How to treat aitapsia and green hair algae ? (1 Viewer)

[davidsugarland]

I drove 40 miles to Cypress and found some very nice Tonga branche LR.
Sadly, it is covered with thick, yards long green hair algae, ...well, more likely inches long ... anh HUGE aitapsia! The tank has been neglected for many long years! To drive that long in heavy traffic , I decided to get a few lbs of the rock to see what can be done. Please give me your best advice.

- Use chemicals , algaecides, herbicides?
- put the rock in a bucket, close the lid and leave it 7-10 days?
- cook it under the sun for days ?

I am going to add the rock into my macro tank, so I can't use tangs. What is/are my best options?

Thank you.

 

[rxonco]

If you don't mind "killing" the rock, I'd just let it dry out and rinse it. You could put it in the dark for a week which might get rid of most of the hair algae but not the aptasia.

 

[BigRick]

The rock is probably loaded with phosphates since the HA is growing on them. The best thing to take care of your problem is an acid bath. It will solve the algae and aiptasia problem in one battle. But you will not have live rock anymore, just dead clean rock.

If you cook it, that is leaving it out of light w/ water circulating, it'll will be longer then 7-10 days. More like 2 months. That will get rid of your algae but not aiptasia

Aiptasia- Berghia nudi's!!!! I just used them for the 2nd time in another tank and the results are 100% eradication. It's been almost a year since I did my first tank with them and have not seen a aiptasia since.

 

[steveb]

Muratic acid bath optionally followed by a dunk in bleach water to neutralize the acid or just a lot of freshwater.

 

[Mark L.]

Agree with the above posts.

"cook" rock to save beneficial bacteria

acid/bleach bath to completely wipe clean and start over.

First takes months and second take hours.

 

[Kabuto]

Cook it or you can dip in a 50/50 solution of hydrogen peroxide and salt water for ~3-5 minutes. You can then use a powerhead to blow off debris on the rock or just shake it. The hair algae will die within a day or two.

 

[davidsugarland]

Thank you !
You are so right about phosphate build-up.
I want to keep the rock alive. so here a few more questions:

- How to get Berghia Nudi and Mutaric Acid ?

- The 50/50 Hydrogen peroxide treatment will kill the GHA or will kill everything?

I keep the rock in a bucket for now to buy time.
Actually, seeing the tank full of GHA and aitapsia I did walk away from it, but on a second thought, I came back to get some rock! I really like Tonga rock and have been seaching for it for a long time

 

[steveb]

Muratic acid (the nuclear option) will kill everything and also burn off the outer layer of the rock releasing bound up phosphates. You can get it at Lowes in the outdoor area where the pool supplies are.


Cooking (keeping the rock in circulating saltware in total darkness) for two to three months with water changes will also achieve this but will not rid you of the aptasia and beneficial nitrifying bacteria, but due to reduced bioload some of the beneficial nitrifying bacteria will most likely die off, but not all.


Also once the Bergia Nudi consumes the aptasia you will need to find it a new home. I like biological methods of dealing with pests but also realize that the control animal needs to be cared for afterwards and most likely doesn't kill off every single pest. -- oldmantran has some Galveston peppermint shrimp for sale/trade but be forwarned that they may or may not go after other corals once the aptasia is gone (good thing about them is that they eat other things as well (less specialized than a bergia nudi)).



In the case of polluted rock (aptasia, GHA, bound up phosphates). I would be more inclined to nuke the rock so to speak. Getting bacteria seeded back on it is as easy as throwing a ground up shrimp in the water once the rock is cleaned and waiting two to three weeks.

I don't know anything about 50/50 peroxide and saltwater.

 

[Kabuto]

Peroxide will not kill most corals. Xenia, worms, and maybe SPS might be affected. It will kill the algae. Many do a frag dip in peroxide. I did my blasto in ~25% peroxide dip and it got the algae off the frag and the blasto was fine. Nano Reef forums has a long thread. You can google for more.

Also some people have had good luck with Algaefix.

The above will not fix the root of the problem with excess nitrates or phosphates. You need to look at getting rid of that. Carbon dosing and GFO are probably the two most popular to lower PO4 and NO3.

 

[steveb]

Please read the OP's original post. He bought the rock with the problems (GHA and Aptasia) from another reefer. He is trying to figure out what to do to the rock to correct it before he puts it in the tank. If he uses peroxide as you suggest and it does not harm coral it most likely wont rid the aptasia either, it does nothing to release the bound phosphates so GHA problem will persist so peroxide is most likely not a solution for him.


I agree that carbon dosing and GFO are long term nutrient control tools.