Chrysophytes?! Help me cure it?

[Dan7575]

This is what my chrysophyte looked like in tank, when I sucked it out, and under the microscope. @taricha helped me ID this stuff.

what I tried:
-try and keep NO3@10 and [email protected], but new tank was using up nutrients so needed to dose often.
-suctioning it out daily for weeks: it grew back by next day though.
-adding bottled bacteria: Microbacter7, ZEObac, waste away: no difference.
-fluconazole: seemed to grow less, but did not get rid of it.
-fluconazole + vibrant + nutrients at above level: tank had more good days than bad days.
-Added some live rock (with critters and microbes) and live sand(not the bag from store, but the stinky stuff directly from the ocean): Chryso now seems to be gone.
-I am still dosing nutrients so they don’t return.

Hmm, I added live rock which had been in my sump and that is what it is growing on. Did you just go to the beach and get the sand or buy it from somewhere?

 

[SMSREEF]

Hmm, I added live rock which had been in my sump and that is what it is growing on. Did you just go to the beach and get the sand or buy it from somewhere?

I bought the live rock from a LFS. Sand and macro algae was from beach. I’m kinda lucky I live in Miami so I can collect with saltwater license. But can’t collect rock/corals as they are protected.
This is the live rock I added while quarantining and one of my favorite pieces in the tank

 

[Dan7575]

I bought the live rock from a LFS. Sand and macro algae was from beach. I’m kinda lucky I live in Miami so I can collect with saltwater license. But can’t collect rock/corals as they are protected.
This is the live rock I added while quarantining and one of my favorite pieces in the tank

I live close to the beach in Sydney so I could get some sand as well,

 

[SMSREEF]

It’s certainly worth a shot.
Good luck @Dan7575

 

[Dr Jimmy]

While doing some microscope work to identify my dinos,I took this picture as it's kind of pretty to me. It was identified to show chrysophytes. Would anyone agree? I have a 40-2500x scope. Also dealing with large cell a dino

 

[taricha]

that could be what the small regularly spaced lighter dots are. possibly.

 

[S.Pepper]

I'm doing a water change and cleaning the tank and notice this white stringy substance coming from some of my coral and rock. Possibly chrysophytes? I'll post a few pictures.

 

[taricha]

notice this white stringy substance coming from some of my coral and rock. Possibly chrysophytes?

Chrysophytes would be really low on my list of guesses for what that is.
bacterial bloom seems far more likely.

 

[S.Pepper]

Chrysophytes would be really low on my list of guesses for what that is.
bacterial bloom seems far more likely.

Thanks. I have had a bacterial bloom in the past when i first set-up the tank about a year ago; it resulted in cloudy water. I bought one of those green killing machine UV sterilizers and it cleared it up. I typically run it for about a week every month and just took it off line about a week ago. I'll go ahead and set it up again and run it and see what happens.

 

[lba4590]

Hopefully you guys are keeping up with this thread. After ages trying to ID this horrible algae I think it is Chrysophytes. After reading through this thread though I have slightly different circumstances. My nitrates are 20 and po4 is around 0.12. Also I only have it in my refugium and not in the DT. Here is a picture and also a microscope picture.

This is exactly what mine looks like, getting worse by the day. Looks extremely Dino like. Have you figured out how to get rid of it?

Just ordered a reactor and some Reef Flux. Manually scrubbing daily, just seems to get worse. Is the consensus that dosing nitrates will help? Mine are consistently <1ppm, phosphates currently 0.06ppm.

Btw this thread has been very helpful!!

 

[reefd00d]

I'm doing a water change and cleaning the tank and notice this white stringy substance coming from some of my coral and rock. Possibly chrysophytes? I'll post a few pictures.

That looks like what I get in my 50g every now and then, actually right now I have it. Long white stringy mucus stuff... I've narrowed it down to a bacterial bloom, but not sure why it happens then goes away then eventually comes back a month or two later.

I do think I have been battling Chrysophytes in my 20g for almost a year now. It look like short white fur on the rocks and frag plugs. It's starting to cover the plugs and my zoas won't grow. I'll try to get some pics soon. What's weird is this stuff really grows on one half of the tank, compared to the other half.

 

[S.Pepper]

That looks like what I get in my 50g every now and then, actually right now I have it. Long white stringy mucus stuff... I've narrowed it down to a bacterial bloom, but not sure why it happens then goes away then eventually comes back a month or two later.

I do think I have been battling Chrysophytes in my 20g for almost a year now. It look like short white fur on the rocks and frag plugs. It's starting to cover the plugs and my zoas won't grow. I'll try to get some pics soon. What's weird is this stuff really grows on one half of the tank, compared to the other half.

I was looking at my tank this evening and it has pretty much cleared up. Bacterial bloom? Probably.

 

[reefd00d]

Is this Chrysophytes? It looks like short white/clear fur.

 

[taricha]

Is this Chrysophytes? It looks like short white/clear fur.

requests:
pic under white light,
suck up some and put on a surface - ought to be blobby and gelatinous out of water
microscope pic,

Any or all of these could help ID

 

[reefd00d]

requests:
pic under white light,
suck up some and put on a surface - ought to be blobby and gelatinous out of water
microscope pic,

Any or all of these could help ID

White light pics...
I have never seen my tank with full on white lights. Wow, not pretty. Lol.

 

[SMSREEF]

White light pics...
I have never seen my tank with full on white lights. Wow, not pretty. Lol.

How easily can you suction it off the rock?
chryso should come right off very easily and down to bare rock underneath.

what does it look like when you suction it off? Can you snap pic?
This was mine, notice how it is gel like and stays together. You no longer notice fibers or long strands.

Do you have access to microscope?
That’s really the only way for a certain ID.

 

[reefd00d]

How easily can you suction it off the rock?
chryso should come right off very easily and down to bare rock underneath.

what does it look like when you suction it off? Can you snap pic?
This was mine, notice how it is gel like and stays together. You no longer notice fibers or long strands.

Do you have access to microscope?
That’s really the only way for a certain ID.

This stuff does not suck up or brush off. I have to take a scraper to get some off. And seems to grow in higher light and flow. But never any longer than this.

 

[taricha]

This stuff does not suck up or brush off. I have to take a scraper to get some off. And seems to grow in higher light and flow. But never any longer than this.

okay, then it's some sort of filamentous algae. not chrysophytes.

 

[PirateMonkeyReefer]

Just wanted to thank everyone in the thread for the work you’ve done in this. I was fighting this for almost a month now (tanks only 2 months) and I bottomed out my Nitrates and Phosphates.

I dosed up to 5ppm nitrate and .05 Phosphates and have been dosing Microbakter 7 amend its receding. I’m continuing to dose all three in small doses daily And will continue to test!

 

[Rwade]

@taricha Do these look like chrsophytes? I battled LC Amphidiniums for close to a year and finally beat them dosing silicates and phytoplankton. I now have SC Amphidinium and these green cells covering my sand and rock work.