Black hair algae

[Musho3210]

Ok, theres a problem in my tank. Lots of black (yes black) hair algae, it is mainly growing on the rock that is directly under my tank lighting but it is also on other rocks. It has started growing ON my zoanthid and ALL my corals are closed, and my feather duster discarded its feather. They have been closed for 4 days in a row now, first day i thought it was just there thing, second day i said something on the nano reef section, no reply, third day RC was down, so i ask here today. It is hairy, it is black, that is how i explain it. I rip off as much as i can but its hard since they dont grow in long strands. I tried putting blue legged hermits on it, blue legs walked away, i tried an astraea snail, didnt eat it.

I also have a lot of bubbles on my rock, both bottom and top. They are mainly on 3 rocks and some chaeto strands on the rock is covered with bubbles. My monti cap seems to have started bleaching as well

Stats are fine, phosphate, ammonia, nitrite, 0, nitrate somewhere near 5. Calcium 360 (low, i started putting in a bit of kent turbo calcium to help keep levels up)

My skimmer has been skimming pretty madly so that may be another clue.

My clownfish are 110% fine. They are very very healthy, swimming normally, eating as much as they can find, staying near there sorta host brain coral (brain is closed, all corals in my tank are closed)

Any more info check out my reef log. Please i need help, corals arent getting any better. Skeleton is starting to show on frogspawn and candy cane.

[Musho3210]

well you can all say goodbye to my monti cap, its more white than brown, like 90% white. My frogspawn seems next in line to go. No one knows what this is? Well only 18 people viewed this....

[Sarcophyton874]

Your last line of defense is getting a small sea urchin. It will eat coraline, but it should grow back. I've had a hair algae problem for a while and I finally decided to go with a small tuxedo. He is slowly, but surely, devouring the algae.

Make sure it's not the lazy type of urchin!

[Fishie Nut]

Sea Hare will eat ALL the soft algae in your tank and then die. So keep an eye on it. Once the algae is gone, give it back to the LFS. They're only a few $$, maybe the LFS will give you a credit.

[Musho3210]

hmm, its black though, is that normal and/or common? And does that relate to why the corals are closed?

[aquarius77]

What is your water source?

Something is wrong within the tank, how long has it been setup.

Adding another animal is not the answer.

[Sarcophyton874]

Could be just going through a cycle. If your parameters are fine, there is no problem with adding another invert. The fact that it's black doesn't make that much of a difference...

The skimmer going crazy might mean you added something to the tank--involuntarily or voluntarily.

[Musho3210]

i recently added a torch coral frag. Might have brought something with it. Tank is 2 1/2 months old. Nitrates and phosphates are at 0 today


RO/DI water with 0-1 tds reading is where the water comes from. Reef crystals salt mix. Do you think i should try another salt and see if anything gets better?

[ricsreef]

Never heard of black hair algae in saltwater.It's probably red algae it gets very dark sometimes and looks almost black.Could it be some type of cyano?or maybe red tide disease?Do you have any plants because thats what red/black hair algae usually comes from in FW,maybe it's the same in SW.If your corals are responding badly,I would do a major water change(50%) and try to save as many as you can.Use some phosban and carbon and let your skimmer do it's job.I wish you had some pics,it would help identify your problem,maybe someone else can be of more assistance.Good luck with it,dont give up,have faith.

[Musho3210]

its not cyano or anything since its hairy. It could be called a very dark green. Oh and i already did a 50% water change without any help. I am making water to do another 50%.

Its growing on my corals, dont know if hair algae does that and my rocks are full of bubbles, i have no idea what the bubbles are, nitrogen gas maybe? Its also growing on my chaeto. I seriously have no idea what is going on at all, ive never read about this nor have heard anyone talk about it....

Oh and my blood shrimp molted (scared me since it was first time) but its a sucessfull molt, i mean shrimp are pretty sensitive so whatever is killing the corals isnt doing anything to the shrimp. I also run purigen, should i take it out?

[ricsreef]

is it stringy?and does it trap bubbles in it?does it rise up toward the surface with tiny bubbles attached?

[Musho3210]

hmm, yes the algae is stringy, like hair, and the algae does trap bubbles, the bubbles are mostly where the algae is but there are some places with bubbles and no algae. My glass is also growing diatoms fast, like really fast, i scraped it all off a few days ago and today its covered again.

[ricsreef]

Its sounds like Dinoflagellates or Red Tide disease,google the first one and see if any pics look like what you have.I will see if I can find a pic. or a link for you.

[ricsreef]

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...3DlUB%26sa%3DG
Try this one

[ricsreef]

sorry it's so long,but the rest of the pics were of Dino cells.This one was underinoflagellates in aquariums.

[ricsreef]

Looks dark green or brown really stringy and breaks up when you try to pull it out,It's actually Diatoms that stick together and form a stringy,slimy mess.

[Musho3210]

thats a mouthfull lol

well there are some parts of my tank that looks like it has dyno whatever, but very few parts.

I just ordered a UVS for my freshwater tank, would there be any benefit in running it in the saltwater? Should i try it out and see if it helps?

Should i keep running kalk?

[Musho3210]

http://www.janetsreef.com/hairalgae.JPG

imagine that but being black, thats my algae.

[ricsreef]

It will cover corals and rock,substrate,everything if you dont fight it.If that is it.You are in for a fight as I have caught this disease before.It is beatable,but takes a lot of patience and water changes with siphoning off as much of it as you can with a small hose(3/8 or 1/2) works best.Suck it up with the hose,dont stir it as this will help it to spread,you also want to cut light cycle way back for a few days(4 hrs)total light.It is going to take awhile,so dont get discouraged.As fast as you siphon it out,the next day it grows back unless you cut lighting back,WAY back.

[ricsreef]

It took me two months of fighting to get rid of it,water changes,siphoning and cutting the light cycle to 4 hours a day for a week at the end,because the first six weeks I did not know cutting the lights back would help.I was stumped too.Theres a guy in our reefclub that turns his lights off for 3 days at a time,once every couple of months,doesnt kill anything but the bad algae,His tank is always pristine conditions,I'm thinking of doing the same myself,It's just a little scary to get out of the norm.

[ricsreef]

Might just be some type of regular algae from the pic you have there.Just a darker type.Hope it's not the Dinos.siphon it out as much as you can,run some phosban and carbon.You'll be fine.

[ricsreef]

You will here mixed feelings on using UV in a reef system,some like them better than skimmers,I'm not one of them.I run a UV,but only on my QT tank.Dont see how the kalk would hurt anything if your getting good test readings.

[ricsreef]

Hope I was a little help Musho,gotta go,good luck

[Musho3210]

it was nice help, so far i have diatoms, dyno something, and black hair algae..... well this is encouraging lol. Ill siphon as much as i can, i will do as many water changes as i can, and i will lower the light a bit. It is a strong light for my corals (mainly lps) so they should be ok with less light if i put them a bit higher up the tank.

Once i fix my green water problem in my freshwater i may move the UVS over to the saltwater and run it maybe once a week or something.

[Musho3210]

I might take out my torch coral temporarily since all the closing and stuff happened after the torch went in.