Trying to fix an algae problem
by
, 05-26-2010 at 12:09 AM (3213 Views)
In one of my favorite corals, in the past month a real problem arose. The SPS coral growing on the overflow directly above the Toadstool Leather, a number of brown patches appeared within the branches which soon followed with algae growth. Ugh!!
Here's the coral back in December.
I tried scraping away the bad spots, and have been picking away the algae with forceps. It wasn't very effective, but I had to do something about it. Each pinch with the forceps was then released in a small bowl of water to avoid spreading it elsewhere.
I've never seen this type of thing occur in my SPS in the past, so I've been unsure what to do about it. Nitrates remain low in the tank, but phosphates had risen, and risen again after the spawning event earlier this month. Using Phosphate Control (which is being renamed Phosphate RX currently by Blue Life USA), I brought the PO4 level down and the algae quickly turned brown. This ugly fuzzy stuff had to go.
With the tips near the surface of the water, no fish can swim above to nibble it away. No snail will travel across SPS willingly nor successfully. So I asked the LFS owner what he'd suggest, and he proffered that I put some hermits in the coral. I'd prefer to put some of those 'bandit' acro crabs in, but you can't get them easily. I bought six red-legged hermits from him, acclimated them to the tank, plucked off more algae and then placed each hermit in the coral near the area I wanted them to work on. I just checked the tank with a flashlight and see 5 of them still in the coral.
If they fall out, they can't get back up to the A. formosa without some help by me. That, or I'll just buy a few more and keep adding hungry new ones until the coral is nice and clean again.