***Red Turf Algae Battle Breakthrough!!***

[DAvis]

Hi all. It was so simple, I don't know if anyone has tried it, but I have the upper hand on the dreaded Red Turf Algae! Here are pictures from my tank about 1 year ago, before it got really bad :lol: I laugh, because a year ago, it was still far worse than I had seen in anyone's posts! It was such that until just recently, it covered 70% of the LR surface. It was not only an embarrassment, but it was also lethal to one of my corals! Lightly infested LR/corals I was able to treat as recommended by sen5241b (see his sticky!).

 

[DAvis]

Well, it had gotten much worse. I had just set up the 65g, with mostly new LR and some carefully treated pieces, and I left the 28g JBJ with one big emerald crab and some little trochus snails. I had gotten a few Mexican Turbo Snails for the 65 gallon, and watched them mow through some red and green hair algae. I thought, what the hell?! I took one of these walnut sized snails and put it in my RHA species tank :shock:.

And...........

Going...

Going....

Still Going... !

Wow! Virtually gone!

 

[DAvis]

I couldn't believe it! I noticed that the hermits would follow the Turbo, and mop up, so I added a couple of more from the 65g tank. THis little rock, by the way, was the source of the RTA. I had bought a frag of finger leather coral, that had a little tuft of 'cool' macro algae... :frustrat: If I had only known then!

 

[DAvis]

The Tank is 98% clean. My Zoa's are starting to thrive again, as the rta has been thwarted from encroachment.

 

[DAvis]

This all happened over the course of one month. The above 2 pictures were taken 7 days ago, and the rest of the rta in them is gone!

Next, I'm going to flip around all the LR to expose any remaining RTA, and let the beast at it!!

 

[DAvis]

MY HERO!!! The Mexican Turbo Snail. Thank you Mr. MTS!! King of the Hill!

 

[chiqui bb]

That's great news DAvis!! I love my mexican turbos. They had babies a few months ago and now I have way more than I need. They started out as small white specks on the rocks and would only come out at night. At the weeks went by, they got big enough for me to idendify them as turbos. Now they are about the size of a small pea or kernel of corn. Still only come out at night. I'm waiting for them to get a little bigger...LFS said they would take them. I think it's gonna be hard to get them all out of the tank though!

 

[DAvis]

Are you sure yours are Turbo's? They generally don't breed in home aquaria. My trochus snails are prolific breeders, however!

 

[chiqui bb]

Hmm....not sure now. I didn't know what a trochus was so I googled pics of them. The foot and head of the trochus looks like the turbo. Are these the same snail but with different names? How do I tell the difference? The mature snails that I have are about an inch in diameter and have rounded shells. The babies look the same. LFS said they were turbos and they look like the pics I googled for turbos. Now I'm confused!

 

[DAvis]

No chiqui, the Turbo is massive. Turbo's can get 3 - 4". Mine are about 2". They even cleaned my Trochus snails of rta! :) My largest Trochus are about 3/4 - 1"

 

[chiqui bb]

LOL...well I guess I have trochus not turbos! Do they look that similar? The trochus I googled had a more pointy shell.

 

[sen5241b]

I just put a huge snail in my tank a few weeks ago and I am seeing the RTA recede.

I thin we really need to know exactly what kind of snail you put in. Can you ask the LFS.

 

[pheasant29]

I think it looks like a Mexican turbo to me. My new emerald crabs are really working on my green turf algae!!!! ya!

 

[DAvis]

I just put a huge snail in my tank a few weeks ago and I am seeing the RTA recede.

I thin we really need to know exactly what kind of snail you put in. Can you ask the LFS.

I will ask again, but I was told it was a Turbo. I will ask them their source nest time I'm in. It sure looks like a Turbo, and acts like a turbo (I have forgiven them for continually knocking my Acan off a ledge!)

Looks just like this...
Saltwater Aquarium Snails for Marine Aquariums: Turbo Snail

sen, the Turbo actually cleaned off all but one of my other snails! :^:

I'll put up some more photo's later.

 

[DAvis]

I think it looks like a Mexican turbo to me. My new emerald crabs are really working on my green turf algae!!!! ya!

I have a giant emerald in there who helps a little, but you saw in the series of photos what the Turbo did!

 

[sen5241b]

I'll call my LFS and ask too. Just becuase a snail is big doesn't mean it will eat RTA.

Also I have a 5 emeralds in my 29G and they are eating it too. My urchin (it died recently) ate little of -it preferred to eat coralline.

 

[wontonflip]

Man, that snail is gonna get even bigger off all that hair algae it ate :D

 

[Reef Nutz]

Invertebrates you can get that eat hair algae. Nerite snails, turbo snails and green emerald crabs are all well suited to the task.

 

[DAvis]

Invertebrates you can get that eat hair algae. Nerite snails, turbo snails and green emerald crabs are all well suited to the task.

Thanks reefnutz, good to know. But let me reiterate, this is vastly different than hair algae. Emeralds and hermits help a little on the Red turf algae, but the turbo cleaned the tank in about two weeks! I don't know why I haven't tried them before! :)

 

[little_fish]

The baby snails you were looking at were either sundial snails (bad news, eat zoas) or collonista snails (good news). They are in the same family as turbo snails, which is why they look like babies, but they wont get any bigger than a 1/2 inch