked really well. He grazed through it in 2 weeks. I saw you already have a blenny and I think you can't really mix multiple blennies, but maybe someone else knows it. If your tank is big you can also add a tang.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Its been up since February of this year

Definitely still early enough for the typical algal blooms (which of course never stop, just are really common in the first year).
Manual removal and extra cuc (astrea snails, hermits, emerald crab) took care of hair algae for me.

 

[DAWREEFER]

GHA is very normal in a new tank. I had a lot of it in the first year of my tank. Regular water changes will probably be sufficient to keep it down. You can add a fish that eats it to speed up the process. The type of fish really depends on the size of the tank. For me a lawnmower blenny worked really well. He grazed through it in 2 weeks. I saw you already have a blenny and I think you can't really mix multiple blennies, but maybe someone else knows it. If your tank is big you can also add a tang.

I'm working with a 20long, but I modified it to add all in one 3 chamber filtration. So, there is like 16.5 gal of living space

 

[ying yang]

GHA is very normal in a new tank. I had a lot of it in the first year of my tank. Regular water changes will probably be sufficient to keep it down. You can add a fish that eats it to speed up the process. The type of fish really depends on the size of the tank. For me a lawnmower blenny worked really well. He grazed through it in 2 weeks. I saw you already have a blenny and I think you can't really mix multiple blennies, but maybe someone else knows it. If your tank is big you can also add a tang.

I added a tail spot blennie then about 2 months later added a bi colour blennie ,my dt is 80 gallons and has 2 main rock structures which are quite large taking up whole tank and first 4- 5 days was like the established tail spot blennie would lay in wait for bi colour to come out the rock work and chase it around and around the rocks for 10 or so seconds then 15 minutes later would happen again.then after 4- 5 days all calm down and they tag team the coral beauty when he picking at the rocks but coral beauty just gets on with his business most of the time but then must get annoyed and backs the blennies back into the rocks,the tail spot is the worse and his hide hole in the rocks is close to the torch coral and im guessing as tail spot trying to make coral beauty to away he forgetting about the torch and now down obe side his body he full of stings from the torch ^_^

Im new to saltwater at just under 8 months but would say 20 gallons to small for 2 blennies and best procudure would be to add the 2 fish together or if one established then add one in an acliminsation box or move rockwork around so established fish lost his territory and both have to make new territories.but imo best way would be to add together and watch them and if gets to much then would need to seperate,for me i wasnt going to get 2 as did want yellow tang but by time set up tank ,yellow tangs gone from £ 40 upto £ 300- £400 so decided another blennie and will get foxface shortly for algae eating fish ^_^

Pictures of what im guessing torch stings on one side of blennie as it often hovering over it defending his rocks and when coral beauty comes close he tunnel vision and forgets about torch and gets pushed closer and closer into it lol

 

[Lowlandreef]

I'm working with a 20long, but I modified it to add all in one 3 chamber filtration. So, there is like 16.5 gal of living space

A tang won't work then and a second blenny probably neither. I would just get some blue leg hermit crabs and trochus snails then. They do a good job of cleaning too. Also try to feed the fish not too much, since food waste breaks down in phosphates what promotes algae growth. Maybe it doesn't apply to you, but I used to feed way too much haha

 

[DAWREEFER]

A tang won't work then and a second blenny probably neither. I would just get some blue leg hermit crabs and trochus snails then. They do a good job of cleaning too. Also try to feed the fish not too much, since food waste breaks down in phosphates what promotes algae growth. Maybe it doesn't apply to you, but I used to feed way too much haha

Yeah I'm usually really good about feeding every little, but since I was away I had an auto feeder that I modified to put out less and apparently that didn't even work :-/