Id this brown algae please

Tham121988 · Sep 14, 2017

Its thick, covers sand and rock, and doesn't come off easy. The tank has had it for a couple of weeks. The tank is over a year old.

Big G · Sep 14, 2017

Looks like it might be brown cyano and brown hair algae - the ugly duo. What water are you using?

Tham121988 · Sep 14, 2017

Using RO/DI. I just upgraded the filter too. Testing 0 TDS.

rockskimmerflow · Sep 14, 2017

It's dinoflagellate of some sort, maybe commingling with some cyanobacteria but the dino is the one you'll have trouble getting rid of.... good luck

Breakthecycle2 · Sep 18, 2017

rockskimmerflow said:
It's dinoflagellate of some sort, maybe commingling with some cyanobacteria but the dino is the one you'll have trouble getting rid of.... good luck

That sure doesnt look like dinos. Looks like cyano.

rockskimmerflow · Sep 19, 2017

Breakthecycle2 said:
That sure doesnt look like dinos. Looks like cyano.

Nope it's dino... No use in sugar coating it for him. Dino often cohabitates with cyano as part of it's survival strategy, so there is likely some cyano in that slime mat on his sand bed. But trust me, I've diagnosed and treated enough dino to know it when I see it.

Breakthecycle2 · Sep 19, 2017

rockskimmerflow said:
Nope it's dino... No use in sugar coating it for him. Dino often cohabitates with cyano as part of it's survival strategy, so there is likely some cyano in that slime mat on his sand bed. But trust me, I've diagnosed and treated enough dino to know it when I see it.

Im going to disagree. Those pictures do not represent dino's from my experience. That looks like cyano and what i've dealt with in the past.

rockskimmerflow · Sep 20, 2017

Breakthecycle2 said:
Im going to disagree. Those pictures do not represent dino's from my experience. That looks like cyano and what i've dealt with in the past.

Fair enough. You certainly have not dealt with much dinoflagellate if you think that is a simple cyanobacteria slime mat. And trust me, for the OP's sake I hope by some miracle you're right and he doesn't have dinos. All the OP will need access to is a cheap microscope and he'll know what he has if he compares his slime to some sample photos of dino and cyano under a scope.