Algae ID

[joe0813]

 

[joe0813]

I've been told a strain of Dino's, strain of cyano and then someone else said calothrix

 

[ReefinItReal88]

I've been told a strain of Dino's, strain of cyano and then someone else said calothrix

It's dinoflagellates. It's a protozoa. Remove excess silicates by running carbon and do a water change. I would also recommend doing a blackout for a day or two.

 

[joe0813]

It's dinoflagellates. It's a protozoa. Remove excess silicates by running carbon and do a water change. I would also recommend doing a blackout for a day or two.

I always thought you didn't want to do water changes if it was dinos? or is that only a specific species?

 

[dwest]

I would ID it with a microscope. I spent $10 on a microscope and was able to determine the type of dinos I had. You can post a video and we can help. Good luck.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071JQFXC4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[joe0813]

Hopefully those pictures worked

 

[TheGreatWave]

Yep, classic case of Diano.

 

[joe0813]

well poop... does the pictures show a specific kind so I can research what to kill it? or will the above advice work on this kind?

 

[TheGreatWave]

well poop... does the pictures show a specific kind so I can research what to kill it? or will the above advice work on this kind?

Diano is an inside joke. Dino+Cyano! lol

 

[joe0813]

well that one went right over my head lol... I thought it was just a typo ;Woot

 

[joe0813]

so how do I fight this crap

 

[dwest]

so how do I fight this crap

I don’t think you have dinos. If you do, they are not the dominant species. Was there any movement by the round things? Let’s get an expert @taricha

 

[joe0813]

Ya the bright brown round things move around

 

[taricha]

Hopefully those pictures worked

The orange/brown cell in the middle of the second pic is the only thing that's clearly dino.
Most of the material - at least in those samples- is cyano. (Calothrix is a kind of cyano but it has filaments with a fat end and skinny end.) These are uniform.
Basically, it looks like your issue is cyano.

 

[joe0813]

Water changes, lights out for a few days and run GFO?

 

[dwest]

Water changes, lights out for a few days and run GFO?

I would suck it out with an airline hose during water changes. You can read up on it, but it will hopefully go away after a while. I would not run gfo unless you are very experienced and testing phosphates frequently. If you strip your tank of phosphates using gfo, then then your dinos could take over and then you’d have a bad problem. I’ve been there

 

[joe0813]

Its been here for about 4 months. I try and siphon as much as I can during a water change but the stuff on the rock doesn't really let go... have to scrub it with a brush.

 

[AZG]

It’s a pain to fight. Scrub and siphon as much as possible. A uv didn’t help in my experience. Manual removal and raising nutrients did the trick. They ended up bottoming out a couple months later and it was back. Repeated above and it was all good. So I’d say just try to get as much out as possible. Keep no3 around 2-5ppm, po4 detectable, and some more pods and clean up crew. Let the tank do it’s thing and stabilize. I kept my nutrients on the lower side cause my tank was still pretty young. Or peroxide never tried it though.

 

[joe0813]

ok so now im confused here. Im watching FishofHex on youtube about nitrate and phosphate dosing. He said if you have algae in your tank "DONT DOSE!" I need to check my phosphate and nitrate levels but im guessing they are going to read zero from the Cyano?

 

[dwest]

ok so now im confused here. Im watching FishofHex on youtube about nitrate and phosphate dosing. He said if you have algae in your tank "DONT DOSE!" I need to check my phosphate and nitrate levels but im guessing they are going to read zero from the Cyano?

You are going to get lots of conflicting advice for sure. Cyano is tough to eliminate. I do think it’s good to check your nitrate and phosphate levels. I would also beef up your CUC some and possibly increase flow in your tank. Manually removal is also a good thing. How old is your tank?