Can't kill this stuff

[AdamNC]

Anyone know what this stuff might be? I can blow it off, scrub it off and it keeps coming back. Kind of a yellowish/brown snot algae. Tried raising the mg......nothing, H2O2 twice daily 1mL/10gal......nothing.

Here's my latest levels.

Temp 78f.
Salinity 1.025SG
pH 8.13
Alk 11.34dKH
Ca 465ppm
Mg 1700ppm
Nitrate 0ppm
Phosphate 0.03
Nitrite 0ppm
Iron 0ppm
Iodine 0.05ppm
Potassium 383ppm

 

[Quah]

Following. It might be some sort of brown hair algae. I couldn't find anything similar in my algae book. It may also be a sort of diatom I quote "Diatoms lend a golden hue to filamentous green algae" - check Nitzschia, Licmophora, Triceratium for diatoms. Hincksia for brown hair algae. That's the best I can offer, perhaps someone else has further / better information than that.

 

[brandon429]

ill call those chrysophytes try to search out just the 3 or 4 most recent pages here for it, reeferfox did a good thread

treat the target not the water...drain treats, rock removal, external scrapings etc. only treat the water when the surfaces have been hand worked clean, and all that was cleaned exported.

 

[cracker]

Hello Adam Hate to say it but i agree with brannon. I had what looks like the exact same stuff. Does it only grow on the light side of the rock?
I have since torn down the tank, really scrubbed the rock which has been cooking in darkness since July 4th Replaced the tank( it started leaking), soaked all equipment in a bleach solution, etc basically starting over ! I'm still not sure if I killed this stuff !

 

[AdamNC]

Yea only on the top and front of the rocks. Seems to be a form of chrysophytes. Looks like a possible cure is scrub with a tooth brush and beef up the cuc with turbo and astrae snails.

 

[mcarroll]

No "sure things" as far as I can tell with my "chrysophytes". (aka golden diatons, or Golden algae)

Since we're not using microscopes in this exercise/hobby a diagnosis of "chrysophytes" is very close to saying we have no clue at all what this stuff is.....since chrysophytes is barely defined as an amalgam of organisms. Where it's more closely defined, it still an area lacking in study. At least when I looked into it a year ago or so....

Perhaps a total teardown like Brandon is suggesting – everything responds to that. :(

• I was able to get mine to at least stop being so aggressive and taking over by correcting my nutrients.
• The tank was too low for too long (many years) on PO4 and NO3 and let my salinity creep way way up AND I had no cleanup crew for a few years.
  
• Most algae are impaired by low NO3, but this comglomeration has members than can fix N2 from air.
• Most algae get eaten when PO4 runs out, but these guys turn toxic on the grazers and kill them off.
• :mad:
  
• I'm almost positive #chrysophytes (or at least one of its components) get toxic under low PO4 conditions.

So I think my refreshed but modest cleanup crew of Cerith snails is keeping this stuff within its territory (vs being killed off by eating it) now that there has been more consistent nutrients in the water.

But it won't actually recede or die.

I'm not taking the tank apart to deal with this, but I am going to have to wage a territory battle and crowd this stuff out. That means time – mostly trying to keep corals growing buy also to encourage less-ugly/pugnacious forms of algae to also take space. I welcomed the return of a little bit of green hair algae and some cyano patches. :)

Here are some potentially interesting links I gathered on my blog in my research – let me know if anyone has some they like to add:
Bacterivory in algae: A survival strategy during nutrient limitation
Fish foraging behavior changes plankton-nutrient relations in laboratory microcosms
Evidence for the Existence of Three Primary Strategies in Plants and Its Relevance to Ecological and Evolutionary Theory

 

[AdamNC]

And 3 months later it's still here. Seems without breaking the tank down and baking the rocks the only thing so far is that I can keep it under control. About once a week I can turkey baste it off, I did however last night take a toothbrush to the rocks while still in the tank and put my hob filter on high.

 

[brandon429]

If I had a large tank with Chrysophytes I'd best them with a pond uv sterilizer and that rip cleaning prior. The UV would be grossly oversized, and I'd win.

 

[mcarroll]

Anyone ever noticed if Kole Bristletooth tangs eat this?

I always had good luck with them (in larger tanks) where cyano was present...and almost nothing else eats cyano IME. Didn't even consider them until this second....I don't have a tank big enough for them.....50 Gal or less, here.

It's a thought.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Id look into a cheap canister with flosses or micron filter and UV. knock it down a far as possible manually and up the cuc snails.
If its a nasty thing you'll want to reduce the amount before you try something like vibrant. Id run a carbon and gfo in a reactor or canister with a vibrant treatment for possible toxins.

 

[mcarroll]

Id look into a cheap canister with flosses or micron filter and UV. knock it down a far as possible manually and up the cuc snails.
If its a nasty thing you'll want to reduce the amount before you try something like vibrant. Id run a carbon and gfo in a reactor or canister with a vibrant treatment for possible toxins.

Seem a diatom filter (submicron) could be added to that list of potential tools. Still wanna try Marineland's new little in-tank diatom filter, myself.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Seem a diatom filter (submicron) could be added to that list of potential tools. Still wanna try Marineland's new little in-tank diatom filter, myself.

yup

 

[Catchemall]

Doesn't Christopher's feed off of silicates I had what I think was this looked identical gfo worked. Gfo binds phosphates and silicates

 

[mcarroll]

Doesn't Christopher's feed off of silicates

As I said earlier, we're not using microscopes so we could be talking about different things that are just similar, but I tried all of these to no avail:

• scrubbing (aka elbow grease....it's reef safe!!)
• water changes
• GFO
• carbon
• GFO+carbon
• H2O2
• Chemipure

That's almost the reverse order from how I tried. Huh. :)

After literally giving up for a while, bringing nutrients in balance was the next thing I tried...and there were at least positive results to show, if not eradication.

2¢

 

[AdamNC]

Well things I've tried so far and still doing:
Took No3 from 3 ppm to 0.25 ppm
Kept Po4 at 0.02 ppm
Dosing H2O2 for 3 weeks at 1mL/10gal twice a day, I've stopped this though
Added Chemipure Elite
Added Seachem phosfiltrum
Continue with water changes every 2 weeks
Picked up 2 Zebra Turbos, don't want Mexican as I have some really nice display Gracilaria sp Macro and don't want to loose it. I've had Mexicans in the past and they decimated a tennis ball sized red macro in less than a day.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Well things I've tried so far and still doing:
Took No3 from 3 ppm to 0.25 ppm
Kept Po4 at 0.02 ppm
Dosing H2O2 for 3 weeks at 1mL/10gal twice a day, I've stopped this though
Added Chemipure Elite
Added Seachem phosfiltrum
Continue with water changes every 2 weeks
Picked up 2 Zebra Turbos, don't want Mexican as I have some really nice display Gracilaria sp Macro and don't want to loose it. I've had Mexicans in the past and they decimated a tennis ball sized red macro in less than a day.

I dont recall, but are you running a sump/fuge?

 

[AdamNC]

No, standard non drilled 29 gallon tank with an AC70 and a HOB skimmer.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

No, standard non drilled 29 gallon tank with an AC70 and a HOB skimmer.

yea that would make it hard to pull the macros if you had to.

 

[AdamNC]

Wouldn't be hard but I just have no place atm to keep it with sufficient light, unless they can live under 130watt PC lighting?

 

[gar732]

I had the same stuff in my tank when I was carbon dosing, vodka specifically. I no longer dose and no longer have a problem with that stuff. Currently I've had great results with using chaeto for nutrient export.