Algae on exposed coral skeleton

[Moogled]

Straight to the point: A bit of my donut coral receded and spots of algae have taken over.

The coral does not appreciate this and seems to be having trouble recovering though it's expanding like it normally does.

What are your tips for "cleaning" exposed coral skeletons so they can recover? I suspect that the longer I leave this, the more algae there will be.

[Aquattro]

Unfortunately the algae will grow faster than the coral, so probably not much you can do about it. Maybe try to trim the exposed area with side cutters so th ecoral can heal around the area.

[andresont]

How about Po4 removal via chemical filtration.

[michika]

When its happened to me, I usually just take a extra soft baby's toothbrush and softly brush off the algae. Works well, and it has normally allowed the coral to retake its skeleton.

[Moogled]

I tried that, but the algae seems to have "hardened" on the skeleton. It's much harder than brushing diatoms off the glass.

[steva44]

did you try joes juice. It takes care of most algae. Perhaps put it in a bucket of still water and apply the "serum" with care as not to get to much on the living coral. I noticed that when I killed aiptasia with the joes juice, it also killed the area of hard algae around it to, while still leaving the Zoo's intact...
might work you never know..

[Redrover]

I agree with reef raf try cutting away infected part...
Forget the Joe's Juice, Yike

RJ

[Moogled]

I did some surgery and used tweezers to snap off bits of the skeleton that had algae.

How do I prevent the algae from growing on the coral? I always assumed that algae would grow no matter what and I'll be doing more water changes to lower my nutrients.

[michika]

All I can think of is continue to have good or decent flow on it, and it should prevent the algae from getting hold. I wish I could provide you some other suggestions.

[Redrover]

I agree with Catherine they love lots of flow !

RJ

[GrimReefer]

shade the portion of the coral that has skeleton exposed to discourage algae from growing on it.

[Moogled]

Will try both suggestions, thanks!

Update: Alright, I've placed the donut under the overhang. The clowns seem confused since their little home has changed spots. I tried to implement more flow on exposed area/less light, but it's either one or the other.

Which one should I place emphasis on?

[steva44]

less light I would say...

[GrimReefer]

less light. but you need to keep the affected area free of detritus. a turkey baster or something similar should do the trick.