Algae ID

[Kiel'thalin]

This stuff is Bryopsis Algae Correct? It has been a little bit of a battle ever since the tank was setup. It seems to only grow on certain rocks. My foxface will eat it, but the algae always returns on the same rocks. Usually I pull it out by hand in clumps. Still, it returns to the same spots not spreading to the other rocks. I say only about 1/3 of the rocks are covered, the other 2/3rds are completely algae free. I just added a 10 gallon refugium in hope to deter it. I am just wondering if it is the infamous bryopsis variety?

http://home.mchsi.com/~liztara/Algae.JPG

[ducati1212]

it looks like Feather Caulerpa to me. I have the same stuff and thats what I have been told it is. It spread out of control in my tank took me months to get it under control.

[Amphiprion]

Looks like Bryopsis spp. to me.

[Kiel'thalin]

It is defiently not Feather Caulerpa, I am thinking more of a Bryopsis plumosa variety or Derbesia? This stuff is very annoying. I have cheato growing like crazy in the fuge atm. Only time will tell now. My wife told me to throw the rocks away. But I don't know if I am up for that yet.

[alan214]

Based on the level of detail afforded in the picture, this is absolutely Feather Caulerpa. If you can provide another picture that shows an individual stalk or two, that would be very helpful to confirm the ID.

[Kiel'thalin]

This stuff is kinda slimy and will not hold its feather integrity out of water. That is is why I ruled out the caulerpa. Also the foxface will only eat the shorter strains, hince the manual removal. I put a baseball size clump of regular feather caulerpa to compete with it, but my foxface went nuts over it and ate the caulerpa in a matter of 3 days. Then I added the refugium with cheato for the last ditch effort.

[Kiel'thalin]

Here is a pic of the same rock back in sept, it was scrubbed and left to cook for 5 weeks in total darkness with weekly water changes. It only grew the algae mentioned in the 1st post in the last two months.

http://home.mchsi.com/~liztara/tankright.JPG

[alan214]

Oh, okay. Then it sounds like you may have a mixture. I'm not as familiar with Briopsis so perhaps some others can confirm if that last picture is indeed that.