Algae Encased Polyps

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Kaush

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Croydon, Surrey
I have a colony of beautiful neon green polyps which are being covered in green hair algae and so won't open. My water stats are all good but the algae keeps growing. I have a CUC of 6 black foot turbos, 6 black hermits and 2 halloween hermits. The only other inhabitants are a yellow watchman goby and 2 chromes. I tried manually removing the algae from the coral but it still won't open. Any ideas as to what I can do?
 
I'm not really the right person for marine advice, but I found turban snails to eat various hair algaes and not damage corals in the process.
 
First try a turkey baster to gently blast away the algae. If that doesn't work, a soft-bristled tooth brush can be used to gently clean away the algae from a retracted polyp. But you have to be very gentle.

Make sure the tank is getting plenty of flow. Address possible reasons for hair algae in the marine aquarium.
 
Check your phosphate and nitrate levels. These are the main causes for algae in a marine tank, particularly phosphate. Even lower levels can cause rapid algae growth. Even if thee test as being low it could be that the algae is actually using most of the phosphate and nitrate so it will not show on a test.

Few questions-
Do you feed frozen food?
If so make sure you defrost it and rinse it through with clean water before putting it in your tank. I use a plastic tea strainer and run the food under a cold tap for a few minutes before feeding as frozen food cubes can contain very large amounts of phosphates.

Do you use RO water?
If not then you are likely adding phosphates and nitrates with every water change and top up. If you are using RO water check the TDS to make sure it is at zero (or no more than 5 at worst).

How often do you feed?
Over feeding can cause phosphate levels to go through the roof in a very short space of time. How often and how much you should feed varies on what you are stocking (some fish do need to be fed very regularly, in these cases I suggest feeding "little and often").

What brand of salt do you use?
I have spoken to some people that have had ongoing phosphate issues and it turned out to be their salt brand. Probably a fairly rare thing to happen but mix up a fresh batch of salt water and check it for phosphates and nitrates to make sure.

Getting rid of the algae:
Long term you need to look at the above. Adding phosphate to you tank one way or another is inevitable but you have to try and reduce it to minimal amounts and make sure that your system can take out what has been put in.

A skimmer will not remove phosphates but it will remove waste material from the system before it has chance to break down and leech out phosphates.

A refugium can be very effective in remove ammonia, nitrate and phosphates from the display tank.

Regular partial water changes using a good zero TDS RO water and a good brand of salt are the quickest way to drop phosphate and nitrate levels.

For this particular coral that is having trouble. Do you have access to a second smaller tank and equipment to run it? It might be easier to move the coral to a new tank that has been set up fresh as this will have zero nitrate/phosphate to start with and will starve the algae of food and cause it to die off. You will still need to sort of the phosphate and nitrate issues in the main tank but this will give the coral a headstart.

Almost all algae issues in marine tanks are due to either phosphate or nitrate (usually a combination of the 2). Get these under control and the algae will go away.
 

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