ok gang, need help, what do I do?

[DebsSisterFlo]

I have this rock, see... and it has a great natural outcropping of little polyps that are very pretty... problem is it has a bunch of other crap too!
Dark purple sponge stuff, hair algae, 2 balls of bubble algae, red sponge stuff (don't know if it's good or not) and don't forget the gorilla crab that I now hate because he ATE my one bumblebee snail!!!


I would just take that whole rock out and chuck it... if it wasn't for those little polyps! Is there any way that I can remove and salvage them, or should I just say goodbye to them and chuck the rock? It sure would be easier to just dispose of it and rid myself of lots of little nasties as you can see. Funny thing is that they're all on/in this one rock. Here's one more pic that I took where you can see the gorilla crab, and look on top! Just when I snapped the pic a little scooter head popped over the top! He wanted his picture taken! Oh, that mushroom I would keep too, he should come off easily enough???


Thanks for any input!

[DebsSisterFlo]

alright now... *taps foot* I know you're out there!

[dobejazz]

Sorry Jess I don't know this will bump it up for others to see

[tdwyatt]

two things:

tweezers and a magnifying glass.


Do it in a separate glass bowl, pull off all the crappy stuff, leave them in the bowl and rinse the finished rock in some clean ASW prior to replacing it in the tank.


You could also take a pair of wire cutters to the rock and chip off what you want to keep if it is separate from the rest of the stuff...

[three90s&125sump]

Yeah I have a couple rocks like that in my 40 that I have been doing it to. I have lots of bubble algae. Its a long process in my case but yours doesn't look that bad.

You may want to look at your photo period and nitrate/phosphate levels and maybe just increasing flow in that area will take care of it.

[Claeth]

I think you should just scrub that rock with a toothbrush in some trash water when you do a w/c and get a lawnmower blenny and an emerald crab to take care of the bubble algae and hair algae. Then treat your entire tank with Chemi-clean or red slime remover (watch your skimmer CLOSE) keep polyfilters in the tank to lower your phosphate levels, and replace the carbon after the first polyfilters turn green/brown
and your problem will be solved, guaranteed! Hope this helps. Lee Van Hoose Owner-Pristine Aquatics. www.pristineaquatics.biz

[three90s&125sump]

I've used that slime remover before and it does work. It makes your skimmer go crazy. I had to dump my cup (on a sea clone!!!!) every 20 mins for about 5 hours after I turned it back on. I think it makes the water get really viscous or something.

I would never use it again. I like to remove the cause not treat the effect.

[Claeth]

Chemi-clean does treat the problem, basically it is a gram positive anti-bacterial, and the red slime algae is really Cyanobacteria. The red "slime" you see is really just the waste product of the microscopic bacterias as they feed on your phosphates. Definitely doing water changes regularly would be a very good option as well. Dilution is the solution to the pollution.

[DebsSisterFlo]

hmm... hmm... is there any way I could break the rock and try to just keep the piece that the little polyp things are on? How long can they survive out of the water if we were to take it outside and try busting it? I may just try that and if they don't make it then well I guess they don't make it? I WILL NOT put that **** crab into my seahorse tank!
Thanks so much for all of the replies gang!

[tdwyatt]

Originally Posted by Claeth

Chemi-clean does treat the problem, basically it is a gram positive anti-bacterial, and the red slime algae is really Cyanobacteria. The red "slime" you see is really just the waste product of the microscopic bacterias as they feed on your phosphates.

