Hair algae, dinos, something else?

[carbondave]

It's been a rough couple of weeks. You can see the background on my tank in my build thread.

I went out of town for the week of 10/23 and came home to a tank that looks basically like the first picture. I took some readings and found 0 nitrates (Red Sea) and 0 phosphates (Hanna) so assumed I was dealing with dinos. I ordered some NeoNitro and NeoPhos which arrived mid last week. I also ordered a microscope, slides, etc.

I've tried a couple of times to look at things under the microscope and I think the claimed magnification is not even close, so that seems like a failed purchase. That said, from what I am able to see under the microscope, I have yet to see anything that strongly resembles dinos, at least as shown in other threads. Also worth noting that the urchin seems to be eating whatever it is. He was perched for a long time on the purplish rock in the upper middle of the first picture, and that one is picked fairly clean. Over the last couple of days he has left that perch and has started moving to other rocks, cleaning in his wake.

I dosed one capful on NeoPhos on Thursday and when testing today found 0.05, still 0 nitrates. LPS corals are definitely not as extended as they were when first added to my tank (when nitrates were reading ~2-5 and phosphate 0.02).

Also, I believe unrelated, but Thursday morning I found my skimmer going crazy and the end baffle in the sump coming apart. My guess is the silicone wasn't fully cured (despite curing for a week before adding water and successfully holding for over a month), and once the uncured portion was exposed to the tank it caused the skimmer to act up. So I changed out the carbon in the sump and am hoping that pulls out any remaining traces of whatever might be in there. Skimmer is currently off.

Also, as it may be useful to determining path forward, my lighting is 6 T5s (1x actinic, 2x blue plus, 2x coral plus, 1x aquablue special) set to run 11 hours per day total with 30 minutes on sunrise/sunset.

So, my basic question at this point is: should I continue trying to determine whether this is dinos and if so what kind, or start treating it like hair algae? And as an extension, should I be dosing nitrates and/or phosphates to bring those up?

 

[carbondave]

Bump

 

[dwest]

I think NOT dinos nor hair algae. I’ve seen it before but don’t know what it is. Maybe chrysophytes? Let’s see if @taricha is around.

 

[Wolfw28]

Did you dose any bacteria before the problem started

 

[carbondave]

I did. I had been seeing some brown what I thought was diatoms and I added some Microbacter Clean

 

[Wolfw28]

I did. I had been seeing some brown what I thought was diatoms and I added some Microbacter Clean

That what I thought it looks very similar to the bacteria bloom I had years ago after I dosed a similar product. I still use that product if I see an issue starting to develop,but at a quarter of the manufacturer recommended dosage.

 

[slingfox]

Does not look like dinos. You likely want to get phosphate and nitrate higher to help avoid getting visited by dinos.

To handle the current outbreak you probably want to do soem hand removal from the rocks and equipment. I use a Rubbermaid grout power scrubber since it is waterproof and makes the job much quicker. Since you don't have any coral mounted you can pull the rocks and soak them in hydrogen peroxide to kill any algae. Warning: After I removed all the ulva, GHA, and chrysophyes form my rocks dinos took over.

 

[carbondave]

Thanks for the feedback. Chrysophytes look like a strong contender, and from my initial reading it looks like low nutrient levels are likely contributing there as well, so should work to get those up regardless.

 

[Wolfw28]

Thanks for the feedback. Chrysophytes look like a strong contender, and from my initial reading it looks like low nutrient levels are likely contributing there as well, so should work to get those up regardless.

Does it look like this?

 

[taricha]

I have yet to see anything that strongly resembles dinos, at least as shown in other threads. Also worth noting that the urchin seems to be eating whatever it is. He was perched for a long time on the purplish rock in the upper middle of the first picture, and that one is picked fairly clean. Over the last couple of days he has left that perch and has started moving to other rocks, cleaning in his wake.

So, my basic question at this point is: should I continue trying to determine whether this is dinos and if so what kind, or start treating it like hair algae?

Sounds like it's behaving like hair algae. you have some grazers that are eating it. So not acting like a dino / toxic algae.

 

[carbondave]

Does it look like this?

Yes

 

[Sticker shock]

Possibly lyngbya?

 

[Wolfw28]

Does it look like this?

