Best chemical treatment for hair algae?

[SFREEF3R]

I have had a nagging hair algae infestation that has taken hold of certain regions of the tank - mostly in lower light areas - and a few spots of bryopsis.

I have been treating for 3 weeks with a combination of Fluconazole (Flux RX) and Algaefix. I had heard mix messages on Fluconazole ability to treat hair algae so I doubled up to try to make sure I nail the algae. I still do my weekly water changes but, re-dose immediately after to match the expected concentration.

The bryopsis is essentially gone, but the hair algae, while reduced, is still hanging on. I think mechanical removal has been more effective than anything.

I've attached a picture here for ID as I assume there may be multiple species called "hair algae". The algae is very soft and wispy but very difficult to pull cleanly off the rock. Scrubbing with a tooth brush yields ok results where there is space to access but I can't quite get everywhere. The colors are a little off in the photo as i've optimized the color for viewing the algae.

Phosphate ranges from 0-0.02.

Any recommendations on additional treatments to try? None of my CUC will touch the stuff. My urchins will eat it if its between them and something they want to eat but I can't get them to eat it intentionally.

I know Hydrogen Peroxide is an option as well, but I've been avoiding because I've seen anecdotal reports of impact pod/microinvert populations. I also don't want to impact my coralline.

 

[Timfish]

Manual removal is what I typically use. You might try a syrenge with H2O2, press against the base of the algae and squirt a small amount, wait a little bit then siphon out the algae. I wouldn't use any chemical additive means of killing algae as it doesn't address the underlying issues that let algae take over and releases the nutrients sequestered in hte algae back into the ecosystem.

 

[John Bolden]

Reef flux gets rid of it. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-flux-fluconazole-treatment-reefhd.html

 

[Bucs20fan]

If you really want to dose something, fluconazole or reef flux as it is commonly referred to, is going to be the safest bet. I know your phosphate reading is showing low, but thats not the actual value, most of it is being used up by the algae as soon as it is produced. I will caution you that as @Timfish said. This will upset the balance so to speak. It will kill the algae, but it will swing the door wide open for something to take its place.

 

[design.maddie]

What are you feeding the tank? and how often? You have some good recommendations for your chemical solution but can we work on the root cause also?

 

[srobertb]

I have had a nagging hair algae infestation that has taken hold of certain regions of the tank - mostly in lower light areas - and a few spots of bryopsis.

I have been treating for 3 weeks with a combination of Fluconazole (Flux RX) and Algaefix. I had heard mix messages on Fluconazole ability to treat hair algae so I doubled up to try to make sure I nail the algae. I still do my weekly water changes but, re-dose immediately after to match the expected concentration.

The bryopsis is essentially gone, but the hair algae, while reduced, is still hanging on. I think mechanical removal has been more effective than anything.

I've attached a picture here for ID as I assume there may be multiple species called "hair algae". The algae is very soft and wispy but very difficult to pull cleanly off the rock. Scrubbing with a tooth brush yields ok results where there is space to access but I can't quite get everywhere. The colors are a little off in the photo as i've optimized the color for viewing the algae.

Phosphate ranges from 0-0.02.

Any recommendations on additional treatments to try? None of my CUC will touch the stuff. My urchins will eat it if its between them and something they want to eat but I can't get them to eat it intentionally.

I know Hydrogen Peroxide is an option as well, but I've been avoiding because I've seen anecdotal reports of impact pod/microinvert populations. I also don't want to impact my coralline.

Manual removal. I would use a small wire brush but make sure it’s a good one. Cheap ones send metal hairs everywhere. Improve flow in those spots. Mitigate the food source via increased refugium output or water changes.

 

[Midrats]

He's already using fluconazole.

 

[Rocktron1]

Flux Rx worked a treat for me recently, but no water changes during treatment. Leave for the full 14 days and possibly a couple more if still there at that point. All my gha was eliminated. But like was said above, it can open door to something else. I now have a small diatom or Dino outbreak happening, not sure which yet

 

[Darstar301]

Flux RX and Reef Flux did not do anything for my GHA. 7-8 months of manual bi-weekly removal, dollar store brushes. An algae scrubber finally worked to remove about 98%. Still have a little growing on the rocks.

 

[Auto-pilot]

If it were my tank and I was set on using reef flux or similar I would get a good brush scrub all the rocks as best as I could do a big water change and the next day treat the tank. All that algae dying is going to decrease your water quality and you will want to do some good water changes to remove any extra nutrients and waste from the tank to be successful.

 

[SFREEF3R]

I know your phosphate reading is showing low, but thats not the actual value, most of it is being used up by the algae as soon as it is produced.

