Is this hair algae?

N

noon6

Member
I noticed this outbreak this morning in my tank and I'm concerned, if this is hair algae what do I need to do to get rid of it? I am running filter floss, purigen and chemi-pure elite in my media rack and running my main lights 8 hours per day.
Please help as I want to get this taken care of before it gets much worse.
You can see it growing on my colt coral, I have attached a picture and video.

e7ypy6az.jpg
https://vimeo.com/103434578
 
Snid

Snid

Active Member
That's not GHA...

I could be wrong, but it looks more like the coral is expelling zooxanthellae. This usually occurs when the coral is stressed. I'd do a water parameter check and double check for any temperature fluctuations. Have you altered the lighting or done anything different recently? Have you done a recent water change?
 
N

noon6

Member
It isn't just on that coral it's on the substrate some and on some other rock and coral areas. Temp has been steady around 79 degrees and no lighting changes really. I do w/c every 2 weeks and the only change I made was a switch to reef crystals from regular IO about 2 w/c ago. Any ideas?
 
Snid

Snid

Active Member
GHA takes a certain amount of time to reach that length, is greener, tends to grow in clusters, and doesn't look entwined like a web in parts. Most things that look like what your have are expelled from something like corals, worms, or even hydroids. I find it unlikely that all of the sudden a large number of worms or hydroids started sending out feeder strings out of the blue, which is why I'm more inclined to question the corals. However, it might be something trying to reproduce and those strings have eggs attached to them, but I didn't notice any eggs.
 
N

noon6

Member
Could it be to high of nutrients from the reef crystals or something like that? I turned off my lights this morning and it seems to have slightly dissipated but I think it may return once I turn the lights back on but not sure. I checked parameters and everything is in check although I haven't checked phosphates and don't currently have phos guard in my media rack. I use ro/di for my w/c so I'm not adding any phosphates that I can think of.
 
N

noon6

Member
I have a short haired dog but no shedding and my tank is closed top and I have never had this issue before
 
Snid

Snid

Active Member
Even though we aren't certain what it is just yet, I'd still check the water's parameters to make sure we aren't missing something. It can't hurt to be sure, and odds are others will ask for the parameters anyways. ;)

Personally, I'm still leaning towards corals expelling zooxanthellae. I'm pretty sure it can drift in the tank and start clinging to other things. I'm no coral expert though... Me and my few Zoas... ;)
 
G

Gallma02

Member
Hi all,

I have what I think is the same thing which I also thought was GHA. Seems to be coming from between two pieces of live rock. My nitrates were very high and are still too high so fighting back with the Red Sea Algae management programme.



Mark
 
Snid

Snid

Active Member
Mark,

Yours could be GHA, as it is indeed green... The reason why I am saying that noon6 doesn't have GHA is because it occurred overnight. If you in fact do have GHA, that is a minimal amount like that. Perhaps I should link to a picture of my GHA to demonstrate.

Here's a picture of GHA that has had several days to grow...
IMG_0633.jpg


Here's a picture of some just starting out, probably about a few days in. See how it tends to grow in clusters?
_MG_0654.JPG


Just keep an eye on it, but if you end up with only a few pieces here or there, then I'd leave it be or manually pull it out, but I wouldn't panic or feel like I was being invaded. Work on those Nitrates and you'll probably solve the problem. Check your Phosphates too while you're at it... ;)
 
G

Gallma02

Member
Thanks Snid,

I have had it for about a month and its only been a few strings, so will keep fighting the nitrates. Noon6, keen to see what yours actually is.

Mark
 
N

noon6

Member
I will provide an update this afternoon once I recheck my parameters and also send some additional pictures that might help identify it better.
Thanks to everyone so far for the help!
Steve
 
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