Sorry this doesn’t answer your question, but I still believe it is some solar form, a bacteria or fungus I know you said Your microscope wasn’t very good at trying to identify it. Is it possible that you can post the pictures of it under the microscope?

 

[Wolfw28]

Sorry this doesn’t answer your question, but I still believe it is some solar form, a bacteria or fungus I know you said Your microscope wasn’t very good at trying to identify it. Is it possible that you can post the pictures of it under the microscope?

Whatever it is and actually the problem I had I’m pretty sure like I said before only started after I introduce bacteria to my Tank. Now the way I got rid of it was UV and using filter floss because I don’t use any other kind of filters in my tank other than that if I have a problem, no socks no roller mats nothing like that just protein skimmer and biological natural filtration. Product such as that can feed what’s there all the time such as what you’re dealing with but now you fed it so much it’s just blooming out of control

 

[carbondave]

Thanks everyone for the help so far. It's been a busy week so I haven't had a chance to do a lot of work on the tank, but here is a video from today and a couple of shots from the microscope.

 

[carbondave]

Just checked nutrients: 0 NO3, 0.02 - 0.07 PO4 depending on which test result you believe. Planning to scrub as much of this stuff off as I can. Will retest nutrients tomorrow before dosing.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

It's been a rough couple of weeks. You can see the background on my tank in my build thread.

I went out of town for the week of 10/23 and came home to a tank that looks basically like the first picture. I took some readings and found 0 nitrates (Red Sea) and 0 phosphates (Hanna) so assumed I was dealing with dinos. I ordered some NeoNitro and NeoPhos which arrived mid last week. I also ordered a microscope, slides, etc.

I've tried a couple of times to look at things under the microscope and I think the claimed magnification is not even close, so that seems like a failed purchase. That said, from what I am able to see under the microscope, I have yet to see anything that strongly resembles dinos, at least as shown in other threads. Also worth noting that the urchin seems to be eating whatever it is. He was perched for a long time on the purplish rock in the upper middle of the first picture, and that one is picked fairly clean. Over the last couple of days he has left that perch and has started moving to other rocks, cleaning in his wake.

I dosed one capful on NeoPhos on Thursday and when testing today found 0.05, still 0 nitrates. LPS corals are definitely not as extended as they were when first added to my tank (when nitrates were reading ~2-5 and phosphate 0.02).

Also, I believe unrelated, but Thursday morning I found my skimmer going crazy and the end baffle in the sump coming apart. My guess is the silicone wasn't fully cured (despite curing for a week before adding water and successfully holding for over a month), and once the uncured portion was exposed to the tank it caused the skimmer to act up. So I changed out the carbon in the sump and am hoping that pulls out any remaining traces of whatever might be in there. Skimmer is currently off.

Also, as it may be useful to determining path forward, my lighting is 6 T5s (1x actinic, 2x blue plus, 2x coral plus, 1x aquablue special) set to run 11 hours per day total with 30 minutes on sunrise/sunset.

So, my basic question at this point is: should I continue trying to determine whether this is dinos and if so what kind, or start treating it like hair algae? And as an extension, should I be dosing nitrates and/or phosphates to bring those up?

I guess you feel like you have gone to all this trouble, spending money and using microscopes and literally learning about bio organisms, spending so much time into research.
I'm unsure if it diatoms but it kinda looking that way in my opinion, spend a little time/ more into research and honestly this will provide you with 'invaluable' knowledge for the future

I'm looking into purchasing microscopes... So many to choose from

 

[carbondave]

I guess you feel like you have gone to all this trouble, spending money and using microscopes and literally learning about bio organisms, spending so much time into research.
I'm unsure if it diatoms but it kinda looking that way in my opinion, spend a little time/ more into research and honestly this will provide you with 'invaluable' knowledge for the future

I'm looking into purchasing microscopes... So many to choose from

Thanks for the comments. My frustration is less about doing the research and all that, it's more doing the research and still feeling like there's not a definitive answer. And also knowing that whatever the answer is, part of the treatment plan is going to be to spend a lot more money. Like I'm pretty sure I need to buy a UV now, so there's another $400. And I'm 99% sure this came in with a CUC order from Reefcleaners. So now who do I use and do I need to set up yet another QT for the CUC?