ID: Brown String Algae on Sand & Rocks

[Ken559]

I have a brown stringy algae(?) on my sand and rock. I cleaned my sand, via siphon, and it came right back quickly. My nitrates are under 10. My phosphates are high. In one day my LFS measured at .6, a Hach DR890 measured at .36 and Hanna measured at .17. So only a higher power knows the real number. I use live rock, sand bed, cheato, gfo and bio-pellets for filtration. There is also some red cayno.

Hey guys I'm new to this saltwater stuff I got a 4o 45tall gallon tank and it's up and going now 4months I had dead rock in it to start once I thought the cycle had finnished it took a hole new look of the diotome algea blacked it out went away turned on the light came back I was told to takenout the rock and now I got the rock in a saltwater tub with wave maker and heater and I put a few pieces of live rock in the tank when I run the light i get a small amount of diotome on the sand when it's time to turn out the light for the night then when I go to turn on the light again it appears again how long is this process going to take to rid this out of the tank pls help I've had a regal freshwater for 25 yrs and I'm doing saltwater tank now this is frustrating pls any advice

 

[rkpetersen]

IMO. You really do need to have a look through a scope to get an accurate ID, before you can prescribe treatment. IME, Dino species are varied but are completely different in appearance under a scope to both Diatom and Cyano Species. Effective chemical treatment for each are different. You don`t need to have kept aquariums for 40 years to ID Bacteria just by viewing the visual effects of any outbreak. You just need to use a more scientific approach. My advise is to buy a cheap second hand scope. A dissecting scope should be powerful enough. Once you have a positive diagnosis you can then work on treatment and future prevention. I have a scope myself and besides being invaluable to myself has also come in very handy for helping out other local reefers.

This, entirely. (See my post above.) Why guess? Especially if you have any kind of experience behind a microscope. Correct (or at least close) ID of the organism might make all the difference in treatment approach. Although I personally want to be able to go 400X at least to get a halfway decent look at the smaller species, so a dissecting scope wouldn't do it. Also, thanks for the idea, I just let my favorite lfs know that my scope is available for identification help, for them or their customers. Maybe I should get a PO box and offer the service gratis to anyone who wants to mail me a sample; that would actually be quite interesting, useful and fun.

 

[Tony Thompson]

Hi Rkpeterson, I use this cheap scope I bought of amazon for £100,
Bresser Microscope Biolux NV 20x-1280x
I use it on the smallest mag for Dino. Not only can you view the Dino with ease, you can also connect it to pour PC for easier viewing and even save the pictures or video onto your PC.
Comes in a sturdy carry case, complete with tools. If anyone has a few Reefing Buddies they could all chip in and share one. Of course this scope can also be used at much higher magnification for other organisms. People are usually very interested to see the magnitude of life in their aquarium. Creatures that all play a vital role but are overlooked due to there size.

 

[rkpetersen]

I purchased a mid-level Omano. Last time I owned my own microscope was 1985, and it was a much nicer one. This one is far from an Olympus or Nikon, but I won't be using it for education or research purposes. On the other hand, it has the plan objective lenses which let me see things with a bit more clarity. I've used the 400x only to view the internal structure of cyano filaments, at this point, and I've not yet had a reason to use 1000x with oil immersion (and probably won't need to.)

And I agree, the myriad lifeforms to be found in a drop of water, that most don't even suspect are there, have always fascinated me, even since I was a kid. Thanks grandpa for buying me my first microscope at age 9!

 

[taricha]

a quick comment on what you can and can't say is dinos.
4 samples from my tank over the last 2 days.
all looked to the naked eye identically brown patches.
under the microscope...
#1 - pure dinos
#2 - pure diatoms
#3 - cyano/dino mix
and #4 - most complex sample I've ever seen - red cyano, green cyano, spirulina, diatoms, and 2 kinds of dinos, all contributing near equally to make a slimy brown patch.
I thought to myself: "Great work everybody. Y'all really pulled it together."

 

[rkpetersen]

I thought to myself: "Great work everybody. Y'all really pulled it together."

Nothing like a challenge to build teamwork and camaraderie.