microscopic ID

[mickael31]

Hello everyone !

Currently experiencing a bit of issues with my aquarium, it's not absolutely awful but it could be better and I have some kind of slime on some parts of the rock (with bubbles at the end of the day) and a powder-like veil with some clumps on the surface.

I've used a microscope to try and identify these invaders but I have some doubts about my identification so I don't know how to deal with it. Here is a quick video :


I've lost a couple of pieces this month, an urchin and some snails, don't know if it's connected or not since I have a couple of issues with metals according to my latest ICP (Al, Br, Fe, Zn, Mn) - working on this at the moment too (you can check out the results in the file attached)

Thanks for your insights !

 

[mcarroll]

Looks like a healthy mix of diatoms....guessing this is a new tank going through The Uglies?

I don't see anything about your fundamentals so far...

What are your latest water test results? Are they consistent with past results? Which numbers do you see change a lot?

How old is the tank, how was it started and how is it being maintained?

Do you have a cleanup crew? (Please list them all.)

 

[mickael31]

Not really a new tank, I mean I moved it across the country and switched from a 26 gal to a 53 gal about 6 months ago, the 26 gal was 4 years-old and everything was fine after the move until this past month were I have had these issues.

Tank is half live rocks from the previous setup, half fake live rocks (aquaroche). When I moved, all rocks were kept in water and I also kept all the water from the previous tank (then completed the missing water with fresh one).
I did quite a simple transfer, only doubling the gyre and the lights I had so as to have enough flow and light on this bigger tank, and adding some more aquaroche to fill the space and be able to add more corals.

Maintenance is done once a month, I stir the sand a bit, change 20% of the water, clean up the pumps... Dosing pumps are managing all the dosing (Iode, Calcium, Mag, KH and, when it is needed, I have 2 more channels with NOPOX, NO3 and Easy Reef SPS Evo but I've stopped these 3 since the issues started so as to not put fuel on the fire)
Main parameters are pretty much okay :
Nitrates 10ppm
KH : 8-9
Mag : 1400ppm
Ca : 430-450ppm
All of this hasn't changed from my previous setup, and it worked quite well for the past 10 years I've had tanks, but recent issues are a bit of an unknown situation for me...

CUC is a mix of 5 astreas/trochus/tectus, 6 nassarius, about 10 hermits, 1 serpent star + the usual stomatellas and small serpent stars.
Used to have a tuxedo urchin and an archaster but they both died about a month ago, still waiting to replace them since there is close to no store here so I have to order but it's not worth it for so little

 

[mcarroll]

Well, here's what I can say so far…

The diatoms in your microscope shot require silicates in order to continue their life cycle… That will eventually run out and they will eventually stop blooming. (double check your RODI filter to make sure you aren't accidentally introducing silicates from your freshwater supply.)

your cleanup crew is slightly broken the way you have it set up. You got a tiny number of herbivores and a humongous number of scavengers where it should be the other way around. I would trade most of nassrius snails and hermit crabs for more herbivorous snails. Don't go up to this number, but just for reference a tank your size that has a heavy algae issue might need upwards of 100 herbivorous snails. So your current cleanup crew, as far as algae is concerned, is almost nonexistent.

Losing invertebrates and having strange algae growing makes me question whether you might have dinoflagellates. (even though that's not indicated in your microscope shot.)

If possible, try to get your phosphate levels tested and can you post a picture of the algae?

A test you can do yourself is to take a sample of the algae+water, shake it to smithereens, then let it sit under your lights for a while and see if any of the pieces converge into any kind of mass. If they do, you have dinoflagellates. No other algae will move.

 

[mickael31]

Hello

Sorry for the late reply, I've encountered a catastrophic bacterial bloom.
All this after an accident followed by a mistake on my part. Changed 40% of the tank water during the night and aerated but all fish were lost as well as the microfauna and probably most of the snails. Added an UV today + airstone and will change another 20% tomorrow. Corals seem stressed but no loss as of now, I hope I won't lose all of them because I'm honestly close to giving up after 10 years in the hobby...

No more diatoms or Dino on the microscope (and I couldn't do the test, took note of it for later on) but here are a couple answers, so as to find out what to do if the tank goes back to "normal" and the issue of the topic appears again :
- SiO2 is 0,54ppm on my ICP, 0 in RO water : I had pretty much the same parameters in the previous version of the tank, I believe it's coming from the aquaroche and am using some resin to mitigate this
- PO4 is 0,04 on ICP, 0,06 with Hannah so not good nor bad, used to be closer to 0,1
- indeed CUC is "weird" but I tend to add snails every couple years and they tend to regulate themselves since I always end up with these proportions, algae is maybe not in enough quantities to feed them all ?


Thank you fo all your help either way ! :)

 

[mcarroll]

- SiO2 is 0,54ppm on my ICP, 0 in RO water : I had pretty much the same parameters in the previous version of the tank, I believe it's coming from the aquaroche and am using some resin to mitigate this

Sorry to hear about the latest developments.

At laest on the website they claim their stuff is kiln-fired (high temperature) clay....I'd imagine that anything like leaching would not just keep going and going. Ceramics don't dissolve like that.

Have you ICP'd your RODI water by any chance?

- indeed CUC is "weird" but I tend to add snails every couple years and they tend to regulate themselves since I always end up with these proportions, algae is maybe not in enough quantities to feed them all ?

Just suggesting that because of the diatoms – all snails seem to love to eat them. :) But dino's will slow them down or even kill them, so you decide if it's safe for more or maybe not yet.