Chrysophytes?! Help me cure it?

[reeferfoxx]

a million years late but I just wanted to flag these posts - as it looks like really strong visual evidence of a particular genus of chrysophyte.

compare to Chrysosphaera (from phycokey)



more pics in the link of the above quoted post.
(posts from vibrant thread.)

Guess I couldntc find any resolution. Did vibrant work against it?

 

[taricha]

Guess I couldntc find any resolution. Did vibrant work against it?

Seemed to suggest that it was. I think in later posts, a brown slime was something else - benthic diatoms.

 

[ViciousDlishus]

So I've followed the process of scrubbing and extraction. I did see the cyano started on the sandbed and on some small areas of rockwork.

Cyano has subsided and green algae has replaced it on the sandbed. I'm still seeing chrysophytes maintain dominance so will continue.

Im wondering if a blackout should be attempted. Also should I be siphoning the green algae or cyano or should I leave it with the intention that I need it to out compete and spread for now.

I am also having issues with sps starving. Growth is stunted, no polyp extension, dying from the shaded areas up. Phos 0 Nitrate 3 alk is stable at 8.5.

Im wanting to get the phos up then Nitrate as I see phos increasing. Will this affect my efforts with the chrysophytes?

I'm dosing phos as per instructions to get to 0.03 but not seeing any readings on Hanna ulr. Am I to assume there is a backlog and it is being used immediately? Should I dose multiple times a day until I see the results?

 

[reeferfoxx]

So I've followed the process of scrubbing and extraction. I did see the cyano started on the sandbed and on some small areas of rockwork.

Cyano has subsided and green algae has replaced it on the sandbed. I'm still seeing chrysophytes maintain dominance so will continue.

Im wondering if a blackout should be attempted. Also should I be siphoning the green algae or cyano or should I leave it with the intention that I need it to out compete and spread for now.

I am also having issues with sps starving. Growth is stunted, no polyp extension, dying from the shaded areas up. Phos 0 Nitrate 3 alk is stable at 8.5.

Im wanting to get the phos up then Nitrate as I see phos increasing. Will this affect my efforts with the chrysophytes?

I'm dosing phos as per instructions to get to 0.03 but not seeing any readings on Hanna ulr. Am I to assume there is a backlog and it is being used immediately? Should I dose multiple times a day until I see the results?

Hair algae and cyano are a step in the right direction or at least a positive indication. With that, maintaining nutrients is the goal. However, having cyano and hair algae present will only reduce nutrients as you add them.

Since you are experiencing coral issues, I wouldn't advise a blackout just yet. I would increase nutrient dosings at least until the corals start recovering. Also feeding coral during the evening about 2 hours after lights out, twice a week, will help increase food uptake. Of course you don't want to go overboard.

At the same time keep up with regular water changes while siphoning out all algae. I like to use a ridged airline tube and airline to siphon these types of algae. For the hair algae you can take the tube at the base of the algae and pinch with your pointer finger to help remove and siphon off the rocks.

Once coral show recovery, then we can work on removing chrysophytes with a black out and possibly GFO to really help knock it out.

This wont be an instant fix. You'll need patience. Right now we need to get your coral back in good shape. Then we can move forward.

 

[Hooloovoo]

Anyone have a good recommendation on a canister filter to use to use to vacuum this stuff up with?

 

[reeferfoxx]

Anyone have a good recommendation on a canister filter to use to use to vacuum this stuff up with?

Any canister filter will work as long as it conforms to the head height and size needed for your tank.

 

[Stephers]

Does anyone know of any success beating these with hydrogen peroxide?

I made a mistake of having absolute 0 phosphate for a long time and ended up with lots of nasties. I had osteo dinos, which I've been free of for some time now. I got rid of them easily by running a UV since I had already fixed my phosphate issue at that point. I've had these Chrysophytes for a long time and I normally just scrub them when I do a water change. I'm also battling cyano post-dinos. I'm trying the hydrogen peroxide route with that. I'm only on day two, so not sure of results yet. But t he UV definitely didn't seem to do much to keep the chyrophytes at bay.

I'll update either way... thanks.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Does anyone know of any success beating these with hydrogen peroxide?

I made a mistake of having absolute 0 phosphate for a long time and ended up with lots of nasties. I had osteo dinos, which I've been free of for some time now. I got rid of them easily by running a UV since I had already fixed my phosphate issue at that point. I've had these Chrysophytes for a long time and I normally just scrub them when I do a water change. I'm also battling cyano post-dinos. I'm trying the hydrogen peroxide route with that. I'm only on day two, so not sure of results yet. But t he UV definitely didn't seem to do much to keep the chyrophytes at bay.

I'll update either way... thanks.

If you read the first post to this thread, peroxide was the first on my list of things that didn't work.

