A question for those who have battled Lobophora variegata algea and won.

[rroselavy]

Urchins graze rock in such a haphazard way that I cannot see them being too effective. My Tuxedo, for example, grazes a smallish patch of coralline every once in a while - and is not too thorough about how he does it. My Tuxedo would probably end up carrying the Lobo wafers on its back, quite possibly propagating as much as he eats!

[pammy]

I don't think I could ever trap by Sally by surrounding him. He runs and hides if I go to the tank to look at him. And they can get in the tiniest cracks in the rockwork. I think IF I can catch him, the nylon trick might work best. I don't know for sure that he killed the scallop because I know they are very difficult to keep, but it sure is suspicious since he was trying to get him a day or two before. Other than that though, like you said, he keeps to himself. I haven't seen him go after any of the snails, or my sandsifting star, fromia star, fish, or clam. So rroselavy, are there ANY traces of Lobo at all in your tank since the Sally died?
If the Sally didn't work, I was going to try the AlgaeX, but it seems like there's very mixed reviews on that product. I'd much rather find a predator that worked, rather than use a chemical approach. Pam

Originally posted by rroselavy
Hey Pam-

I had the Sally in a FOWLR nano for one year. He died a week or so after an extended power outage dropped the tank temps 10+ degrees.

I do not remember him picking on any thing, or being anything but defensive - but that tank only had a few fish, shrimp and snails. I had a Yasha Goby in that tank as well that died nearly the same time that I also attributed to the power outage.

Getting a Sally out of a tank with complex rockwork may be a challenge since they can move quite quickly, but SLOWLY surrounding them from 2 sides might work. A trap might work as well, not sure.

Anyhow, the Sally is just one idea that worked for me. Glad it is working for you Pammy. Sorry to hear about the flame scallop.

[A sea K]

Pammy, while your here, what ever happened to your Possum wrasse? If I recall you actually put two in your tank.

[pammy]

The first possum wrasse I put in my tank, swam into the rocks when i added him, never to be seen again! My LFS replaced him with another, and I had him for over 6 months. I added a Coral Beauty, that was overly active and was constantly flying around the tank. From then on, that possum rarely came out, except to grab an occassional piece of food, and he vanished one day. I suspect he starved to death. Wouldn't have added that CB had I known that would happen. I'm not adding another possum, because I added a spotted mandarin 2 months ago, and I can't add anything that will compete for pods. He's doing great and fattening up nicely!

[A sea K]

Sorry to hear. I've always wanted to get one but I don't have any room. Hope things go better with the Mandarin.

[rroselavy]

Originally posted by pammy
So rroselavy, are there ANY traces of Lobo at all in your tank since the Sally died?

I had that tank up for another year after the Sally died, and never saw the Lobophora come back. In fact I have the same LR now in my 20T QT, and there has never been a trace of the wafer since.

Before the Wafer Algae got bad, I was feeding mostly frozen mysis and some other frozen food, and I doubt I was rinsing at that time. Then I started to rinse, reduced portions and shut off return pumps during feedings more regularly, so the solution may have been multi-pronged.

Has anyone tried a Emerald Crab? Probably not as aggressive, but probably not as effective...

I wonder if the Lobophora responds to other tricks like elevated (sustained 1500 ppm) Magnesium levels or elevated (sustained 8.6) pH as in the case of Bryopsis...Hmm.

[A sea K]

OK, against my better judgement I just added a Sally to the tank.
I decided to start with one and see what happens.
So far the little bugger is going to town on the Lobo but he has his work cut out for him. As long as leaves my other inhabitants alone I'll add some more. The funny thing was one of my little Damsel's was really POed about where I put him and let the Sally know about it too.
Wish me luck!

[will16]

good luck. I was just reading about them in the marine invertebrates book. Says they are like jekyl and hyde. When they are small they are mostly herbivores but once they reach a certain size, turn into monsters! Don't mean to scare you but keep an eye on it. Maybe trap him when the time comes?

[A sea K]

Thanks for the good will, Will.
I spent most of last night finding as much info on them as I could and the general consensus was not really positive on them. I also asked specifically about their habits from the three LFS I deal with as they always have a steady supply of Sally's and to no surprise none of the LFS has had any bad reports on the Sally's behaviour, imagine that!
I decided to try a few small ones and remove and replace with more small ones as they grew untill the job was finished.
Not the best approach and kind of a shame really as I think are quite nice looking.

[reefermike1]

following, i too am having problems with this nasty algae. i was just at a lfs today that had a few sallys, i might go back and get one. how big are sallys when theyre considered big? the ones at the lfs were probably an inch or so around, about the size of a good size emerald. should i hold out to find some smaller ones or would that be about right?

[rroselavy]

The leg span width of smaller ones may be somewhere around 2.5", while large ones could have a leg span of 4+". FWIW, Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach CA always has a lot of larger ones on display, mostly in the FOWLR tanks, but I believe I saw one in the small coral tank on the first floor.