This seems highly unlikely - there is very very little algae in the tank. I actually think my high volume of corals is probably the main consumer of nutrients. The image I shared is the main spot where there is algae and it took quite a long time to grow to the length indicated. I don't believe the algae in my tank is significant in nutrient consumption or sequestering. I can understand though how if you had a massive algae growth it might hide a nutrient problem.

I monitor my feeding closely as I have had nutrients get out of control before.

At the start of the treatment I manually removed as much as I could. I have not observed meaningful growth of the algae, nothing has taken its place, and there has been no shift in my tank nutrients - but I can't get it to die.

My main reason for pursuing a chemical treatment is that some of the locations are not easily accessed for scrubbing and I really want to prevent the growth from getting out of control in the future.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem any new options are on the table. Just thought I'd ask to make sure I'm not missing anything!

I'm not in a position to add more livestock at the moment, but I will probably try some more CUC options when I am able and I'll have to do my best with mechanical removal to make sure it doesn't become a problem.

 

[SFREEF3R]

Manual removal. I would use a small wire brush but make sure it’s a good one. Cheap ones send metal hairs everywhere. Improve flow in those spots. Mitigate the food source via increased refugium output or water changes.

I actually do think flow could be implicated - I don't have a lot of knobs to increase flow as my pumps are already maxed out to keep my SPS happy, but the areas where the algae still persist are not only lower light but also lower flow.

I think it's possible that some detritus is settling in those spots and helping to feed the algae.

 

[Jasonak]

I battled hair for months and months one time and one day I was talking with local reef store owner about my troubles and he said cut your lights back man, 100 percent worked go figure. So simple but never occurred to me. I think I was on 10 hours and I cut em back to 8.

I have also used

Blue Life Phosphate Rx​

To help with phosphate removal.

 

[srobertb]

I actually do think flow could be implicated - I don't have a lot of knobs to increase flow as my pumps are already maxed out to keep my SPS happy, but the areas where the algae still persist are not only lower light but also lower flow.

I think it's possible that some detritus is settling in those spots and helping to feed the algae.

Maybe clean your powerheads? I find that the algae shows up sometimes when they get dirty. A turkey Baster and scrubbing for a couple weeks may be enough to knock it back so it doesn’t come back.

 

[BlingityBling]

This seems highly unlikely - there is very very little algae in the tank. I actually think my high volume of corals is probably the main consumer of nutrients. The image I shared is the main spot where there is algae and it took quite a long time to grow to the length indicated. I don't believe the algae in my tank is significant in nutrient consumption or sequestering. I can understand though how if you had a massive algae growth it might hide a nutrient problem.

I monitor my feeding closely as I have had nutrients get out of control before.

At the start of the treatment I manually removed as much as I could. I have not observed meaningful growth of the algae, nothing has taken its place, and there has been no shift in my tank nutrients - but I can't get it to die.

My main reason for pursuing a chemical treatment is that some of the locations are not easily accessed for scrubbing and I really want to prevent the growth from getting out of control in the future.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem any new options are on the table. Just thought I'd ask to make sure I'm not missing anything!

I'm not in a position to add more livestock at the moment, but I will probably try some more CUC options when I am able and I'll have to do my best with mechanical removal to make sure it doesn't become a problem.

This was a well timed post for me as I have a similar issue in one of my smaller tanks. Running it 2 years without issue now and six moths ago decided to make it all zoas. Of four rock formations i just have one annoying spot on the top front left rock that it just won't die... It's never gone anywhere else in the tank and I can't use a brush as it's going right through zoas. Takes a long time to grow out and I usually pull as much of it as possible. I mention this because I have always assumed a small bit of it was introduced on a frag rather than magically appearing due to an imbalance in my numbers that really doesn't exist in any of the five tanks I have. So Like you... I'm ok with trying a "cure" as the past six months have become repetative, and the hair algae has not taken over the tank (in fact it has only occupied the same spot across the top of one rock), yet also won't die. I am going to give this stuff a shot and see what, if anything happens. I only mention this as people are quick to assume there has to be a problem that caused it that you should correct first... And I'm not saying thats wrong, but isn't always right... just saying there may not be In my case, I'm positive my problem was not cleaning a frag well enough lol. So there's really nothing to correct in the tank for me.

 

[Heather w]

Flux RX and Reef Flux did not do anything for my GHA. 7-8 months of manual bi-weekly removal, dollar store brushes. An algae scrubber finally worked to remove about 98%. Still have a little growing on the rocks.

Algae scrubber? Manual? Chemical? Equipment? What do you mean?

 

[exnisstech]

Interesting that Flux rx didn't get rid of it. I used it a couple of months ago per the instructions and all green hair algae was gone. Then cyano covered everything but that's another story.