Dinos or bacterial film? Im lost.

[Scorchx1245]

So I'm battling a bacterial film. I can't get rid of it and one hammer colony is not doing great while another is perfectly fine (the mother 20 head colony) my duncans are all but gone, GSP is literally disappearing, but SPS is doing fine as well as my torch, Lobo, trachy, RBTA, zoas, clove polyps, and if course....dreaded pulsing xenia...( why couldn't they die?)
Any ways I feel as if im battling DINOS....here's a few pics.

My setup, 40 breeder, 10 sump, axium 120 skimmer, Xr- 15 gen 3 pro. 4 bulb t5 hybrid, dosing red sea products and NoPox 2mls per day(i wonder if this is fueling it?)
Levels -
P04-0.01 or undetectable
N03 - 15
Alk- 8.3
Calc - 430
Mag -1450

Live stock, 2 occ clowns, 1 mandarin, and a 2 inch foxface ( i have 280 fowlr hell go in)

 

[ScottB]

So I'm battling a bacterial film. I can't get rid of it and one hammer colony is not doing great while another is perfectly fine (the mother 20 head colony) my duncans are all but gone, GSP is literally disappearing, but SPS is doing fine as well as my torch, Lobo, trachy, RBTA, zoas, clove polyps, and if course....dreaded pulsing xenia...( why couldn't they die?)
Any ways I feel as if im battling DINOS....here's a few pics.

My setup, 40 breeder, 10 sump, axium 120 skimmer, Xr- 15 gen 3 pro. 4 bulb t5 hybrid, dosing red sea products and NoPox 2mls per day(i wonder if this is fueling it?)
Levels -
P04-0.01 or undetectable
N03 - 15
Alk- 8.3
Calc - 430
Mag -1450

Live stock, 2 occ clowns, 1 mandarin, and a 2 inch foxface ( i have 280 fowlr hell go in)

Start date on that system? Looks like a fuzzy brown uglies phase to me. Temporary. Then green fuzzies. The diatoms. Then brown hair, then green hair then coralline...

I would stop NoPox until your PO4 is greater than .1 to .15

 

[Scorchx1245]

Start date on that system? Looks like a fuzzy brown uglies phase to me. Temporary. Then green fuzzies. The diatoms. Then brown hair, then green hair then coralline...

I would stop NoPox until your PO4 is greater than .1 to .15

2 years old, and you think stopping the carbon dosing ? Hmmm I'll give anything a whirl. Another thing too note is get bubble forming in the film sometimes. I've had cyano once and beat it about a year ago.

 

[ScottB]

Ah, my mistake. At 2 years you are far past the uglies.

If you are measuring PO4 with Hanna ULR and getting zero to .01, then yes, I would reduce carbon dosing until you can keep .04 to .1.

If that causes your nitrates to rise, you may have to do more WCs, but you may actually find that having available PO4 will actually bring down NO3.

In the "old days" we were all schooled to make our best efforts to lower PO4. I believe we got too good at it, and thus the dinoflagellate thread has 8000+ posts in it.

Here is a crude test to determine if your film is dinos:
a) get a good sample of your gunk and a little tank water into a jar.
b) shake the jar vigorously until it dissolves
c) pour solution through a coffee filter into another glass
d) place glass under a light source for an hour or so

If the gunk clumps back together you have dinos. Then it is time to source a microscope, shoot some pics with your phone at 400X and post to the "are you tired" dino thread for ID.

 

[Scorchx1245]

Thank you so much and kinda hard to get off the rocks sorry for the late reply. And I will try this method, I'm turning off the carbon dosing today.

 

[Scorchx1245]

Update the bacterial film is still there but literally 4 days of no carbon dosing and GHA is starting to show up. I guess the carbon dosing was bottoming out the P04 keeping the algea at bay, but when I stopped it, it aloud p04 to accumulate and GHA to form. The film I suppose is photosynthetic (produces bubbles) and can't get my hands on 400x microscope anytime soon. I tried removing it from my rocks to try the coffee filter method listed above but it has a firm grip. Almost filament like.

