Green Algae ID with microscope pic

reefrider777 · May 18, 2021

A friend is dealing with this green algae that is on the sand bed. Any help would be appreciated. Here is a pic of the sand and also a pic from the microscope.

Idoc · May 18, 2021

I suspect that is a type of green cyano... What do you think, @taricha ?

taricha · May 19, 2021

Idoc said:
I suspect that is a type of green cyano... What do you think, @taricha ?

Round blob, variable shape, orange eyespot.
Euglena, I think.

reefrider777 · May 19, 2021

taricha said:
Round blob, variable shape, orange eyespot.
Euglena, I think.

Treatment??

Idoc · May 19, 2021

reefrider777 said:
Treatment??

I've never heard of Euglena algae before, lol...gotta let @taricha answer this one!

taricha · May 20, 2021

They haven't been reported to be a long term nuisance in the aquarium. (Though I'm open to new info)
I expect that this is a short-lived phase in a maturing tank.

reefrider777 · May 20, 2021

taricha said:
They haven't been reported to be a long term nuisance in the aquarium. (Though I'm open to new info)
I expect that this is a short-lived phase in a maturing tank.

Hmmmm...tank has been running for 8 years now. Maybe UV?

Stephers · Jul 13, 2021

reefrider777 said:
Hmmmm...tank has been running for 8 years now. Maybe UV?

Any update to this? I've had these guys for over a month now and it doesn't seem to be getting any worse, but it's quite ugly.

Reef and Dive · Jul 13, 2021

Idoc said:
I suspect that is a type of green cyano... What do you think, @taricha ?

Nope. That’s just green unicelular algae. Hard to tell the species

roggy23 · Oct 10, 2021

Stephers said:
Any update to this? I've had these guys for over a month now and it doesn't seem to be getting any worse, but it's quite ugly.

Still dealing with this?

Stephers · Oct 10, 2021

roggy23 said:
Still dealing with this?

No, I managed to get rid of them. I did confirm it was Euglena under a microscope. I did a 2-day blackout in conjunction with dosing silicates for several weeks, and that eliminated them from the sand bed... almost like magic. They still grew on the glass for a while, but eventually the diatoms from the silicate dosing took over and the euglena never came back. I tried h2o2 dosing, microbactr7, Uv -- none of those worked.