Help...

[nobody]

I purchased some real nice live rock with purple stuff all over them. They have been in my tank for 4 weeks now. I got my CUC in and working on the algee. My question is if it is ok or are the snails supposed to be eating off the purple stuff? If not then I need to get them out. I believe they are turbo astrea snails. It seems that if the purple stuff is coraline algee then they need not be eating it. Input please.

 

[softchxntaco]

turbos dont tend to eat coraline just the stuff around it, could be cyno mistaken for coraline or the coraline is dead, give it time time coraline grows slowly

 

[nobody]

These rocks were in older setup and are heavily covered with the purole stuff but these snails are getting it off. What is Cyno?

 

[softchxntaco]

cyno is a nasty red slime that covers rocks and sand, have you checked for nitrates./phosphates, they can hinder coraline growth, coraline need good calcium and magnisium for good steady growth

 

[nobody]

My concern is that I paid a lot for these rocks with the purple covering. I was told that it was the coraline algee. These are diferrent than some of the other rock I purchased that was just a brown and tan. It was live rock also. I am not asking about the fact that they are eating the cyno or other algee. They have done that job well. But they are eating the purple of and the rocks are being left looking brown to tan to somewhat white.

So I guess another question would be is. What does coraline algee look like?

 

[reefer82]

It is a dark purple color

 

[SarahSmile]

Coraline algae can come in a few shades and is hard, you would have to pick at it with your fingernail or a blade to get it off of rocks or glass. Is the stuff covering your rocks hard?

 

[yote]

Coraline algae can come in a few shades and is hard, you would have to pick at it with your fingernail or a blade to get it off of rocks or glass. Is the stuff covering your rocks hard?

Sarah beat me to it.

 

[nobody]

Yes. The stuff on the rocks is hard and is hard for me to scratch it off. This is not just common algee. My concern is that thes were rocks selected for the purple color and now they are becoming brown and lighter shades when the purple is eaten off.

 

[little_fish]

When you exposed the rocks to air, some of the coralline will die off, which is what you are seeing now. Given some time, it will grow back.

 

[bjohanson1234]

Coraline dies when it is exposed to the air. But it will grow back. Also, your lighting might be different than the tank that you got it from. This will effect the coloring of the coraline also.

 

[MikeG]

i've never seen my snails to that, but I do have two black longspine urchins in my 180 and I can follow the trail they've taken over my rocks eating away the coraline. I realize it's not much consolation, but it will grow back.

 

[bjohanson1234]

ninja'd