[pammy]

I think the body of my sally when I got it about 2 months ago, was between the size of a dime and a nickel. Now, it's between the size of a nickel and a quarter. His leg span right now is probably 2.5 to 3". He is a cool looking grab. Neat to watch. Scary because of what I've read out there. It's amazing how much lobo has disappeared in the two months since I added the sally. I just looked at some older pictures of my tank, and I had waaaay more lobophora than I remembered. Based on the dates of the pictures, I had it for at least as far back as when the tank was 3 months old, and I battled it for a good year until I added the Sally. The Sally is a danger, but I still think it's worth the risk considering that he hasn't killed any fish, and he's almost decimated the lobo in two months. I still will try to catch him and return him to the LFS when he finishes the job with the lobo.
As for the Emerald Crab.... I've never seen the Emerald touch the Lobo. He doesn't work anywhere near as much as that Sally does. The Emerald is another cool looking crab. I did see him attack one of my nacarrius snails.....Little bugger.
Pam,

[SWANN]

Hey everyone, Has anyone thought of a easy, way to get your sallys out, in the case that they do go postal? I have a 180 gal, with one in it to treat for lobo, and am planning to put 1 if not 2 more in it. I also have a dinoflangulate problem. It seems Like its going away but I get this residual dino fur stuff on my rocks after constant blowing of the live rock/airbubbles. any suugestions?
Dont mean to change topics to dinos, just seeking any help. Also, I have read the PH raising thread and light cycle stuff for treatments.

Tank=180gal
29gal refugium w/ spaghetti algae
75gal sump w/ 2 aquaC EV 180
Spectrum pure Ro/DI
Phosban reactor
Redsea aquazone ozonizer.
no measurable nitrates
no measureable phosphates..All tests are salifert

Swann

[A sea K]

Swann, I put 3 in my 210 back on 10/9 and am trying to remove some of my fish to make room for a naso. So far the sally's don't seem to be actively working on the algea, at least not during the normal lighting period. All of my smaller fish are still intact so thats a good sign and I have no plan for getting them out just yet. Figured I cross that bridge when it came time. They are very good at staying hidded so removal will probably a pain.
Are you sure you have dino's and not heavy diatoms? I hope its not dino's as from what I have read it is some nasty stuff for your tank and hard to get rid of.

[SWANN]

Well, although i dont run my lights very long anymore, when I did, or do... It grows to nice snotty stands. My back wall, returns and rocks become covered in airbubbles and snot aswell. I have been blowing what does regrow atleast once a week now and when I started to believe it was in remesion, I noticed the "brown coraline patches" ....oh great, lobo. Im just getting a bad roll of the dice here. Its what I expect though... Ive gone years with this tank when I first set it up, with no pests. But I eventually broke it down, and after setting in the garage for more than 2 years... the tank, rocks, a DSB had time to plan their revenge upon me. None the less... I only have 3 fish, 2 small frags and few inverts now. If I am to deal with these issues, I am glad its now, and not after the tank is fully stocked. I am looking and almost being convinced into useing this Algea-X stuff, although I've never got into useing "algea treatment" chemicals in my tank, ive always liked and setup my tanks o'natural style. But after doing some reading, there alot of people saying it really works well when used correctly.

[surge19us]

Turn your pumps down or off and kalk paste the Lobo. Leave it on at least a couple hours. Turn pumps back up/on. If kalk doesn't blow off, leave it You will see a difference in about two weeks with continued improvement to follow. May need to retreat once or twice a month. When the lobo is gone you will see the clean rock underneath. I haven't figured out if it is the kalk alone or if the kalk somehow makes the lobo more appetizing to your clean up crew. I have 4 various sized areas and it is working on all.

[Ron S.]

Carefull with the Kalk. Kalk causes a drastic change in PH which is probaly why it is working. To much can severly hurt water quality.

Ron

[moses13]

Well, I recently moved a lobo covered rock into my fuge, and within about a week or so, i noticed the lobo disintegrating! I'd never seen that before. Lobo in the rest of the tank is still doing fine. My fuge is fed from the output of my phosban reactor and has a large chaeto ball growing well. Certainly seems to point to phosphates...

[DLANDINO]

I hatte to contribute with a chemical alternative but there is a newer product on the market called Ultra Algae X. There is also a dedicated thread on RC for the product and reviews. The creator claims that it will wipe out any and all algae from your system. This unfortunately means that you would lose coralline algae as well but it may be worth a shot.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1409369

[surge19us]

You don't have to smother it in kalk. Just a line or two from a 5ml syringe. Monitor Ph. But this amount is far less than most people dose in a day. Just use caution if you have a lot or in a nano. Treat it over a period of days if necessary.

[reefermike1]

i bought a sally lightfoot a couple weeks ago now. havent seen him eating the lobo, but it does seem like the lobo is receding. he must just be doing it when im not watching.

i tried kalk pasting it a while ago, in my case it was difficult to get kalk paste where you want in such a large area without removing the rock which isnt an option. it did have some effect on it though it turned it green and stopped it from growing, but only in small areas where the kalk would actually stick.

[A sea K]

Well I just read the linked thread on the algeaX. I'll wait this one out and give the sally's a little time as the treatment sounds like its quite sensitive and is a considerable risk.
I'll keep up with manual removal for now to keep it in check and plan to add a Naso once I have removed a couple other fish to make room, hopefully between the Naso and the sally's I'll be rid of this stuff.

[Ron S.]

Glad we getting a good amout of information here. When I fought mine there was very little to go with. A ses K hope the sally works, I know my naso took care of it in no time.

Ron

[SWANN]

I'd get a naso but I already have an atlantic blue and orange shoulder tang, which bicker enouph as it is in my 180. If i dont see that the sallys are keeping up with the lobo after several weeks though, I may chance it or atleast throw 1 one of my tangs into the refugium temperarly, and get a Naso. Is it correct that Naso's are aggresive towards other tangs? The 2 I have are about 4 inches long, maybe i'd throw both of them in the refugium until the naso cleans up, and I can trade back the naso.

[Ron S.]

SWANN my naso was not aggresive, of course it did hold it's own against my mean Powder Brown.

Ron