Help with Algae ID, Brown-Stringy-Slimy

[chazman113]

Need help IDing this Algae, willing to buy microscope if its indeterminable. It kinda looks like cyano dynos or diatoms but just not quite. Its definentally slimy and the structure falls apart easily. It has a bit of a stringyness to it. Doesn't seem to trap bubbles.

I've got a prop system set up thats been online for about 6 months. Granted I've fiddled with a lot of things in the system so the params have had their swings. Now I'm at a spot where everything it pretty stable and I'm ready to tackle this algae that keeps coming back. As of now I mostly have Zoas in there and they seem unbothered but probably aren't growing as fast as they could. I'm working to get the coraline to start growing but I did start with pretty white live-ish rock from a FB marketplace tank. I've dipped the tiles I have the Zoas on in Hydrogen peroxide and it came back pretty quickly. I've turned the white/red/green down a lot on the lights as well.

Params/Notes:
System volume ~230 Gallons
1.025 SG
76-77F (Swings a little more when its really cold, but I've got it tuned it to generally stay between 76.5 and 77)
PH 8.1 - 8.2
8.9DKH
420 Calcium
0-1 Nitrates
~.1-.2 Phos (I have a hard time reading the Salifert test, added some Brightwell Phos Remover Recently, I try to do it very sparingly)
1200 Mag (Slowing dosing some Brightwell MG to get that up)
Dos about 500ml Kalk

 

[Gumbies R Us]

My guess is dinos, especially with your nitrates being low

Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

I don't know what percentage of folks had luck battling dinos with any of the methods in the old Dino thread but it's obviously a very low percentage, so I'd like refresh folks on the natural alternatives and lay out three areas of info: some of the factors that contribute to a dino outbreak...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[chazman113]

My guess is dinos, especially with your nitrates being low

Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

I don't know what percentage of folks had luck battling dinos with any of the methods in the old Dino thread but it's obviously a very low percentage, so I'd like refresh folks on the natural alternatives and lay out three areas of info: some of the factors that contribute to a dino outbreak...

www.reef2reef.com

I was kind of guessing that but I wanted to be sure. I was out of the hobby for a decade or so and never heard of these dino things. I guess I have some reading to do eh.I have neonitro on hand but am always wary of dosing a lot to start out. I started feeding a lot more but nitrates still don't climb.

 

[chazman113]

So I'm going to do a 3 day blackout and start dosing neo-nitro. I put 30ml in yesterday and I'm up to a whopping 1ppm already.

I bought the micro bacter 7 stuff to help my live rock colonize some competition and I obviously will stop trying to get rid of phosphates. I got the brightwell phosphate additive but I'm going to be real stingy with it, my phostphates seem to rise ok on thier own. Also, double rations for the 2 clownfish and 2 shrimp I have.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

So I'm going to do a 3 day blackout and start dosing neo-nitro. I put 30ml in yesterday and I'm up to a whopping 1ppm already.

I bought the micro bacter 7 stuff to help my live rock colonize some competition and I obviously will stop trying to get rid of phosphates. I got the brightwell phosphate additive but I'm going to be real stingy with it, my phostphates seem to rise ok on thier own. Also, double rations for the 2 clownfish and 2 shrimp I have.

Good luck on getting rid of them! You have a good plan set in place!

 

[MikeReefs]

Nasty Dinos. Best of luck with the battle

 

[landlubber]

So I'm going to do a 3 day blackout and start dosing neo-nitro. I put 30ml in yesterday and I'm up to a whopping 1ppm already.

I bought the micro bacter 7 stuff to help my live rock colonize some competition and I obviously will stop trying to get rid of phosphates. I got the brightwell phosphate additive but I'm going to be real stingy with it, my phostphates seem to rise ok on thier own. Also, double rations for the 2 clownfish and 2 shrimp I have.

The microscope still might be a good idea.
The different strains of Dinos have different means of irradicating them and a person can needlessly spend a whole lot more than necessary should they choose the wrong means of treatment.
Adding microbacter7 is a good start but keep in mind your Salfert kits have a pretty loose variance and can be +/- 5ppm off the actual reading you'd get from an ICP test.
My battle with prorocentrum dinos was ridiculously long, like 2 years, but information was pretty sparing back then

 

[chazman113]

The microscope still might be a good idea.
The different strains of Dinos have different means of irradicating them and a person can needlessly spend a whole lot more than necessary should they choose the wrong means of treatment.
Adding microbacter7 is a good start but keep in mind your Salfert kits have a pretty loose variance and can be +/- 5ppm off the actual reading you'd get from an ICP test.
My battle with prorocentrum dinos was ridiculously long, like 2 years, but information was pretty sparing back then

any rec for an amazn scope? At the least my kids will like it

 

[landlubber]

any rec for an amazn scope? At the least my kids will like it

Truthfully I use a microscope for work (I grade diamonds and gemstones) but at the time had a very modest scope that while wasn't "toy grade" wasn't very flashy either. It has 40x power which was enough to distinguish the presence of a tail and the overall shape of the single-cell organisms fairly easily.
I think a person could easily get away with spending as little as $40-$50

 

[chazman113]

Truthfully I use a microscope for work (I grade diamonds and gemstones) but at the time had a very modest scope that while wasn't "toy grade" wasn't very flashy either. It has 40x power which was enough to distinguish the presence of a tail and the overall shape of the single-cell organisms fairly easily.
I think a person could easily get away with spending as little as $40-$50

My inner child got really excited to see if this thing actually works. I can always return it. If I was 10 and I had one of these I would have gone ham.

