?How to treat bryopsis

nanodoc

Member
I have a bryopsis problems for months. It seems the only way to take careof it is manually remove it weekly.
I have been reading up on it, and one of the recs is to increase your magnesium level to 1600 or higher.
I have been gradually adding more and more Mg to the tank without results. I have no Mg tester but my question is, can you overdose on Mg or is it just an urban myth (like hairy palms)? And If there is something like that, what are the symptoms of the overdose? I never got a satisfactory answer about this.
Or does anybody have a better solution to the problem?
Thanks
 

nanodoc

Member
Thanks, Glenn!
That was very heeelpful! You are such a library of information, that thread was from 2010, so that question has been raised by other people, still don't know what it does to the SPS
 

nanodoc

Member
Originally posted by Gary Majchrzak
anecdotal evidence would seem to indicate mollusks being sensitive to elevated levels of Mg...

I can probably attest to elevated Mag levels and their effects better than most here. As I pointed out earlier, I had an accidental overdose to the tune of 2200+ ppm (much higher than levels people are talking about here). Of course this is anecdotal as well.

First of all, I believe the overdose happened back in Oct. Prior to the overdose my Mg ran 1300-1400. After the overdose I found as much information as I could about the negatives of elevated Mg levels and found very little that gave me cause for alarm. Upon observation of the tanks inhabitants there were no signs of stress right away or even the days following the overdose. So, I decided to just keep it business as usual and not panic and do a huge waterchange. So, my tank is now down to about 1400 ppm Mg, but the majority of the time over the last 6 months it had been 1700 and was over 2000 for at least a couple of those months.

Just some basic observations in that time, whether or not they were related to Mg in any way is hard to say...

1.) About the time period of the overdose I added a Crocea clam, the clam had bleached during shipping. In the past six months the clam has made a recovery, some of the area on the edges still appear to be a little bleached but overall the clam has been very healthy and grown. Another thing to note is this clam has been near the sandbed the whole time in a 25" deep tank under T5s. So anyone that makes the claim that clams won't do well under T5s or need to be kept close to the light source with T5s is wrong.

Conclusion: Maybe the clam would have recovered quicker, without the high Mg levels, but clearly it was nothing fatal or too detrimental to the clam.

2.) I've experienced sand clumping since the tank was started. I can't figure it out, and the original reason for making the mag supplement was to boost Mg a little to see if it would help. It did nothing, sand still clumps and all my Calcium and KH levels remain around the normal levels suggested to keep a reef aquarium. Perhaps it started clumping worse with the elevated Mg levels but it's hard to say.

Conclusion: At least in this case elevated Mg levels don't seem to have fixed the problem and probably didn't make it worse. It's important to note that my Mg levels have never been low in this tank and always slightly elevated from natural levels.

3.) Coraline growth was good prior to the elevated levels, after the elevated levels it has been explosive. We're talking a thick layer on every inch of glass. To the point where I've given up on keeping anything but the front glass clean. However, now that the levels have come down closer to natural some of that coraline is starting to die back. Whether this is a natural cycle it's hard to say.

Conclusion: The elevated Mg levels combine with maintaining proper Calcium and HK levels seems to have made coraline grow at an accelrated rate. Perhaps without the elevated levels much of that algae was no longer able to sustain itself.

4.) Shortly before the OD I received a maricultered Acropora sp. Before reaching me, the specimen had some tissue necrosis around the base and also had what I believed to be a predatory crab. Within a week after the overdose the tissue recession got worse and only some of the tips ended up surviving. In the last few months the tips have been fragged and are doing well and coloring uop better than when I received the piece. Other SPS I had at the time remained well and grew well.

Conclusion: The elevated Mg levels may have pushed an already ailing specimen over the edge. But overall it does not seem elevated Mg levels (> 1600 & < 2200) will have many negative effects on most SPS. It's important to note that this includes only 2 different Montipora sp. and 3 different Acropora sp. It's a small sample since I've been going slow with SPS due to it being a newer tank.

5.) I had some Halimeda growth priod to the OD. After the OD growth has taken off considerably.

Conclusion: Elevated Mg at the very least don't inhibit most calcerous algae growth and would seem to help promote quicker growth (duh! ).

6.) I have a lot of zoanthids in my tank. After the OD I have had a few specimens shrink up and lose color in their skirts, others have grown larger and spread quickly. I have not been able to reverse this with more or less light and even have tried MH in my prop tank which is on the same system. It would appear this is a water chemistry issue.

Conclusion: Most likely the shrinking and skirt color is due to a lack of nutrients in the water. However, I'm not quite willing to rule out elevated Mg levels as a factor. We'll see if any of these zoanthids start to recover now that Mg levels are close to natural levels.

7.) Within this system I have a pretty diverse mix of macroalgae. Various red algaes, at least 3 different Caulerpa sp., 2 different Chaetomorpha sp. and a few unidentified specimens. Growth remained consistent with what is was before the OD and no negeative effects were seen.

Conclusion: Most macroalgae commonly kept in marine aquariums seems unaffected by elevated Mg levels.

8.) I have a few different LPS species and all were added after the Mg OD. Most seem healthy and have done well and grown. However, one Platygyra sp. bleached rather easily even when kept at the bottom of the aquarium.

Conclusion: The bleaching was most likely due to lighting. The coral is rather shaded and has gained all of its color back, but it's still possible elevated Mg levels played a part.

9.) I have Astrea, Cerith, Turbo, and Stomatella snails, at least 5 of each and up to 25 ceriths and hundreds of Stomatella. None seemed to have any adverse reactions to the elevated Mg. levels. The same goes for 2 emerald crabs and 2 Lettuce Sea Slugs. However, I added 3 Peppermint shrimp during this time and they were never seen from again after acclimation. I added another 3 a month or two ago and they are the model of health.

Conclusion: At least in my case, no snails had adverse reactions to the elevated Mg levels. I do feel that for whatever reason the original shrimp acclimated poorly, perhaps from Mg being 2000+ ppm at the time. The second batch showed no adverse reactions and the Mg levels were tested to be about 1750 at the time. Sidenote, both batches came from the same place and in both instances the SG was .006 lower than mine and both groups were drip acclimated over the course of a few hours.




Final Conclusion: Over the course of the last 6 months I can't find any organisms in my aquarium that had any stress that I can directly attribute to my elevated Mg levels over the course of 6 months. My tank has remained Bryopsis free ever since the OD. Well, for the most part... There is a very small amount that was growing on the inside of my overflow about a month ago. However, it has not reappeared on any of my rocks. One last note, at the time of the OD I was aggresively skimming, feeding lightly, and using as much Chaeto as possible to export nutrients. At the time of the disappearance of the Bryopsis I did not attribute it to the Mg OD for those reasons. It's still hard to say for sure that the Mg OD was the sole reason for the Brysopsis dying off, but at this point it seems it was at least a contributing factor.

Sorry for being so long winded and I hope this will give someone a little more insight.




I found this post, which might be helpful and good to know
 
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