which one of the nasties do i have? dinos, bryopsis or gha?

[mcarroll]

algae/nutrient issues almost immediately following my cycle which was Jan 2016.

How did you do the cycle and were you using anything for nutrient reduction at that point?

 

[landlubber]

How did you do the cycle and were you using anything for nutrient reduction at that point?

i was ignorant at that point so my method for cycling was filling a 120 standard with 100 pounds of uncured dry pukani, adding water then letting the bacteria feed off of the organics that were present in the rock. 6 weeks later i had no more ammonia or nitrite but by then i knew that i had made a mistake by not lanthinum chloride or muriatic acid bathing or even just curing. i didn't implement nutrient control in the form of a gfo reactor until roughly 3 months in as the gha was consistent and i recognized the need to actively control nutrients.

 

[mcarroll]

Dry rock. Check.

So you did see an ammonia spike come and go – aka a cycle?

Did you happen to be testing PO4 or NO3 back then? What kind of numbers were normal?

 

[landlubber]

@mcarroll yes i tested both ammonia and nitrite along the way and the cycle was established after a lengthy 6 week process. like most i paid attention to my basics (Ca, dKH and Mg) and about 8 months ago bought a hanna checker and salifert nitrate test and have been watching since.

 

[mcarroll]

How did the timing of NO3/PO4 testing correspond with the timing of GFO use?

How did the timing of testing and GFO use correspond with timing of the addition of livestock?

 

[landlubber]

How did the timing of NO3/PO4 testing correspond with the timing of GFO use?

How did the timing of testing and GFO use correspond with timing of the addition of livestock?

i used gfo for quite a while before without testing (est. 6 months) before i properly understood the relationship between nutrients, corals and algae. live stock was already present for 4-6 months before implementing gfo and i only used it when i would get outbreaks on the rocks.

 

[mcarroll]

So what does the tank look like now?

 

[landlubber]

the rock is clean but the sand bed is awful.
i took this photo 45 seconds ago:

 

[mcarroll]

i was continuously losing snails and had many of the traits of bryopsis and in 30 days of treatment have seen drastic improvement on the algae and coral condition. my sandbed however is left with either dinos or brown cyano.

I could be going on limited info, but I haven't read of bryopsis being lethal – merely inedible. I think you had some green algae that had an epiphytic dino or cyano (or both...it's common) along for the ride. You whacked the green algae (and probably some other things) with the treatment. But neither dino's nor cyano would have noticed much....and that's prolly what you still have left growing. One or both.

So are you still unable to sustain even a few snails in the tank?

Can't recall if you said already, but can you look at what you have under a microscope? Maybe post a pic?

 

[landlubber]

I could be going on limited info, but I haven't read of bryopsis being lethal – merely inedible. I think you had some green algae that had an epiphytic dino or cyano (or both...it's common) along for the ride. You whacked the green algae (and probably some other things) with the treatment. But neither dino's nor cyano would have noticed much....and that's prolly what you still have left growing. One or both.

So are you still unable to sustain even a few snails in the tank?

Can't recall if you said already, but can you look at what you have under a microscope? Maybe post a pic?

no i'm sorry i haven't used a microscope.
the snail mortality kind of peaked right before i did the fluccanozole treatment. interestingly, the algaes that were previously toxic to the inverts became their main interest once the treatment took hold. now what is left behind is the brown substrate and a powdery/chunky white algae that i suspect is cyano.

 

[mcarroll]

Trying to talk myself into a microscope right now.....would like a trinocular, but there are waaaay too many models to choose from. I found the cheapest one that seems to have all the features at $225, but I can't tell what that scope is missing vs the very, very similar models that cost +$60, $+120 and +$300, etc.

 

[landlubber]

Trying to talk myself into a microscope right now.....would like a trinocular, but there are waaaay too many models to choose from. I found the cheapest one that seems to have all the features at $225, but I can't tell what that scope is missing vs the very, very similar models that cost +$60, $+120 and +$300, etc.

it would open up a new interest by getting one i bet... just imagine the things you could view in your tank and beyond!
being associated with the jewellery business i am fortunate enough to have access to one but i just haven't attempted to test my high school biology skills and make up a slide.

 

[mcarroll]

I'm getting some traction on this thread, check it out!
Selecting a microscope