how to remove algae from coral?

[salt creepette]

i try to make my subject lines pretty descriptive

i have proudly been growing a crop of (hair?) algae for my newly acquired lawnmower blenny. well I did a little too good a job. its formed a film on my finger leather. is it safe to brush it off with a soft toothbrush? should I just move the finger leather a little lower (away from the light), and/or put it in more of a direct flow area? (although that might not work, cuz the algae is growing even on my halimeda which is directly flapping in the breeze of a maxijet 1200 powerhead....)thanks...

[Junkzoo]

Not so sure a lawnmower blenny will do the trick,,,mine never seems to touch if/when i get a "crop" of it,,,would rather "lipstick" the tank glass instead,,
pick off what you can, lightly drag a soft'ish toothbrush across the leather or whatever has it on it to remove what you can.
in my tank, lower levels and more water flow don't seem to help here,,,
maybe someone else can offer ideas/tankmates that will help take care of your HA,,my tangs,foxface,butterfly,or critters i have in the tank don't seem to like to eat it either.

water changes,getting rid of the nutrients that help "feed" the HA would help ,,,,

[Mafiaman]

If it is hair algae you should be able to blow it off with a turkey baster. If algae is "growing" as in part of the coral, most times it is on it's way out.

[salt creepette]

well the leather looks okay, but just like it was about to shed, when the algae kind of started to grow on the parts that are closest to the light. I will do the toothbrush thing, I dont think its dying, I just didnt want to upset it by brushing it off.

[salt creepette]

couldnt seem to get the algae off, so I place the coral lower in the tank. it didnt seem to shed, but the algae is gone now. (maybe the algae blenny helped it out?!) anyways, all is fine now. just in case you were lying awake at night wondering how my algae-covered coral was!