Trying to figure if these are Dino or Cyano?????

[Jonreefer]

So my tank has been running for about 9months. Everything seemed ok till I noticed my SPS was very pale in color but still growing. After testing with Nyos and Hanna ULR levels were Zero.
I was trying everything to get a reading. Fed alot more, started dosing RS Reef energy, changed skimmer to only run 12hr a day overnight. Finally took skimmer out. Still was nothing all zero.
I finally started dosing Nitrate and Phos and rapidly within a week I noticed my SPS was starting to color back up. Even with dosing I am having issues keeping any nitrate or Phos in the tank. I got excited till I started having these issues. I cant tell if its Cyano or Dino. It doesnt have the typical stringy bubble look of Dino. I do have some bubbles but it seems to mainly be more on the sand bed and not much on the rock.
I have 10g of water mixing and was planning on sucking out the sand and going BB to see if that helps.
Also none of my fish or coral seem to be stressed at all or affected by whats going on with it.
To look under a scope, what do i do just swap a blob of the algae and throw it on a Slide? I will take some to work tomorrow and take a look.



JOND7794_1 by jon duboy, on Flickr
JOND7797 by jon duboy, on Flickr
JOND7796 by jon duboy, on Flickr

 

[glb]

Is the red stuff slimy? Cyano in my tank has also encrusted on the sand bed. Also, your tank is still pretty new so it’s possible that this is part of the “ugly” stage of cycling.

 

[Jonreefer]

here is another image
JOND7800 by jon duboy, on Flickr

the stuff on the sand blows off pretty easy. The stuff on the rock seems to be a little more stubborn and holds on. I cant recall ever having cyano like this in the past. Normally its patches or a significant redish color. this has a brown color. Guess I will grab a few strands and toss in a few ziplocks for work tomorrow

 

[Jonreefer]

this ugliness on the overflow is what makes me think Dino

 

[mtdaly85]

Try the H2O2 test as outlined in the stickied dino thread. Based on just these pictures, it looks like dinos. I'm fighting them right now, they are a pain in the butt for sure.

 

[Jonreefer]

yea i tried that. Checked this morning and there was no change. No color to water change and no difference in what the stuff looked like from when i put it in the cup.
So I dont think it was Cyano

 

[dwest]

To look under a scope, what do i do just swap a blob of the algae and throw it on a Slide? I will take some to work tomorrow and take a look.

To get a sample for a scope, I would suck up some of the material in a pipet, then drop a couple drops on the slide. If you see motion, likely dinos.

 

[Idoc]

You can take pics with your phone through the microscope eyepiece and post. If it is dinos, you will want to know which kind in order to combat them.

 

[Jonreefer]

I work in pathology and we have scopes with cameras setup on them and I manage all the hardware for our whole slide scanners. So i am gonna just use one of those. Didnt bring a sample today. Was to tired this morning leaving and forgot