Pachyseris with algae

[coralrama]

I acquired this very nice pachyseris a little over a month ago, it is pretty large, about 5-6 inches across:

Which has some algae creeping in on a few spots. Here is the top edge where it is the worst:

The patch has grown a bit in the past few days. Does anyone have a treatment method?

 

[Snid]

Manual removal might be best... You could maybe try targeting it with a small blast of Hydrogen Peroxide, but I'd check to see if that would harm the coral first!!!

 

[coralrama]

Thanks, pachyseris have very thin "skin" though over their skeleton and i believe the algae is in the skeleton. Hydrogen peroxide may be an option, though I'm not sure if it's safe on these.

 

[Snid]

Yeah... Wish I knew. And wish I had time to research for you. I will say that the reason why I like the idea of Hydrogen Peroxide is that when it breaks apart it becomes water and oxygen, so it is quite harmless overall. I was going to use it on my GHA at one point, but then opted to let my tank continue to run its own natural course of development through the early stages of its lifespan.

 

[frisbee]

I'm not sure how hard these corals are, but couldn't you just break that piece off? It looks like it would be fairly easy to do, being that the algae is kind of at a corner there.

 

[Oxylebius]

I would also break the piece off and toss it out of the tank.

 

[reggaedrummin]

Algae doesn't grow on healthy coral. I'd remove it but you also need to identify why that piece bleached and prevent it from continuing. Lighting? Water parameters?

 

[frisbee]

99.9% of that coral is healthy though. Removing it and applying other remedies might be more trouble than it's worth IMO. Oops... I broke it... Problem solved.

If there's any healthy tissue leftover after the break, (without algae) glue it to some rubble. GL.

 

[reggaedrummin]

Algae doesn't grow on healthy coral. I'd remove it but you also need to identify why that piece bleached and prevent it from continuing. Lighting? Water parameters?

Meant to remove the algae, not the coral. Just pull the algae off as best as you can. Address the issue that caused the bleaching to begin with, and get your phosphates under control to stop the algae growth.

 

[Oxylebius]

Algae doesn't grow on healthy coral. I'd remove it but you also need to identify why that piece bleached and prevent it from continuing. Lighting? Water parameters?

Good point to try to find out what happened.

It is possible that coral right above it stung it, the coral died and algae set in. What is that coral? Looks like a Stylophora or a Pocillopora. Both can be aggressive and posses stinging tentacles. The Poci can be more aggressive than the Stylo in my experience.

 

[frisbee]

I'm not very good at ID's, but a Pocillipora would be my guess. They don't have the reach IME. I don't even think the hammer would do that at that distance.

 

[reggaedrummin]

Yeah I'm thinking it's a pocillapora too and I think it and the hammer would be at war before either would be capable of reaching the pachyseris. I do see polyps on the far right... looks like acro? That wouldn't do it either... any leathers, favia, or chalice near by?

 

[coralrama]

That pocillipora looking one is actually a montipora I think....I got it from a fellow reefer who was doing some pruning. His was a large plate with branches growing out of it everywhere.

In any event, it's farther away than it looks. I think the skin receeded from being touched when I put it in. Anywhere I touched it turned slightly white. Some areas cleared up, some now have algae. I'm taking the break them off suggestion, thanks everyone for your input.

 

[Oxylebius]

That pocillipora looking one is actually a montipora I think....I got it from a fellow reefer who was doing some pruning. His was a large plate with branches growing out of it everywhere. In any event, it's farther away than it looks. I think the skin receeded from being touched when I put it in. Anywhere I touched it turned slightly white. Some areas cleared up, some now have algae. I'm taking the break them off suggestion, thanks everyone for your input.

I don't think so. I have monties, sylos, and pocis. Looks like either a pocillipora or sylo to me. And several others seem to think it is a pocillipora

 

[coralrama]

You guys are right, it is a pocilliapora

 

[Corvus]

I had a small bit of algae on my candy cane, and I pulled it off and it stayed off. I also had a strand of algae on my stylo frag--again, I picked it off and now it's gone for good. Both corals are healthy and growing (they seem to love my Maxspect Razor light and my Jebao wave maker).

C.