Bryopsis

So shame on me, I didn't quarentine well enough. I have a rock covered in zoas that evidently had some Bryopsis lurking on it. Fortunatly it is still two small patches and has not yet spread, unfortunatly because of location I cant nuke the rock, kalk it or use any other method that would obliterate a very nice colony of zoas. Nothing in my CUC will even come close to touching it, so it is on to other plans.

1) Raising magnesium. Anybody tried it? I am going down today to pick up a bottle of Kent M-Tech but this makes me REALLY nervous. Any thoughts on issues with clams or other sensative inverts?

2) Lawnmower blenny. Supposedly hit or miss, could be moved into a large tank if needed.

3) Juvenile tang. Yes, I know my tank is too small to house a full grown tang. At minimum my 150 will be set back up inside a couple months with the 400 following so space isn't a huge concern.

Any thoughts?
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I just did some searches and it looks like yellow tangs eat the stuff..and if you'll be upgrading soon i don't see why it would hurt

 

manual removal? I also read that rasing mag helps.

 

I would cut my losses and throw the rock away. If it spreads you will be dealing with a mess.

 

I've considered and if it gets worse I am prepared too, but at the moment it would be scrapping a very nice, large zoa colony. Worst case scenario I can frag it down as best as possible and nuke the rock, but I want to take at least a token shot at saving it first.

 

How do you know its really Bryopsis ? what sub species is it ?

 

Just by visual ID, it is a fine green hair-like algae with feathering along the strands. Not quite as fine as GHA but definitely not feather calurpa.
On another note, I just got back from picking up an algae blenny. Hopefully he does the trick and deals with the issue, if not I may try the mag route. It just makes me really nervous as it seems the difference between effective and toxic is fairly small.

 

yep that stuff is a big headache i say frag it now and cut ur loses i had it in gsp and fragged it when i first saw it the frag is good but i just got rid of the mother colony tried to save it but now it got to some zoas so the fight continues, fragged them also so just gonna fuge the rest in the shade see if that helps hope u win ur battle. ps manual removal works best while u still can

 

I did get down and dirty in the tank and manually removed as much of the two small spots as possible while being careful to let little of the removed algae get away from me. Hopefully the blenny does the trick, if not try again.

Just to clarify as well, this is by no means a pandemic yet. Just two small patches growing on said rock.

 

If it is true bryopsis a blenny or tang will not eat it. About the only thing that will are certain nudis, which are very hard to come by for hobbyists. I agree with Otty, should have cut the losses and nuked the rock ASAP.