String like algae ID help

JZduckhook · Sep 11, 2019

Greetings,

First, I have searched and reviewed many threads, and can't seem to find any algae like the one I have. It is covering both rock and sand, and my snails are all dying off as well. Any thoughts on what this could be? Each strand seems to be independent. It doesn't come off very easily (this picture was the day after scrubbing with a toothbrush).

Thanks for any assistance.

Jason

Bret Brinkmann · Sep 11, 2019

Hard to tell from the picture. Looks like there is a lot of blue light on. Can you get some more white light on it for pictures?

Does it look like hair algae with a brown goo on it? If your snails are dying it makes me think it's dinos. Run some carbon to help with toxins if it is dinos. Also what are your nitrates and phosphates? What test kits do you use to measure them?

JZduckhook · Sep 12, 2019

Thanks Bret. I’ll try to get a different picture tonight.

There’s no goo. It’s literally individual strings that are a brownish/white color. They don’t seem to branch or mat together. Kind of odd.

nitrates and phosphates are at zero, but i have a lot of algae, so hard to say. (Red Sea test kits that are a couple months old). There is only 1 fish in a 50g with a 15g refugium. I feed a small amount of mysis daily, amounts to about 1 cube a week (hikari). So I’m not sure where the nutrients are coming from.

Bret Brinkmann · Sep 12, 2019

Sounds like a strain of gha. Glad it's not dinos. Do you have any algae eaters in the tank?

Two things about nutrients and test kits;

1) Test kits only measure inorganic sources of nutrients. So zero only means zero inorganic nutrients. You may or may not ha e organic nutrients. Generally they are in proportion to each eachother but not always.

2) Contrary to popular belief, you don't want zero phosphates and nitrates. Bottoming them out can result in a dino bloom which is usually very difficult to over come. Plus corals are healthier with about 0.1 ppm phosphates and at least 1.0 ppm nitrates. Many people report their coloration is better.

JZduckhook · Sep 15, 2019

Here’s a pic from a microscope. Mostly straight tube like structures. Assuming GHA of some type? Going to try more frequent water changes and good old fashioned manual removal. Still puzzled by the snails dying though.