Can anyone ID?

[jdpeters]

Without a microscope I’m certain I have ostreopsis. It nuked my tank early on. I’m still battling it without much success. I’m moving my uv to the display in a few days, having it in sump hasn’t been successful. My question is, what is this algae I’m looking at? It’s slimy and fluffy, all over my rocks. I can scrub and blast it but it comes back within 2~ days.

 

[jdpeters]

 

[jdpeters]

 

[jdpeters]

 

[jdpeters]

 

[jdpeters]

I couldn’t get the colors right my iPhone photography leaves little more to be desired, the algae is more of a light brownish red color than what is pictured

 

[jdpeters]

Anyone able to offer an identification? My photos are a little rough

 

[MeganV]

Anyone able to offer an identification? My photos are a little rough

Possibly lyngbya or some other cyano?

I'd be curious to know more about your parameters and age of the tank.

 

[jdpeters]

Anyone able to offer an identification? My photos are a little rough

Possibly lyngbya or some other cyano?

I'd be curious to know more about your parameters and age of the tank.

I started it in January, 40 breeder. Around may Dino’s took off. I didn’t know what that was at the time and it killed everything, I had bubbles all over the tank.
Currently nitrate is 10ppm phosphate.04. Having to dose phosphate. Added 20 pounds of TBS live sand nearly a month ago but unfortunately it hasn’t been a silver bullet as I hoped.
I stopped waterchanges and I’m doing very minimal AFR dosing.
That algae isn’t disturbing anything as far as I can tell. It’s actually light green or brown, fluffy and slimy. Comes off easily but comes back in 1-2 days. I wasn’t sure if it’s a physical structure of ostreopsis

 

[vetteguy53081]

This substance is very stubborn and best is to remove rock and place in a container of tank water and scrub with a firm toothbrush and peroxide solution and return rock to tank.
Often this forms when nutrients are high, bright lighting, insufficient water flow and lack of/ineffective skimming

 

[jdpeters]

This substance is very stubborn and best is to remove rock and place in a container of tank water and scrub with a firm toothbrush and peroxide solution and return rock to tank.
Often this forms when nutrients are high, bright lighting, insufficient water flow and lack of/ineffective skimming

Any suspicion what it is specifically? Pulling it out would be a nightmare and I would be afraid to kill off anything beneficial. I’ve had chronically low nutrients and I run my Nero 3s pretty high generally

 

[vetteguy53081]

Any suspicion what it is specifically? Pulling it out would be a nightmare and I would be afraid to kill off anything beneficial. I’ve had chronically low nutrients and I run my Nero 3s pretty high generally

I need to look on a larger screen but may be Dictyota

 

[MeganV]

I don't think it's dictyota - doesn't that typically have sort of a flat, leaf-like look to it?

If it's super slimy feeling, and comes back very quickly when manually removed, my guess would be some sort of cyanobacterium. I had remarkably good success dosing small amounts of silicates to outcompete a similar crud. I ended up with loads of epiphytic diatoms that covered the cyano (mine was lyngbya.)

I think you're on the right track with adding biodiversity.

 

[jdpeters]

Any suspicion what it is specifically? Pulling it out would be a nightmare and I would be afraid to kill off anything beneficial. I’ve had chronically low nutrients and I run my Nero 3s pretty high generally

I need to look on a larger screen but may be Dictyota

I looked that up it doesn’t look like that at all, thanks for the guess though

 

[vetteguy53081]

I looked that up it doesn’t look like that at all, thanks for the guess though

other may be Lobophora which would be rubbery to the touch

 

[jdpeters]

I don't think it's dictyota - doesn't that typically have sort of a flat, leaf-like look to it?

If it's super slimy feeling, and comes back very quickly when manually removed, my guess would be some sort of cyanobacterium. I had remarkably good success dosing small amounts of silicates to outcompete a similar crud. I ended up with loads of epiphytic diatoms that covered the cyano (mine was lyngbya.)

I think you're on the right track with adding biodiversity.

Ok I’m next to certain now it’s lyngbya. After watching a video it makes the most sense. I could be wrong but it doesn’t appear to be really bothering anything. I’d prefer to avoid manually pulling all my rock out or chemical methods. I’d like to order a box of corals for next week but now I’m wondering if that’s a bad choice

 

[jdpeters]

I looked that up it doesn’t look like that at all, thanks for the guess though

other may be Lobophora which would be rubbery to the touch

I’m thinking it’s lyngbya, after seeing a video or two it makes the most sense. I had some red slime a few months ago but that went away and this took its place

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’m thinking it’s lyngbya, after seeing a video or two it makes the most sense. I had some red slime a few months ago but that went away and this took its place

Previous cyano, lyngbya would make sense and the scrubbing mentioned also applies to this substance

 

[jdpeters]

I’m thinking it’s lyngbya, after seeing a video or two it makes the most sense. I had some red slime a few months ago but that went away and this took its place

Previous cyano, lyngbya would make sense and the scrubbing mentioned also applies to this substance

Next to certain now which is a relief. Any actual harm to my system? It’s mostly aesthetically annoying to me. I feel like it has slowed down a bit since adding 20 pounds of tbs sand nearly a month ago. I just took my UV off to move to the display to deal with ostreopsis but haven’t reinstalled yet. Curious actually if my Dino’s are that bad now or not, back in may the toxicity was so bad nearly everything died.

 

[MeganV]

Some lyngbya can be toxic, but I personally didn't have any issues. That being said, I'm not sure I'd be ordering a big box of new frags.

I would stick to the basics right now - water movement, water changes with manual removal, and increasing biodiversity.

The nutrient balance aspect, in my opinion, does matter too but it sounds like you're taking care of that.

All of this is anecdotal, but just keep after it, you'll get it eventually.