Digital Microscope pics, algae and other stuff for ID

[mandyvan]

Hello! We have some hairy brown algae coming and going (snail and shrimp cuc) in the ugly phase about 2.5 months old 65-gallon dry rock bare bottom tank, (BioSpira, copepods, adding eco pods soon, showing a few tiny early signs of coralline from seeding).

To the best of my recollection, these are recent parameters:
Salinity 1.027
Alkalinity 9
Phosphate 0
Nitrate 14.5
ph 7.3 (has been better with a CO2 scrubber, putting one back on soon)

I attached a few pictures and a video, some under a digital microscope and some not. There was a somewhat metallic smell from the rock I took the sample from. One microscope photo has the algae on a regular sized toothpick. It’s just a microscope that adjusts height up and down and a fine focus knob, “50-1000X” digital zoom so I’m not exactly sure the power. Anyone know what those little things that look like watermelon seeds are?
Any help on ID anything in the photos or general advice and encouragement? I’ll also take suggestions on getting a nicer microscope if needed.

YouTube link for video:


Thanks!
Mandy

 

[Dan_P]

Hello! We have some hairy brown algae coming and going (snail and shrimp cuc) in the ugly phase about 2.5 months old 65-gallon dry rock bare bottom tank, (BioSpira, copepods, adding eco pods soon, showing a few tiny early signs of coralline from seeding).

To the best of my recollection, these are recent parameters:
Salinity 1.027
Alkalinity 9
Phosphate 0
Nitrate 14.5
ph 7.3 (has been better with a CO2 scrubber, putting one back on soon)

I attached a few pictures and a video, some under a digital microscope and some not. There was a somewhat metallic smell from the rock I took the sample from. One microscope photo has the algae on a regular sized toothpick. It’s just a microscope that adjusts height up and down and a fine focus knob, “50-1000X” digital zoom so I’m not exactly sure the power. Anyone know what those little things that look like watermelon seeds are?
Any help on ID anything in the photos or general advice and encouragement? I’ll also take suggestions on getting a nicer microscope if needed.

YouTube link for video:


Thanks!
Mandy

I use a similar digital microscope. It’s magnification is just capable of seeing needle-like diatoms. This looks like a mixture of stuff. I don’t know what those dark tear drop shaped objects are. They are so dark, they might be opaque.

Would you rephotograph the scene that is blue? Might be more hints there.

Check out AmScope for microscope the meets your price point

 

[mandyvan]

I use a similar digital microscope. It’s magnification is just capable of seeing needle-like diatoms. This looks like a mixture of stuff. I don’t know what those dark tear drop shaped objects are. They are so dark, they might be opaque.

Would you rephotograph the scene that is blue? Might be more hints there.

Check out AmScope for microscope the meets your price point

The blue scene you want me to rephotograph, is that the picture of the rock with algae on it? That one is not from the microscope, just my phone camera. I could switch to photo mode lights and get better light soon. Or do you mean one of the microscope pics?

It was harder than I expected to get the algae from the rock to look at it. Any suggestions there? A pipette was helpful. Stuff tends to stick to a toothpick, but that’s handy for moving the sample around.
I’m resourceful and I have been using the little lens cap to look at my samples, lol.
I have some microscope slides on their way, not sure how much more helpful those will be. Last time I used a microscope was many, many years ago in high school, and I don’t remember much. I do remember looking at micro-organisms from pond water, so not much different from what I’m doing now! That was back when the lights weren’t LEDs and if I didn’t keep hydrating my samples they would dry up pretty quickly. I liked observing their movement while still alive.
Thanks for the suggestion on the nicer microscopes!

 

[Dan_P]

The blue scene you want me to rephotograph, is that the picture of the rock with algae on it? That one is not from the microscope, just my phone camera. I could switch to photo mode lights and get better light soon.

Yes, the rock scene.

 

[mandyvan]

Yes, the rock scene.

 

[mandyvan]

Attached two pics with lights in photo mode above. Also, if it helps, I’m attaching another picture of the rock I took the sample from after removing it from the tank. The algae was brown and smelled metallic. After taking the sample, I gave the rock a peroxide rinse. Later it only had green on it. The green stuff smelled really good, like green tea.

 

[Dan_P]

Attached two pics with lights in photo mode above. Also, if it helps, I’m attaching another picture of the rock I took the sample from after removing it from the tank. The algae was brown and smelled metallic. After taking the sample, I gave the rock a peroxide rinse. Later it only had green on it. The green stuff smelled really good, like green tea.

