Help with Algae ID, Brown-Stringy-Slimy

[chazman113]

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 :)

Yea I'm going to find one. The dinos went away for a few days but are starting to form again, everything is brown, uhg. I turned the lights down for a while as I make sure the nitrates and phos stay detectable. Never thought I would be hoping for another algae to start growing.

 

[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 :)

Yea I'm going to find one. The dinos went away for a few days but are starting to form again, everything is brown, uhg. I turned the lights down for a while as I make sure the nitrates and phos stay detectable. Never thought I would be hoping for another algae to start growing.

I'm a bit skeptical about dimming lights or blackouts. They are useful if you have a UV sterilizer running and the dinos are migrating into the water, but it will always hurt corals and prevents other competing microalgae from growing. Many dino species don't seem to mind too much, as they can actively prey on things to get what they need. Competing microalgae however, can't establish without light.

A UV sterilizer, silicate dosing, copepods, manual removal, and nutrient stabilization are probably already good steps and won't hurt regardless of Dino species.

 

[chazman113]

Yea so it isn't as rapid these days but everything still gets brown. Oddly it sticks to the glass like it's Coraline starting, but brown. Dosing to get nitrates and phosphates detectable in conjunction with the microbacter has gotten me half way there maybe. My tiny chaeto ball is growing now, before it was a little sickly. I got some of the spongeexcel stuff to dose in silica and see if some trusty diatoms can knock this out.

 

[chazman113]

Just to update, the extreme growth of stringy slime has calmed down. I've been using silicate dosing which has produced more of a diatom bloom situation for now. I still dose nitrogen and phophates as needed to keep them detectable. The rocks are still very brown, almost like they are stained. However I'm starting to see some specs of coralline growing which is a great sign! I did stop by a high school classroom and take a picture of a sample of some fillamentous stuff. It actually doesn't look like any dinos I can find, maybe just a "regular" algae.

 

[chazman113]

Uhg, I finally turned my lights on the normal settings a few weeks ago and started trying to do a bi-weekly targeted feeding with reef roids / selcon on the zoas. The zoas loved it until the slimy dinos started coming back. I've been dosing silica/nitrates/phos as needed and the parameters have been pretty stable but it doesn't seem to be enough at the moment. Going to put the lights back down, up the silicate dosing. I caved and just bought a microscope so I can see what is growing in real time. Will get a positive ID soon. This sucks!

 

[MikeReefs]

Try bacteria such as Microbelift special blend or MB7. Af lifesource is great for Dino’s as well

 

[chazman113]

Try bacteria such as Microbelift special blend or MB7. Af lifesource is great for Dino’s as well

Uhg yea I've already been through 2 bottles of MB7. At some point I feel like if it isn't solving the problem I'm just wasting money on bacteria that keeps getting outpaced.

On a bright note, and with no idea which thing is actually working other than basic maintainance, my sumps fuge area is way better. Its just a big pile of rocks, chaeto and sand in a 125 gallon. I have it with a cheap light on an opposite schedule and a big cheap powerhead just blasting everything. I'm getting some good coralline growth there and I'm hoping it starts translating to the main prop tank.

For now I'm going to up the silica and turn the lights down again. When I get some good microscope pics I'll post and see if I can come up with a better plan. I might also throw some money at more Astraea snails which seem to be the only thing eating it (and are cheap to buy).

 

[chazman113]

Got the microscope! This is 400X scraping from the side of the tank that is kind of brown and never goes away unless an astrea snail goes over it for a good long time. Not slimy and doesn't scrape off easy like diatoms. The greenness and plant like structure to me and the AI I ran it through seems to look not like dinos. I'm turning the lights back on tommorow and will see if the slime comes back!

 

[chazman113]

Finally got a snap of the slimy gunk. My guess is Prorocentrum? Guess I'm getting a UV sterilizer as well.

 

[chazman113]

No more screwing around (maybe?). Got this 36W UV Light running 24/7 at around 300gph in the main prop tank where it is bad. Will blow everything off when the lights go out and change the sock after it settles. At this point if the UV light doesn't work I think the only thing I haven't tried is Hydrogen Peroxide dosing. I'm starting to get a lot more coralline and I dont want to inhibit that, so I'm hoping it doesn't go that far.

 

[ParticleMan]

So I think I've finally got the Dinos myself but no real way to test at this point. Looking at the pictures in this thread they seem to be pretty similar to what I have. It's reddish in color and almost like long single strands of hair. It's not on the sand yet. I've attached some pictures, but they are not very good. My ALK/MAG/CALC have all been steady but have been having trouble keeping the nitrates above zero. Phos remains between .04-.1. I dose neo nitro every few days to keep nitrates around 5-7. Does any of this help? If this is the early stages, should I run a 3-day blackout and add some good bacteria? Turbo 9 or something? I reduced my light cycle from 12 hours to 9 hours, and the refugium from 10 to 8.

 

[chazman113]

So I think I've finally got the Dinos myself but no real way to test at this point. Looking at the pictures in this thread they seem to be pretty similar to what I have. It's reddish in color and almost like long single strands of hair. It's not on the sand yet. I've attached some pictures, but they are not very good. My ALK/MAG/CALC have all been steady but have been having trouble keeping the nitrates above zero. Phos remains between .04-.1. I dose neo nitro every few days to keep nitrates around 5-7. Does any of this help? If this is the early stages, should I run a 3-day blackout and add some good bacteria? Turbo 9 or something? I reduced my light cycle from 12 hours to 9 hours, and the refugium from 10 to 8.

I've been keeping nitrates around 10 and phos detectable. I think my tanks needed to mature but I did use some microbacter, doesn't hurt. Ultimately I bought a uv sterilizer which actualy was the thing that is keeping it at bay. I got a 36w jaebo one on Amazon and a cheapo 300gph pump. I think I was out about $150. I wish I would have done this first. I did a three day blackout when I bought it and kept blowing the gunk off with a baster every day and replaced filter socks every day. I kept it in a loop on the main tank, not the sump.