A hairy situation

Matt Smothers · Mar 11, 2019

Help

James M · Mar 11, 2019

If your referring to the coral it’s dead

Captain Quint · Mar 11, 2019

What do you need help with?

Matt Smothers · Mar 11, 2019

The slimy bubbles

Captain Quint · Mar 11, 2019

It is somewhat hard for me to see from the pics.

If I had to make an educated guess it would be bubble algae. Removal would be a good idea as ladened covered rocks can easily be removed from the tank and plucked/brushed in a separate bucket filled with some old tank water and rinsed with same after scrubbing with salt water.

If manually removing them in your tank, be careful to avoid rupturing them if at all possible, because if ruptured they will release the spores galore contained within the bubble making the problem worse. The larger the bubbles are, the easier they are to rupture as the bubble is thinner as it matures.

As stated I honestly cannot see the pic good and if It looks and feels slimy but when disturbed comes off in sheets it could be more like slime algae it will grow quickly and covers the aquarium surface more so than the rock and/coral often giving off similar to a fishy odor.

Hope someone else can see this better than I.

ihavecrabs · Mar 11, 2019

It looks more like Cyano or Dinos but it would be impossible to know from picture alone.

Can you start by letting us know what your nitrate and phosphates are reading at currently?

#ReefSquad

Matt Smothers · Mar 11, 2019

Captain Quint said:
It is somewhat hard for me to see from the pics.

If I had to make an educated guess it would be bubble algae. Removal would be a good idea as ladened covered rocks can easily be removed from the tank and plucked/brushed in a separate bucket filled with some old tank water and rinsed with same after scrubbing with salt water.

If manually removing them in your tank, be careful to avoid rupturing them if at all possible, because if ruptured they will release the spores galore contained within the bubble making the problem worse. The larger the bubbles are, the easier they are to rupture as the bubble is thinner as it matures.

As stated I honestly cannot see the pic good and if It looks and feels slimy but when disturbed comes off in sheets it could be more like slime algae it will grow quickly and covers the aquarium surface more so than the rock and/coral often giving off similar to a fishy odor.

Hope someone else can see this better than I.

It is more like the slime algae than bubble algae

sfin52 · Mar 11, 2019

I going with dino .You can see the strands coming up with little bubbles attached to it.

Can you give us some parameters of the tank. Please include phosphates as well.

Matt Smothers · Mar 11, 2019

ihavecrabs said:
It looks more like Cyano or Dinos but it would be impossible to know from picture alone.

Can you start by letting us know what your nitrate and phosphates are reading at currently?

#ReefSquad

Both are at 0 ppm

Matt Smothers · Mar 11, 2019

sfin52 said:
I going with dino .You can see the strands coming up with little bubbles attached to it.

Can you give us some parameters of the tank. Please include phosphates as well.

Yes bubbly strands

sfin52 · Mar 11, 2019

a microscope will help. If you have a kid in school maybe able to use a microscope at the school. Just an idea. In the meantime
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinoflagellates-–-are-you-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/
First post of the thread is a good informational read .

ihavecrabs · Mar 11, 2019

Matt Smothers said:
Both are at 0 ppm

If it were me, I would raise those a bit. I think this is the cause of your (likey cyano) outbreak. Increasing Phosphate and Nitrate to readable levels will allow microfauna and algaes to take root and stabilize the system and bring your cyano back to more stable numbers and prevent it from sliming up your rock-work and sand-bed :)

Matt Smothers · Mar 11, 2019

sfin52 said:
I going with dino .You can see the strands coming up with little bubbles attached to it.

Can you give us some parameters of the tank. Please include phosphates as well.

Phosphate 0 ppm
Nitrate 0 ppm
Calcium 440 ppm
Ph 8.4

Matt Smothers · Mar 11, 2019

sfin52 said:
a microscope will help. If you have a kid in school maybe able to use a microscope at the school. Just an idea. In the meantime
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinoflagellates-–-are-you-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/
First post of the thread is a good informational read .

After even a quick read through I have a few things that I need to change. The main one being phosphate removing media from my canister filter. Thanks

sfin52 · Mar 11, 2019

Stop all removal of phosphates and nitrates. Start running g activated carbon just in case they are dino. Dino can start releasing toxins into the system. In the link I sent you it has a test to see if its dino or cyano. To get a good answer microscope will allow you to Id and maybe even tell they type of dino if its that.

Matt Smothers · Mar 11, 2019

sfin52 said:
Stop all removal of phosphates and nitrates. Start running g activated carbon just in case they are dino. Dino can start releasing toxins into the system. In the link I sent you it has a test to see if its dino or cyano. To get a good answer microscope will allow you to Id and maybe even tell they type of dino if its that.

Looking at pics it appears to be cyano