 

[Stephers]

If you read the first post to this thread, peroxide was the first on my list of things that didn't work.

I did see t hat. I was just wondering if anyone else had any experience since results can vary per person with these things. I mean, I'm trying it regardless because of the cyano.

 

[reeferfoxx]

I did see t hat. I was just wondering if anyone else had any experience since results can vary per person with these things. I mean, I'm trying it regardless because of the cyano.

Definitely try it. H2O2 didn't help me with cyano either so..

 

[Stephers]

Just an update for anyone curious to add to the thread: I think I've beaten them! I had them like terrible after the dinos went away, and then I used chemiclean and they got so bad!
I did most of the things here. Manual removal + filter sock, and then ran GFO for 24 hrs. I saw a huge improvement from that, and then a week later I scrubbed any tiny bits I had missed from before and ran GFO again for 24 hrs. All looks great now! The cyano started coming back as soon as I did the GFO the first time. I'll let it go for a bit to keep the chryso at bay, and then hopefully chemiclean will get it again and I'll finally be nusiance free from my 0 nutrient days... Currently sitting at 5 nitrates and 0.05 phos. I didn't have to do a black period. I' had these things for probably 6 months!

Thanks for another great thread @reeferfoxx !

 

[Elwood Dowd]

I just pulled all of my coral and fish from a tank and moved it all to another leaving only chrysophyte covered rock. I then ran chemiclean for a a week (do not do this.). It nuked everything in the tank. Granted it was just rock. But pods, Coraline, and a few little remnants of coral that couldn't be moved. The chrysophyte are still there lol.

At this point I have decided that I will just maintain all of.my corals and keep them alive for the next 8 months. I am moving g at that point and going to combine all of my tanks into a 150. I'm just going to o have to start with all new rock.... That sucks. But I am tired of these things. I have also thought about soaking all of my rock in fresh rodi for a couple of weeks then adding it back to the tank. But I'm giving up. Chrysophytes are something I'm going to live with for a while.

 

[taricha]

Chrysophytes are something I'm going to live with for a while.

Do you have a picture of them?
I may want some to test.

 

[Elwood Dowd]

Do you have a picture of them?
I may want some to test.

About an hour after that post I decided to try out fluconazol due the the ergosterone in chrysophytes. So my samples probably aren't the best. But, if they live through the fluconazol treatment. I will put some empty frag plugs into the tank and grow you a bunch of samples and mail them off my cost, to you (if you are in the US).

 

[taricha]

About an hour after that post I decided to try out fluconazol due the the ergosterone in chrysophytes. So my samples probably aren't the best. But, if they live through the fluconazol treatment. I will put some empty frag plugs into the tank and grow you a bunch of samples and mail them off my cost, to you (if you are in the US).

Cool. I'll shoot you a PM. Let me know if they survive.

 

[Elwood Dowd]

H

Cool. I'll shoot you a PM. Let me know if they survive.

Here is the best photo I can get.

 

[Hooloovoo]

At one point, my back glass, sand and rock were all covered in a thick layer of chrysophytes. It has been a long slow process, but they are almost gone from my tank now. The first thing I did was to greatly up the flow in my tank. I also greatly upped my maintenance routine (changing filter socks frequently, cleaning out the skimmer daily, maintaining stable parameters, etc.) That got rid of the stuff on my sand in pretty short order, and has kept it from growing back on my glass after manual removal. It did little to affect the stuff growing on the rocks though, so I cut my light schedule back to one hour per day. I don't have any corals in this tank yet, so I don't have to worry about affecting them fortunately. I maintained this schedule for quite some time, and could see the chrysophytes slowly getting thinner and receding. Recently, I started gradually increasing my light schedule again. The lights are currently on for five hours per day. The chrysophytes are not completely gone yet, but they still seem to be receding. I scrub some off every so often, and let the overflow send it to the filter socks just before I change them. Everyday I can see more and more bear rock. I will be adding a UV sterilizer soon that I hope will help prevent them from coming back. I also want to try inoculating the tank with some coraline soon to see if I can jump start that growing in the tank while the chrysophytes are weakened, and hopefully out-compete it for substrate.

 

[taricha]

At one point, my back glass, sand and rock were all covered in a thick layer of chrysophytes.

H

Here is the best photo I can get.

These could totally be chrysophytes. Could also be dinos or something else. chrysophytes are super rare though. Without microscope pics, I'd always assume it's something else.

 

[Elwood Dowd]

These could totally be chrysophytes. Could also be dinos or something else. chrysophytes are super rare though. Without microscope pics, I'd always assume it's something else.

They don't grow any longer than that. They stay mostly white. But I get no long stringing or bubbles.

 

[cracker]

wrong post