PLEASE HELP: Red Cotton Candy Algae in Fuge

[Chuck Spyropulos]

My refugium is being taken over by that red cotton candy algae, due to a bag of chaeto I got from a previous frag swap. The chaeto had some of this algae in it, unknown to me until it was too late. Lesson learned.

Now the red stuff is totally interwoven within the strands of the chaeto in my refugium. Since I am not sure wheter or not this algae can go sexual and spread into my main tank, I took my refugium off line tonight, removed all of the chaeto and as much of teh red cotton candy as possible. Then I introduced 10 mexican turbo snails to finish the job. I have a Magnum 350 canister filter running carbon and polyfilter to provide water quality for the snails and pods and worms in the sand. My refugium is a 55 gallon tank with a 6 inch sandbed and maybe 20 pounds of live rock. There are no fish in it, just snails, pods, worms, mini stars, etc. After the red cotton candy algae is gone I will drain the refugium down to the sand and replace 100% of the water above the sand.

Question 1: Is the Magnum canister filter, along with the sandbed and live rock enough to keep the water quality ok ?

Question 2: Should I keep the lights off to stave off the growth of the cotton candy algae, or do I need to keep the lights on for some reason?

Question3: What else have I forgotten to do?

 

[Moe_K]

There's a snail that eats the stuff. I forget which one.
Greg knows, and will likely respond to this thread.

 

[NateHanson]

I don't think even the canister filter is needed since you don't have any fish or other major waste producers in there. I expect the biological filtration of the sand and rock will be more than enough to keep the water in there crystal clear.

Can you scrub and suck all the cotton candy algae off the rock, tank sides, etc? I'd try physical removal first. Light deprevation hasn't worked for me when I've tried it on other types of algae for 2-plus weeks.

 

[Armando]

how about putting a tang in the refugium temporarily

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Snails

Yes, the Mexican Turbo Snails (Pacific Turbos) are supposed to eat it. I put 10 of those in to clean of the remnants of what I could not remove on my own.

There's a snail that eats the stuff. I forget which one.
Greg knows, and will likely respond to this thread.

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Good!

Yes, that is what I was thinking....just wanted to hear it from someone else to be sure.....It's like I knw that this should work but it seemed to ease !!!LOL!

I also think that I should use the filter with the pleated filter to scrub the rocks and sides instead of running Carbon/Polyfilter...thanks Nate

I don't think even the canister filter is needed since you don't have any fish or other major waste producers in there. I expect the biological filtration of the sand and rock will be more than enough to keep the water in there crystal clear.

Can you scrub and suck all the cotton candy algae off the rock, tank sides, etc? I'd try physical removal first. Light deprevation hasn't worked for me when I've tried it on other types of algae for 2-plus weeks.

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Tang

I read that Tangs will not eat this stuff...the only thing that eats it is Turbo Snails.

how about putting a tang in the refugium temporarily

 

[paine43]

is this a deep reddish color? kinda looks like fuzz? i just got some marco that has this in it as well i wasn't sure what it was

 

[clamm]

ive seen this alot lately...it stays in the fuge and does infest the main tank in my situation...

 

[Lourdes]

ive seen this alot lately...it stays in the fuge and does infest the main tank in my situation...

infest in what way ...

 

[clamm]

it doesnt seem to show up in the main tank...or at least doesnt yet. I have seen it in several peoples fuges lately...

 

[marco67]

Chuck,
I think you may find that the turbos (buldozers) like your chaeto a little to much.
(it's what we feed them in their holding tank and they knock it down pretty fast)
One thing that I've noticed is the red "cotton candy" is more light loving than chaeto, I have a 55 gallon refuge that had quite a bit in it, enough that is was choking out the chaeto. I removed the light and now the chaeto is doing better than ever. After about 3 weeks there is not a trace of the red left. The only light the chaeto is getting is some scatter from the sump, and natural room light. It is dark green and the growth rate is better than ever.

 

[etszoo]

I second Marco's post. Had it in my fuge. Decreased light cycle in fuge which eliminated it. Unfortunately it has migrated to my display. My sailfin blenny picks off the
rocks and sand and spits it out, has not become a problem yet. However will plan a
regimen of decreased light times for a while to eliminate it.

 

[gordonzoo]

I also have it in my fuge. It was given to me with other macro. So is the only reason it's bad is that it may choke out the cheto and it may get in the main tank if the inhabitants don?t like to eat it. I have a couple of tangs that should scarf it up. I've just started the fuge and haven?t built up a large quantity so I haven?t tried giving it to the tangs yet so I'm not sure that they will like it yet. So it's still good on keeping the Phosphates down and it doesn?t go sexual correct?
Rich

 

[jackie]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is this stuff? I'm sure I know it by another name...is it some kind of caulerpa?

Sorry for hijacking

 

[marco67]

I've yet to see a tang that will eat it.
It's a little easier to get rid of in the fuge because lighting is not that critical, (just go with no light for a few weeks). I have gotten rid of it in a main tank but it's torture, very frequent aggressive water changes (2-3/wk) using a siphon tube and tooth brush to manually get rid of as much as possible. During this I also run rowa pos. Then just when you?re about to give up ..bam ...it's gone.

 

[etszoo]

Jackie it is a type of algae. Not sure of name or identity. It tends to grow more in fuges in chaeto or caulerpa tending to "choke it out". Could be because of the reduced
flow in those areas. Rowaphos does help with it. And yes, one day...it is just...gone.
-Eric

 

[jackie]

Thanks Eric Never heard of it......but I'll keep an eye out for it.

 

[marco67]

BTW
This is a prime example of the need to practice "safe trading"
I'm noticing a trend here Flat worms, red acro mites, monti eating nudis, nuisance alaege...etc etc...
Let?s get those Q tanks running...!..?

 

[Armando]

any pix or id so we know more about this type of algae?