uuuhhhh... no. You might want to read some information about what cyanobacteria are and what their biomass is composed of, there is a good review in the Graham and Wlcox "Algae" (Prentice Hall, 2000), that discusses in depth the role that cyanobacteria play in marine enviornments and the evolution of Cyanobacterial endosymbionts. Cyanobacteria are probably the basis of photosynthesis in almost ALL photoautotrophs as one of two original (potentially three) independent developents of endosymbiotic relationships in plants, algae, and some of the autotrophic protists (Google Lynn Margulis' work in endosymbiosis). It is their accessory pigments that accounts for the coloration of the "slime", usually muccoid coats for the cyanobacteria littered with the living and dead cells of the cyanobacterial colony. There can be any number of colors for the blue-green algae, ranging from black, purple, dark blue, aquablue, cyan, bright red, even yellow and bright green. As far as trying to eradicate them, unless you're planning on chlorine and/or boiling, they are unlikely to totally disappear from any marine enironment, as they have evolved to fill many unique niches, and have at least once been the only living organisms to survive the major extinctions occuring in the geological timeframe on Earth. The reason that we have an oxygen atmosphere now, and possibly the reason that the original endosymbiosis events occurred that evolved photoautotrophs (for cyanobacteria seeking to escape the "toxic" oxygen atmosphere they were creating by living inside some primative eukaryote) has been the growth and diversification of cyanobacterial organisms.

Originally Posted by Claeth

Definitely doing water changes regularly would be a very good option as well. Dilution is the solution to the pollution.

Definitely true, The issue with cyanobacterial blooms is not the mere presence of the cyanobacterial organism, as every healthy marine biotope will have some form of cyanobacteria, they even account for the coloration and act as an endosymbiont for some symbiotic realationships with corals. The issue is usually some form of nutrient that is not being competed for adequately, or there is an insufficient herbivory for the autotrophs, or the photoperiod is too long, or there are not enough heterotrophic bacteria in the environment, or... or... or...

The point is there are many reasons that blooms occur in either algae or blue-green cyanobacteria populations (or for that matter, microorganisms in general): either lack of competition, excessive nutrients, increases in new real estate, absence of adequate grazing of the blooming organism, or prolonged photoperiods that cause conditions to become favorable for a sudden ramping up of the population densities for the organism in question. Killing the blooming organism often has unintended conseuences, as antibacterials are very indescriminate about which microorganisms they affect, whether it be the cyanobacterial organisms in bloom, some specie of endosymbiont other than dinoflagellates, the nitrifying bacteria on aerobic surfaces, or the denitrifying bacteria in the rock and sandbeds. This still leaves the primary cause of the bloom available to stimulate population growths in the other organisms not affected by the antibiotic in question, or the algaes or yeasts, fungi, etc . Even more problematic, the initial organism may bloom again if the dose or duration of the antimicrobial agent is insufficient, or if the organism is reintroduced into the system. This time, you've already used a little Darwinian selection to remove some of the competition, usually those members of the population most susceptable to the antibiotic, so what is left? Those strains of the organism that are most resistat to the antibiotic...





The use of antibiotics is not indicated in resolving issues with algae blooms, rather, the true nutrient or environmental causes of blooms need to be addressed, instead of applying a band-aid approach to resolving the symptoms.

[DebsSisterFlo]

*feels like a deer in headlights* I'll have to sleep and then come back and read that again!
I am going to shorten the time that the lights are on for a while, see if that helps things... as well as another water change and cutting back a bit on food. *goes to find a hammer and chisel*

So, any comments on those little polyp things? Can they survive a bit of fresh air? I think it's rock breaking day!!!

[three90s&125sump]

Prolly a little 5 mins tops I would be more worried about the hammer vibrations from smashing the rock.

I don't think I would go busting up the rock. Just give it some TLC I think it will be ok.

[Little Luey]

Do you have any snail?
If you could break the piece where the polyps are and then just pluck the HA by hand. But IMO you need to find the source of your algie problems, are you skiming? do you feed too much? how often do you do a water change? do you have bioballs or a biowheel?

[Casey]

I would break out my Swiss army knife pry them off and glue them with super glue gel to a small rock and cook that stinky rock for reuse later,more water changes wirh good water and heavy skimming.

[drsyme]

I think you will find that good husbandry (frequent water changes, appropriate use of photperiod, control of nutrient levels by reducing nutrient import and or increasing nutrient export) and time is really all it takes to take care of most problems, especially blooms of anything.

I never add anything to the tank other than RO/DI, salt, and kalkwasser.