 

[ScottB]

Update the bacterial film is still there but literally 4 days of no carbon dosing and GHA is starting to show up. I guess the carbon dosing was bottoming out the P04 keeping the algea at bay, but when I stopped it, it aloud p04 to accumulate and GHA to form. The film I suppose is photosynthetic (produces bubbles) and can't get my hands on 400x microscope anytime soon. I tried removing it from my rocks to try the coffee filter method listed above but it has a firm grip. Almost filament like.

Well I am pretty sure you are not dealing with dinoflagellates then. Which is good. Sounds more like an algae to me.

 

[Scorchx1245]

What algea produces bubbles though? Itsdefinitely not cyano beat that a year ago.

 

[ScottB]

Reading back to your original post:
Low PO4
Highish No3

Stopping dosing raised both nutrients to bloom the GHA I guess.

What was your water change program in this time? I would have been changing water to get the NO3 down a
bit. Not drastic. Making slow changes is always best.

 

[Scorchx1245]

5 gallons a week. So 10% weekly. I have been upping it to an extra 5 gallons here and there to help. So some weeks 5 some 10. I think i may have found a big problem tonight as well. I'm kinda an idiot... i kept a 6x6 tupperware in the back corner of the tank with sand for a wrasse to live in (im bare bottom) the wrasse jumped out and it kinda became my mandarins hang out so I left it. As I was doing a water change this morning. I remembered it. I look at it and vacuumed a bit out and the greenish junk I've ever seen came out. I stopped cayse the bucket smelled like eggs and reminded me of hypoxic zones. Basically I big nitrate factory i suppose. I'm going to very gently lift out the container or should I vacumn it out?

 

[ScottB]

5 gallons a week. So 10% weekly. I have been upping it to an extra 5 gallons here and there to help. So some weeks 5 some 10. I think i may have found a big problem tonight as well. I'm kinda an idiot... i kept a 6x6 tupperware in the back corner of the tank with sand for a wrasse to live in (im bare bottom) the wrasse jumped out and it kinda became my mandarins hang out so I left it. As I was doing a water change this morning. I remembered it. I look at it and vacuumed a bit out and the greenish junk I've ever seen came out. I stopped cayse the bucket smelled like eggs and reminded me of hypoxic zones. Basically I big nitrate factory i suppose. I'm going to very gently lift out the container or should I vacumn it out?

Either method of removal with care should be fine. I keep jars of sand in my tanks as well and they get a bit funky but no major issues.

 

[Dan_P]

So I'm battling a bacterial film. I can't get rid of it and one hammer colony is not doing great while another is perfectly fine (the mother 20 head colony) my duncans are all but gone, GSP is literally disappearing, but SPS is doing fine as well as my torch, Lobo, trachy, RBTA, zoas, clove polyps, and if course....dreaded pulsing xenia...( why couldn't they die?)
Any ways I feel as if im battling DINOS....here's a few pics.

My setup, 40 breeder, 10 sump, axium 120 skimmer, Xr- 15 gen 3 pro. 4 bulb t5 hybrid, dosing red sea products and NoPox 2mls per day(i wonder if this is fueling it?)
Levels -
P04-0.01 or undetectable
N03 - 15
Alk- 8.3
Calc - 430
Mag -1450

Live stock, 2 occ clowns, 1 mandarin, and a 2 inch foxface ( i have 280 fowlr hell go in)

Can we have picture under white lights?

 

[Scorchx1245]

Can we have picture under white lights?

Unfortunately I got switched to am over night shift and am asleep while my tank lights are on. I'll wake up early tomorrow afternoon early before work to grab some white light photos. Also an update im pulling mucus like material out of my filter socks now. Its pretty gross like strings of mucus. Never got this while carbon dosing could it be something dieng off? My socks are clogging in under 24 hours. Normally I got 2-3 days out of them, filter floss holds out for about 2- 3 days which was normally 5-6 days. Ugh....i can get you a photo of the slime its like phosphate chains of bacteria.