Algae ID help

[eastgill]

I’ve been battling this algae for multiple months now, and I don’t think I even know what it is. Initially I thought it was lyngbya and tried to treat it with FluconaZole and Azithromycin with not much results. There was definitely some green hair algae that appears to be gone now, unless what I’m battling is still hair algae. It seems much more stiff than hair algae however and kind of branches. It appears that it’s slowly being eaten by Astrea snails but they’re leaving the tall pieces behind. I’ve attached three photos of it, but let me know if someone needs more. Thanks for any help!

 

[Dakota_reef]

Can you get a better picture with white lights turned up? That could be Dinoflagellates. Are there air bubbles trapped within?

 

[eastgill]

Can you get a better picture with white lights turned up? That could be Dinoflagellates. Are there air bubbles trapped within?

Here’s a few pictures with whites up. Doesn’t seem to be dinoflagellates because there haven’t ever been any air bubbles I’ve noticed but it’s still a relatively new tank.

 

[Dakota_reef]

How new? over the first 6 months a tank will go through the "ugly" phase, which in most cases takes care of itself over the course of time.

It might just be a hair algae, but usually that's more clumped together.

How big is the tank? What are your current tank parameters? pH, temp, nitrates, phosphates, salinity. If nitrates and phosphates are high, it will surge algae growth.

 

[eastgill]

How new? over the first 6 months a tank will go through the "ugly" phase, which in most cases takes care of itself over the course of time.

It might just be a hair algae, but usually that's more clumped together.

How big is the tank? What are your current tank parameters? pH, temp, nitrates, phosphates, salinity. If nitrates and phosphates are high, it will surge algae growth.

It’s been up for about 8 months, but I feel like it went through the ugly stage already, was clean, then this popped up. The tank is a 10 gallon Fiji cube and it’s got about a dozen kinds of zoas, 5 mushrooms, a few RFA, a couple acans, a monti, and for fish I have one long nose hawkfish. pH about 8.2 (kinda hard to get exact number on test strips), temp should be 78 although I guess I’m just trusting the heater is set at 78. Nitrates 0, phosphates at 2 but I just fed so that number isn’t truly that high. Salinity at 1.024. I’ll run another phosphate test tomorrow morning to get a better idea of what it’s really at. Not sure if it’s worth mentioning that several zoas aren’t opening up, I don’t know what that’s about. Thanks!

 

[Dakota_reef]

Phosphates at 2 is kind of high. That can feed nuisance algae for sure especially if phosphates are showing 0.

Have you done a water change recently? That may help reduce the phosphates.

 

[eastgill]

Phosphates at 2 is kind of high. That can feed nuisance algae for sure especially if phosphates are showing 0.

Have you done a water change recently? That may help reduce the phosphates.

Yeah, I did a small water change today but that was before I fed everything. I’ll test again tomorrow morning and see what it’s sitting at. I’m also thinking about getting some Chemipure elite and seeing if that does the trick, not sure if you have any experience or opinion on that.

 

[Dakota_reef]

I've used Chemi-pure a lot in the past if I've ever suspected something may be in the water that shouldn't be. I only have anecdotal evidence, but it does act as an ion exchanger with carbon.

 

[eastgill]

I've used Chemi-pure a lot in the past if I've ever suspected something may be in the water that shouldn't be. I only have anecdotal evidence, but it does act as an ion exchanger with carbon.

Just ordered some, hopefully that’ll help. I was also thinking of running the Chemipure with a 3 day blackout and hoping that’ll kill it and Chemipure will keep it from coming back. Thanks for the help!

 

[Dakota_reef]

Keep an eye on that Phosphate. While a 3 day blackout will slow down photosynthetic life, it wont' kill it.