Dynos or Cyano?

[soccersw]

I have been fighting this for a few months. The stuff in the sand seems to clump and is very hard to vacuum because it is as heavy as the sand. I have used Red slime remover, with not much help. My nutrients are Nitrates 12 Phosphates .06 Salinity 35 Alkalinity 9.6. I am dosing Red Sea four part and have been happy with tank for years. Coral do not seem to be affected much. Tangs do not seem to eat it. My clean up crew do not seem to live very long. My sand sifting starfish looked like something was biting it. Can someone help me please?

 

[EnterName]

Could be another Euglenida case...
A compound microscope would help with the identification, but this would explain why your CUC dies.

 

[soccersw]

Could be another Euglenida case...
A compound microscope would help with the identification, but this would explain why your CUC dies.

Thank you for your information. I ordered a microscope today. Time to stop guessing and get some empirical evidence!

 

[EnterName]

Could be another Euglenida case...
A compound microscope would help with the identification, but this would explain why your CUC dies.

Thank you for your information. I ordered a microscope today. Time to stop guessing and get some empirical evidence!

Just to be sure: It's not a digital one is it? It's a classical compound microscope like you may have had in school, right?

I'm asking because digital microscopes often don't have the required magnification or resolution capabilities.

You won't regret the purchase, microscopy in combination with a reef tank is pretty fun: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/microscopy-thread.1138845/

 

[soccersw]

Just to be sure: It's not a digital one is it? It's a classical compound microscope like you may have had in school, right?

I'm asking because digital microscopes often don't have the required magnification or resolution capabilities.

You won't regret the purchase, microscopy in combination with a reef tank is pretty fun: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/microscopy-thread.1138845/

Just a cheaper 2000 x classic compound microscope. Should be plenty strong for this application. I will keep the electron microscope for later. Lol

 

[EnterName]

Just a cheaper 2000 x classic compound microscope. Should be plenty strong for this application. I will keep the electron microscope for later. Lol

There should be a 20x and a 40x objective together with 10x eye piece. These will probably work best for the identification. It doesn't matter much that it's cheap, it will probably do just fine
Tag me once you have some images, I'm curious what you will find! You are also welcome to post your findings in my microscopy thread if you want.

Side note:
2000x is just marketing.
You won't be able to go much further than 1000x with light microscopy. Yes, if you have a 100x objective and a 20x eye piece you theoretically should end up with 2000x, but the image will be too dark to be useful and the resolution won't increase beyond 1000x making it like a "digital zoom" which doesn't provide more information. The wavelength of visible light simply won't allow for higher resolution.

 

[slingfox]

Could be another Euglenida case...
A compound microscope would help with the identification, but this would explain why your CUC dies.

I posted my experience in the thread above where I outline my experience dealing with this kind of green toxic growth on the sand bed for the last six weeks. I am on day 3 of removing the patches of sand with green growth and top dressing with ocean live sand from Tampa Saltwater. So far the sand looks immaculate with no signs of the green algae. Notably, during the first there were small patches of sand in remote areas of the reef scape. I mixed those areas up so they came into more contact with the TBS sand. It is day 3 now and no sign of algae regrowth. The sand is basically complex clear!