Algae id

[Slayyyter]

This week I've noticed this stringy brown algae take over some areas of my tank and I've already dosed fluconazole for some bryopsis I had. It comes off pretty easily but comes back pretty fast. All params have been stable no crazy jumps in anything.

 

[Dan_P]

Looks like cyanobacteria

 

[Slayyyter]

Looks like cyanobacteria

Really I've never had cyano like this before

 

[vetteguy53081]

This week I've noticed this stringy brown algae take over some areas of my tank and I've already dosed fluconazole for some bryopsis I had. It comes off pretty easily but comes back pretty fast. All params have been stable no crazy jumps in anything.

early stage dino
reduce white light intensity and assure your nitrates and phosphates arent at or rnear zero. Looks like youre doing your best to keep tank spotless which can lead to dino.
Loosen with turkey baster and siphon. If it returns tomorrow, do as suggested below, but dont be afraid to feed tank (not overfeed) and again reduce white light intensity and/or duration of white lighting


Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles.
Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15% IF you have light dependant corals) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off.
During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons.
Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX as it is food for dinos.
Day 5,, you can start with blue lights - ramping up and work your white lights up slowly

 

[nereefpat]

Cyanobacteria comes in lost of forms and colors. A microscope could tell the difference between dinos and cyano.

 

[homer1475]

The long strings are probably dying algae with cyano on it. The rest looks as @vetteguy53081 mentioned looks to be dinos to me.

 

[Slayyyter]

early stage dino
reduce white light intensity and assure your nitrates and phosphates arent at or rnear zero. Looks like youre doing your best to keep tank spotless which can lead to dino.
Loosen with turkey baster and siphon. If it returns tomorrow, do as suggested below, but dont be afraid to feed tank (not overfeed) and again reduce white light intensity and/or duration of white lighting


Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles.
Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15% IF you have light dependant corals) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off.
During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons.
Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX as it is food for dinos.
Day 5,, you can start with blue lights - ramping up and work your white lights up slowly

Haha credit to my two urchins and sand sifting goby for the nice sand/rock they did all the work

 

[Slayyyter]

Cyanobacteria comes in lost of forms and colors. A microscope could tell the difference between dinos and cyano.

I'll check that and update later today

 

[Slayyyter]

early stage dino
reduce white light intensity and assure your nitrates and phosphates arent at or rnear zero. Looks like youre doing your best to keep tank spotless which can lead to dino.
Loosen with turkey baster and siphon. If it returns tomorrow, do as suggested below, but dont be afraid to feed tank (not overfeed) and again reduce white light intensity and/or duration of white lighting


Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles.
Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15% IF you have light dependant corals) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off.
During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons.
Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX as it is food for dinos.
Day 5,, you can start with blue lights - ramping up and work your white lights up slowly

Do you think adding fiji mud could help? Bringing microfauna diversity. I'll definitely start dosing peroxide this week

 

[vetteguy53081]

Do you think adding fiji mud could help? Bringing microfauna diversity. I'll definitely start dosing peroxide this week

Fauna. . . Probably not

 

[Slayyyter]

Probably should have posted this yesterday but after testing it seems my nitrates are at 0-1ppm they are usually 20-30ppm (tested last friday) so idk what made them crash. I also ran out of phytoplankton last week which might have helped the dinos?

 

[Slayyyter]

I'll check that and update later today

 

[WheatToast]

Lyngbya cyanobacteria?
https://www.reefcleaners.org/nuisance-algae-id-guide

 

[Slayyyter]

Lyngbya cyanobacteria?
https://www.reefcleaners.org/nuisance-algae-id-guide

I can try chemiclean and see if that's it after breaking it off it doesn't really grow back much

 

[Slayyyter]

Here's a slightly better photo

 

[nereefpat]

#reefsquad , is that Dinos?

 

[dwest]

Looks like ostreopsis dinos to me.

Dinoflagellate Identification Guide

I've had this laying around for a while. Had some recent interest, so I tweaked it a bit and am posting it. Not really about cures just ID pictures, videos, and a few short facts. Hope it can be helpful.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[dwest]

There are lots of different recommendations for dinos. But if I had ostreposis in my tank, I would take advantage of the fact that they swim at night and are susceptible to UV. I would:
1. Maintain measurable nitrates and phosphates (about 10 ppm no3 and 0.1ppm po4) to promote other non dino growth.
2. Add normal amount of GAC and replace weekly to help get rid of toxins.
3. Run UV of at least 1 watt per 3 gallons of tank water run slow at about 2-3 tank volumes per hour of flow. Plumbed from display back to display.

If you read some of the big dino threads, this usually works for ostreopsis. Good luck!

 

[saltyhog]

Here's a slightly better photo

Yes sir, that's Ostreopsis.

Best practice IME is a UV. It needs to be over sized. A good estimate is 1 watt/3 gallons of tank size. Flow through the UV needs to be slow....somewhere around 2-3x tank volume/hour. The UV should be plumbed from the display and the effluent back to the display with a dedicated pump. Yes, it's ugly but it's very temporary. Often see improvement in a day or two and often able to stop the UV in a few weeks.

It's also really important to get nutrients up (if they aren't already) to the 5-10 range for NO3 and 0.06-0.1 for PO4. Dosing phytoplankton (live, not dead) daily is also very helpful. cv

 

[saltyhog]

There are lots of different recommendations for dinos. But if I had ostreposis in my tank, I would take advantage of the fact that they swim at night and are susceptible to UV. I would:
1. Maintain measurable nitrates and phosphates (about 10 ppm no3 and 0.1ppm po4) to promote other non dino growth.
2. Add normal amount of GAC and replace weekly to help get rid of toxins.
3. Run UV of at least 1 watt per 3 gallons of tank water run slow at about 2-3 tank volumes per hour of flow. Plumbed from display back to display.

If you read some of the big dino threads, this usually works for ostreopsis. Good luck!

I knew I forgot something. Agree with dwest completely. Running carbon and changing it frequently is important, especially if you see signs of toxicity. Ostreopsis is the most toxic of problem dinos we see in tanks.