ID Request - Red Plants and Spikey Plant

[SaltedWaters]

Anyone know what the red plant is, growth is out of control in my tank. Also this odd plant with spikes popped up.

Here is a full tank shot, for some reason I thought it was maybe red dragon algae. Can't even get lazy for a few weeks.

 

[brandon429]

I bet I've collected fifteen tanks before and after pics of that cleaned nicely by peroxide. The reason why it works so well is the turnaround time and the preservation of everything else but the target, I don't think there's a better way, but I'm biased. Couldn't even give the nutrient control guys a seconds delay...rhydophyta works on >five day time frames as a reaction to peroxide application

The rocks do not recycle. Simply take them out, open a bottle of 3% peroxide brand new, pour it across the whorls of that algae and not on corals. Let sit in air two mins. Rinse, don't remove the algae, put back in tank and photograph the death phase, it turns hot pink first. It will die and fall off and you can siphon off, if you hand remove it the effects of the peroxide won't be as awesome to watch.

Don't worry about spot cleaning around LPS just yet. First attack is broader covering the easy area, results = excellent.

Need full tank shot.


This is an obligate hitchhiker that has been in my tanks, when eradicated, it cannot come back until reimported. Proper quarantine is the preventative, nothing about your nutrients matter when a for sure direct kill is so easily avail. The preservation of the live rock filtration capacity while turning plant cells white is the contrasting appeal of this method on this kind of algae, and, only a test rock is needed nobody says its instant full commit. A single test rock w show it

 

[twilliard]

Oh no aptasia!
darn things will grow as fast as the algae.

 

[reef heaven]

Not a plant, looks like aptasia

 

[Tahoe61]

I can not ID the algae could be red dictyota algae, the other ID is a pest anemone similar to Majano and Aiptasia.

 

[SaltedWaters]

Holy crap, you guys are fast. This is my first saltwater tank. First I beat the green hair algae, then flatworms, now hopefully I can fix this.

 

[SaltedWaters]

I bet I've collected fifteen tanks before and after pics of that cleaned nicely by peroxide. The reason why it works so well is the turnaround time and the preservation of everything else but the target, I don't think there's a better way, but I'm biased. Couldn't even give the nutrient control guys a seconds delay...rhydophyta works on >five day time frames as a reaction to peroxide application

The rocks do not recycle. Simply take them out, open a bottle of 3% peroxide brand new, pour it across the whorls of that algae and not on corals. Let sit in air two mins. Rinse, don't remove the algae, put back in tank and photograph the death phase, it turns hot pink first. It will die and fall off and you can siphon off, if you hand remove it the effects of the peroxide won't be as awesome to watch.

Don't worry about spot cleaning around LPS just yet. First attack is broader covering the easy area, results = excellent.

Need full tank shot.


This is an obligate hitchhiker that has been in my tanks, when eradicated, it cannot come back until reimported. Proper quarantine is the preventative, nothing about your nutrients matter when a for sure direct kill has been done and photographed 15 times just my opinion~
B

Thanks, I will give this a try.

 

[brandon429]

I hope you will document it with great pics I will link your thread to one just shy of two hundred thousand views

This algae killed reefbowl 1 and when I moved corals to new reefbowl in 2006 it came back but a poster named Reefmiser showed me the peroxide method and changed my reefing permanently.


This invader has been allowed full holdfast establishment, isn't the same as treating the first tuft on a rock and this test run is exactly what reveals the characteristics expected regarding its death and grow back action. Within a few customized applications its just like killing dandelions in a yard

the nice part of peroxide is its well reviewed not to affect cycling bacteria in the marine aquarium even in stronger doses, that used to be a source of good debate. Too many applications now to doubt, our peroxide threads number in the hundreds of combined pages now.

B

 

[SaltedWaters]

I hope you will document it with great pics I will link your thread to one just shy of two hundred thousand views

This algae killed reefbowl 1 and when I moved corals to new reefbowl in 2006 it came back but a poster named Reefmiser showed me the peroxide method and changed my reefing permanently.

B

I will try it this weekend and take some pics.

 

[brandon429]

Steve J from thereeftank was nice to let me use his pics to help others

1 dose. 99% chop. He let rock soak a few mins in the air, got the target good and wet, no hand removal. This is five day die off but he really hit them hard. This tank did not mini cycle, it just continued. He specifically cleaned out the rocks and sand after accessing the rocks for a full picture fix, we did try and lower his nutrient sink in addition.

 

[acbaldwin]

Hard to tell from pics, but it's either red dictyota (total pest), or Gracilaria mammillaris.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Yea, hard to tell really, but my guess is Red Turf Algae, and a bit of red bubble algae thrown in there.

