Please help identify these Algae

[plowro8]

Please help identify the algae in each of these three photos. I assume they are all different types? The first photo on the left, I am wondering about the purple fuzzy stuff all over the rock. In the second photo, I am wondering about the red bubbly type formations at the top of the old coral skeleton... just to the right of the trumpet coral. And in the third, I am wondering about the dark purple (almost black) velvety stuff on the rock between the brain and the acan. Thanks!!

[Potsy]

The problem with identifying the reddish purplish algae is that there are so many species in the rhodophytum family that look similar. Often, mexican turbo snails will consume red algae, but some species are distasteful due to the bromide concentrated in the algae' cell.

I don't know about the second. The third could be some kind of blue-green Cyanobacteria. Does it blow off the rock easily?

[Potsy]

Look up red bubble algae for info on the the 2nd algae.

[plowro8]

The problem with identifying the reddish purplish algae is that there are so many species in the rhodophytum family that look similar. Often, mexican turbo snails will consume red algae, but some species are distasteful due to the bromide concentrated in the algae' cell.

I don't know about the second. The third could be some kind of blue-green Cyanobacteria. Does it blow off the rock easily?

I've had Turbo snails before, but they tend to bulldoze all my corals and make a mess of things.

The stuff in the third pic does not blow off the rocks easily. It's almost the consistency of a wet paper towel.

[plowro8]

Bump... Come on, surely somebody's got an ID for me on these algae?

[TonysReef]

Bump... Come on, surely somebody's got an ID for me on these algae?

Looks like cyano and a mixer of bubble algae

[mayjong]

last one looks like a sponge to me

[plowro8]

last one looks like a sponge to me

Is a sponge a nuisance algae?

[jarrod13]

I dealt with the algae in the second pic for about two years, nasty stuff!! If it's isolated on just a few rocks I strongly recommend to just pull them and kill the rock completely so to be sure none of it survives. If you can't do that, the only things that I found to eat it was a long spined urchin and a desjardini sailfin tang. The tang was the best solution, the urchin would eat it but not all of it, it would leave pieces behind. It's a species of Botryocladia, not sure exactly which one from the pics. Does it have bright orange spots on the bubbles?

[plowro8]

I dealt with the algae in the second pic for about two years, nasty stuff!! If it's isolated on just a few rocks I strongly recommend to just pull them and kill the rock completely so to be sure none of it survives. If you can't do that, the only things that I found to eat it was a long spined urchin and a desjardini sailfin tang. The tang was the best solution, the urchin would eat it but not all of it, it would leave pieces behind. It's a species of Botryocladia, not sure exactly which one from the pics. Does it have bright orange spots on the bubbles?


Yes, the bubbles are orangeish... especially when the lunar lights are on. I always thought they were kind of cool before I got coral, but then I found out they were some sort of nuisance. For whatever reason, they established themselves where they're at now about 6 months ago, and they haven't really spread since. The algae that bugs me the most is the purple fuzzy stuff.