 

[DexterKarin]

I too believe I have dinos. Did the coffee filter test and it was positive . At first I was stressed, then had a talk with myself, this is reefing and an opportunity to learn. Sooo, I was one that had trouble keeping nitrates above 0 but phosphate was and is high. Extra feeding did nothing. So I'm now dosing neonitrate more aggressively to get Hanna readings above 5. Microscope comes today, cheap kids one. Macrobacter 7 and Dr tims ecobalance too. Aquaforest mud next week. I'm gonna focus on biodiversity . Lights all blue and 5 hour photo period and a 9w uv on in a 30 gallon. Also took out the chemipure elite because of the gfo and will reduce the water change volume to no more than 10 percent.

I gleaned these changes from that sticky post but am loathed to go through 600 plus pages.

If okay with you I'll post here about my journey.

 

[chazman113]

I too believe I have dinos. Did the coffee filter test and it was positive . At first I was stressed, then had a talk with myself, this is reefing and an opportunity to learn. Sooo, I was one that had trouble keeping nitrates above 0 but phosphate was and is high. Extra feeding did nothing. So I'm now dosing neonitrate more aggressively to get Hanna readings above 5. Microscope comes today, cheap kids one. Macrobacter 7 and Dr tims ecobalance too. Aquaforest mud next week. I'm gonna focus on biodiversity . Lights all blue and 5 hour photo period and a 9w uv on in a 30 gallon. Also took out the chemipure elite because of the gfo and will reduce the water change volume to no more than 10 percent.

I gleaned these changes from that sticky post but am loathed to go through 600 plus pages.

If okay with you I'll post here about my journey.

Yea go for it. I'll be posting as well. I agree the biodiversity bit is probably key besides the obvious stuff. I have been out the game a while and traditional "live rock" seems hard to come by. There is a place about an hour away from me (Pacfic East Aquaculture) and when it gets a little more stabalized I'm going to see if they can sell me some rock rubble to help get my coralline going. Right now I only have a few very small pieces I have with coralline that I'm blasting with a powerhead.

 

[landlubber]

My inner child got really excited to see if this thing actually works. I can always return it. If I was 10 and I had one of these I would have gone ham.

truthfully LCD imaging is becoming a popular feature in the scope world.
My $7500 Leica stereo microscope maxes at 80x with the oculars i have so I have no idea what results a $54 scope at 1000x power would produce but I certainly am curious now haha.

 

[landlubber]

I too believe I have dinos. Did the coffee filter test and it was positive . At first I was stressed, then had a talk with myself, this is reefing and an opportunity to learn. Sooo, I was one that had trouble keeping nitrates above 0 but phosphate was and is high. Extra feeding did nothing. So I'm now dosing neonitrate more aggressively to get Hanna readings above 5. Microscope comes today, cheap kids one. Macrobacter 7 and Dr tims ecobalance too. Aquaforest mud next week. I'm gonna focus on biodiversity . Lights all blue and 5 hour photo period and a 9w uv on in a 30 gallon. Also took out the chemipure elite because of the gfo and will reduce the water change volume to no more than 10 percent.

I gleaned these changes from that sticky post but am loathed to go through 600 plus pages.

If okay with you I'll post here about my journey.

one thing stuck out in your response I wanted to touch on. You'd mentioned additional feeding didn't produce any results. You might want to consider adding more fish if at all possible. More mouths = more poop and combined with your additional feeding you'll get there.

 

[chazman113]

So one positive thing I noticed is that they basically become an easily cleanable dust when the lights are off for a few days, not at all slimy. I did a good cleaning last night and ran the water through filter socks. Obviously the real test is when the lights come back on.

Before

After

 

[landlubber]

4 hours after the lights lit up is probably enough time to give you an indication. fingers crossed

 

[chazman113]

I cut the blackout off a little early because all the brown just went away after the scrubbing. I put the lights back on at 25% blues and 5% whites. My nitrates about 5ppm now, Phos somewhere between .1 to .25. After dosing a whole bottle of mag supplement over the week I finally got it back to 1260. Got some BRS mag for the future. Waiting on the Bacter 7 to come in, probably monday. Today will be the real test to see how fast it comes back.

 

[chazman113]

Ok so needless to say I don't think the $50 amazon kids microscope is actually 1000x as it proports, its probably 90% digital zoom. But can anyone glean anything out of these images before I return it?

 

[landlubber]

yikes... that's probably closer to 5x zoom. To identify them you pretty much need to be able to distinguish the individual cells. If you do return it and plan on replacing with another, a basic compound microscope

 

[EnterName]

I second a compound microscope. Afterwards you can compare the findings with images from my microscopy thread. If what you see are dinoflagellates the identification guide can help, but if you post pictures here with 200 - 400x magnification I can help with the identification, as well :)