 

[SaltedWaters]

Alright gave it a try.


Got myself some 3% Peroxide and a syringe.

There were a bunch of baby Astria snails on the rock, sorry snails. I put the peroxide on the algae and it started to fizz. Sounded almost like pop rocks.

I washed off the rock and let it air out for a few min. Put it back in the tank, started to turn orange.

Here is a few min. later.

 

[brandon429]

stunning documentation, can't wait. there is a neat phase where they go hot pink, bright and obvious, as the cells apoptose and begin to spill their contents like a horror movie.



jus a little prediction to test. these pics are great and giant.

what they leak in dying doesnt matter, it pales in comparison to the nutrients added via daily feeding.

 

[SaltedWaters]

I'm thinking maybe I should put the rocks into a bucket of saltwater instead of back in the tank. I'm worried if I take the rocks out though my Goby and Fire Shrimp will have no where to hide.

 

[brandon429]

well they w only be out a few mins, that hiding wont matter. my offer was to lift out the rocks and treat externally as you are doing, rinse really well, dip back in a bucket of clean sw as an extra measure if you can for the extra mile rinse, and then reposition back in the tank.

Always keep in mind the predicted sensitive animals, your fire shrimp, against this method as any mistakes w kill that shrimp. Its also easy to never expose that shrimp to peroxide, but not rinsing correctly etc can do it, and IMO you are saving an ecosystem at the cost of an inhabitant=worth it but not everyone agrees. they only rate peroxide effective if 100% of nontargets are safe and your target never shows up again after a single dose lol (hey thanks for the one off standard nothing else in reefing is expected to provide ha ha)

peroxide is dang good here, but needs a few cycles to beat back this animal that grew in cycles from a small mass to a dominant one.


but the prediction is you will have minor growback, this wasn't acting on the first minor mass but we will still win. you will need to retreat spots again, but we shall soon see you are treating with something powerfully effective against that algae and very predictable in its timeframes and action.

the next few times you are removing rocks to zap, thats the price for waiting but we are in the process of saving this tank and its my friendly offer nobody could have starved this out with nutrient controls. it was get a grazer lucky and dont cheat, or cheat this whole tank into compliance and im a purveyor of option b.



so they are without their rocks only a few brief minutes

also, consider any detritus kicked up here, that remarks on how your tank is storing wastes and indeed feeding the algae in addition to what it can naturally harvest anyway in super clean waters. these clouds of dust if any are a real ammonia risk, making something look like a peroxide death when in fact it was a mini cycle by not having the nutrient stores in check. those are confounding details to consider in tank workovers.

it helps to isolate or quarantine sensitive animals in alt tanks as we kick up filth and dose this or that. if not possible, we work around keeping everything inside by doing small sections slowly, so these waste release events are sized correctly.

this needs to be a period of a week or two during these remove and treat actions that you are removing waste and changing water more than normal, some of the physical work not done now needs to be to lessen any nutrient sinking as a true long term balance issue.

lastly, there are plenty of natural examples where this kind of algae and many others takes over reefs when nutrient levels aren't to blame, merely lack of grazing, and as of now we are chemical grazers.

 

[SaltedWaters]

Thanks for the info, help, and cheerleading!

I'm getting ready a bucket of saltwater to put the a few rocks into until they are clean and then I will switch the bigger rocks out for the fresh ones one at a time to not cause too much commotion. I putting my drop cam on the bucket so I can get a time lapse video of the death caused by the peroxide. I will post more as the days go on. Sadly, I don't have another tank I could throw my fish into while I do this. So I'm going to take it slow.

 

[SaltedWaters]

Day 2, the bucket of Saltwater I put the rock in is starting to smell. The tips of the plants are starting to turn pink. Here is a close up of the live rock. Taking things slow right now. I used some peroxide on another smaller rock and put it in with this one.

 

[brandon429]

Should change water if smell for sure. Allow no rot~The phytochemical release=stinky I bet. Nice test bucketing

Im glad you did the separate test curing those releases might be annoying to sensitive shrimp nice call.

 

[SaltedWaters]

Should change water if smell for sure. Allow no rot~The phytochemical release=stinky I bet. Nice test bucketing

Im glad you did the separate test curing those releases might be annoying to sensitive shrimp nice call.

I did a big water change on the bucket. Had to make some more saltwater, trying to keep any Coraline algae on the rocks alive or do you think this process will kill everything? The smell is a lot better now. More of the algae has turned hot pink. Hopefully it is getting real close to the die and **** stage so I can put the rocks back in the tank.