mollies and algae control -- mine do nothing\

[CTaylor]

Hi
I recently got some mollies, from a tank that they cleaned of almost all the algae in it.
It's been a week and they do zipppo. They re not hiding, the gernerally hang out on the top of the tank. I even went two days no food, but that didn't work. My main problem is Bryospsis (that my mex turbos keep my tank clean of, but not whne it's more than a mm long).

Will they ever eat it? or just bring them back to LFS? ugh
ty!

[Michael Hoaster]

Don't feed them at all, ever. I've had great luck with them, but they don't eat ALL algae. Give them another week or two without feeding them. I lack experience with bryopsis, but it may require a bigger herbivorous fish, like a dwarf angelfish or tang. Or the 'nuclear option'-Urchins could be your best bet.

Any algae that grows long, like bryopsis, often needs to be trimmed down beforehand. So manual removal to provide an assist can also help.

[CTaylor]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Don't feed them at all, ever. I've had great luck with them, but they don't eat ALL algae. Give them another week or two without feeding them. I lack experience with bryopsis, but it may require a bigger herbivorous fish, like a dwarf angelfish or tang. Or the 'nuclear option'-Urchins could be your best bet.

Any algae that grows long, like bryopsis, often needs to be trimmed down beforehand. So manual removal to provide an assist can also help.

Hi
TY. I have read they do eat bry. It's really not possible to not feed my tank for a week, as I have other frequent feeders esp anthias. I'd probably put the mollies in a separate container for a week no food. Mexican turbos keep rocks clean of bry, just not when it grows to any length. I got the mollies to hopfully eat the stuff the mex turbs wont. Only reason it gets like that is b/c the mex turbos die (often killed by hermits) and I dont catch when their numbers get reduced below whatever the number is required to keep tank clean. Therefor I got the mollies to fill that gap. I just cleaned the rocks last night. And I'm getting a refill of turbos on Tues. I'll still do the 1 week isolation so maybe it will get them to at least taste the rocks.

[Michael Hoaster]

Sure, you've got to feed other fish. A week isolated could help. Good luck!

[Timfish]

I would get Tuxedo, Royal or the short spine pink caribean urchins. Urchins do a much better job of scraping the "holdfasts" algae use to attach to rock and regrow when eaten than other algae eaters.