Buying from LFS - Algae in tanks

[ChrisKSB]

I've never bought from a LFS, don't have one in my town. I took a fish that I didn't want on a trip to the next town to give him away. I thought this would be the perfect time to purchase my very first coral...was excited to be able to actually pick it out. Not only was I told most everything in the tanks were not for sale, but I saw a ton of this slimy red algae everywhere. I did see a few corals that I may have purchased, but was worried about the red slime. Is this typical, and just do the dips and move on? Or, would this be a sign of STAY AWAY!

Here is a pic of the slime I took -

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Red slime = Cyanobacteria

as far as buying from a tank with that problem idk

so bump for you (and me!)

 

[namfuak]

Definitely looks like cyano.

How many tanks and how much surface area was it covering? I feel like it's bound to creep up somewhere. I may be in the minority here, but I personally wouldn't worry about it too much.

That being said, if it was covering the coral that I wanted to buy, I wouldn't. Looks pretty cool under a microscope though...

 

[blasterman]

Cyano.....big deal. All tanks have the bacteria. That acro looks pretty healthy to me so its not like they are slobs.

If they have piles of aiptasia and cigarette butts on the floor then I would move on.

 

[ChrisKSB]

It was in most of the tanks I viewed, and on some of the corals. The tanks looked dirty in general (to me). I'm going to give one of the vendors on here a try for my first coral purchase...and hopefully many more!

My wife is interested in taking our 32g biocube in her office and me getting a ~100 gallon in my office! We'll see....

 

[ChrisKSB]

Cyano.....big deal. All tanks have the bacteria. That acro looks pretty healthy to me so its not like they are slobs.

If they have piles of aiptasia and cigarette butts on the floor then I would move on.

New guy, wasn't aware...but thank you! Good to learn little bits all the time!

 

[namfuak]

It was in most of the tanks I viewed, and on some of the corals. The tanks looked dirty in general (to me). I'm going to give one of the vendors on here a try for my first coral purchase...and hopefully many more!

My wife is interested in taking our 32g biocube in her office and me getting a ~100 gallon in my office! We'll see....

Is she naturally interested or did you get her interested? Either way, bravo!

 

[ChrisKSB]

Is she naturally interested or did you get her interested? Either way, bravo!

Caveat is that I still maintain that tank and the new one!

20+ years ago we had a 65 gallon saltwater fish only tank that she maintained herself - I was not involved. I guess it is my turn...

 

[namfuak]

Oh! She's good. I wish I was that clever.