This confirms my suspicion that there was more than one thing growing in the fuzzy patches. Not sure about the metallic odor. Cyanobacteria have a distinctive odor. Are there snails in the aquarium?

 

[mandyvan]

This confirms my suspicion that there was more than one thing growing in the fuzzy patches. Not sure about the metallic odor. Cyanobacteria have a distinctive odor. Are there snails in the aquarium?

Yes, there are snails - at least 3 turbos and a handful of smaller ones like ceriths. Some have been laying squiggly egg trails on the glass. They seem to make their rounds around the tank a little slowly, think we should add more?
How would you describe the cyano odor?

 

[mandyvan]

I read cyano smells like rotting plants when the bloom is dying off, nothing like that so far. I think the smell I described as green tea is seaweed. We put some on a clip for the fish and snails.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I see green hair algae and Bryopsis, For both . . . . pull what you can by hand - the More the better.
Then for bryopsis, using a dental pick or small crochet needle, pull off the roots. YOU MUST remove roots or it will keep coming back.
You can then reduce white light intensity . Add cleaners to finish cleanup such as Emerald crabs (which I do not trust, LG astrea and turbo snails. chiton snails, Pitho crabs, and pin cushion urchins.
IF you CANT get to all the roots, although I do not favor use of - Fluconasal (FLUX) will work

 

[mandyvan]

This confirms my suspicion that there was more than one thing growing in the fuzzy patches. Not sure about the metallic odor. Cyanobacteria have a distinctive odor. Are there snails in the aquarium?

Thank you for checking it out!

 

[mandyvan]

I see green hair algae and Bryopsis, For both . . . . pull what you can by hand - the More the better.
Then for bryopsis, using a dental pick or small crochet needle, pull off the roots. YOU MUST remove roots or it will keep coming back.
You can then reduce white light intensity . Add cleaners to finish cleanup such as Emerald crabs (which I do not trust, LG astrea and turbo snails. chiton snails, Pitho crabs, and pin cushion urchins.
IF you CANT get to all the roots, although I do not favor use of - Fluconasal (FLUX) will work

Thank you for the advice! Sounds like a great weekend project, good timing.
I have some more turbo snails and a pincushion urchin I could borrow from the 73 gallon tank. MUCH easier to grab those guys compared to fish. I thought we might need more snails.

 

[Dan_P]

Yes, there are snails - at least 3 turbos and a handful of smaller ones like ceriths. Some have been laying squiggly egg trails on the glass. They seem to make their rounds around the tank a little slowly, think we should add more?
How would you describe the cyano odor?

When I grow algae cultures that also contain cyanobacteria, there is a strong, musty odor (to me) though I could imagine it smelling metallic to others.

 

[mandyvan]

I see green hair algae and Bryopsis, For both . . . . pull what you can by hand - the More the better.
Then for bryopsis, using a dental pick or small crochet needle, pull off the roots. YOU MUST remove roots or it will keep coming back.
You can then reduce white light intensity . Add cleaners to finish cleanup such as Emerald crabs (which I do not trust, LG astrea and turbo snails. chiton snails, Pitho crabs, and pin cushion urchins.
IF you CANT get to all the roots, although I do not favor use of - Fluconasal (FLUX) will work

I’ll check what’s in stock at the LFS. I’m especially hoping they have the Pitho crabs you suggest. They sound like a better alternative to emerald crabs. The 65G tank can have its own urchin.

I’m open to any suggestions of pulling by hand, doesn’t sound like siphoning is involved, especially for pulling roots. Can that be done with any long tools? Tall tank, short arms.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’ll check what’s in stock at the LFS. I’m especially hoping they have the Pitho crabs you suggest. They sound like a better alternative to emerald crabs. The 65G tank can have its own urchin.

I’m open to any suggestions of pulling by hand, doesn’t sound like siphoning is involved, especially for pulling roots. Can that be done with any long tools? Tall tank, short arms.

Liters grab with fingers and pull. A great adventure for kids

 

[mandyvan]

Liters grab with fingers and pull. A great adventure for kids

That sounds like a lot of fun!

 

[mandyvan]

Feels so great to get past the ugly stages with new tanks! The urchin mowed down anything else that tried to grow. I eventually did find a dead snail in the tank. Somehow it didn’t smell bad at first sniff, but after the guts fell out of the shell, oh my Lord!