Possible chrysophytes?

Llorgon · Jun 26, 2022

Looking for a positive Id on whatever this is. It's mostly on the rocks and in the sump. Doesn't seem to show up on the glass or sand. It doesn't really seem to bother things other than taking over rock area from the corals. I haven't had any snail deaths, but they don't seem to touch it. It seems to mostly be ugly.

About the tank:
75 gallon tank with sump/refugium.

Refugium is reverse lit from display tank and has some macro algae

Tank is a bit over a year old.

Temp: 78
Salinity: 1.026
Alk: 7.1
Cal: 450
Mag: 1290
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0.07

Currently working on nailing down the dosing of alk, cal and mag. Also been dosing some nitrate the last week to get some readable nitrates. I've noticed some increase in coral colour so it must be working.

I've had whatever this stuff is for a few months now. Not really getting better or worse. I've tried brushing the rocks, sucking them out on water changes, but it keeps coming back.

Maintenance is weekly 15g water change, change filter floss once a week, vacuum sand every other week.

I use ro/did water and check it with a tds meter about once a month. I changed filter about 3 weeks ago.

Any idea on what this is and how to get rid of it?

dwest · Jun 26, 2022

It’s always hard to say from pics. But if it’s very gelatinous then I’m guessing chrysophytes too. I agree that dosing nitrates might help.

Llorgon · Jun 26, 2022

Ya, it's pretty gelatinous.

dwest · Jun 27, 2022

You have some real nice acro frags. If they keep growing, and snails don’t die, I would just keep vacuuming it (while adding nitrates). It might be a while, but it should eventually stop growing.

I would not add any products claiming to remove algae. No way. You are close.

Llorgon · Jun 27, 2022

dwest said:
You have some real nice acro frags. If they keep growing, and snails don’t die, I would just keep vacuuming it (while adding nitrates). It might be a while, but it should eventually stop growing.

I would not add any products claiming to remove algae. No way. You are close.

Thanks! I got them all from a guy shutting down his tank. Now if I can keep them alive...( I had a small RTN issue last night)

Ya, I don't want to do anything drastic. Just looking for an ID then I can slowly tweak things to hopefully get something better to take it's place. I had this in my 25g, but it didn't stick around very long unlike this stuff.

taricha · Jun 28, 2022

dwest said:
It’s always hard to say from pics. But if it’s very gelatinous then I’m guessing chrysophytes too.

yep. pics and that gelatinous description... chrysophytes.

sixty_reefer · Jun 28, 2022

As others have mentioned the best way to tackle this is by increasing nitrates, personal I would use something like neonitro or other similar that contains nitrogen

Llorgon · Jun 28, 2022

My nitrates were reading at 0 so over the last week and a bit I have been dosing nitrates. Got them a bit higher than I wanted and phosphate bottomed out. I suspect that's what caused my sudden RTN on a couple corals.

I now have some phosphates and nitrates. Hopefully I can keep them there and this stuff goes away!

BAMatter · Jul 19, 2022

Pick up a cheap microscope with a cell phone clip and get a pic of the algae so you can get a positive ID that way you know what you’re dealing with…

Christoporia · Jul 20, 2022

Not trying to hijack your thread, I also am fighting this stuff. I just tested my RODI barrel, my ATO reservoir and the display for silicates. 0 reading on all 3 test. My chrysophytes look eerily like dinos, but scope images show otherwise. I have tried dosing MB7 daily, raising temp to 80, used vibrant (based on another thread), Dr. Tim's Waste Away, peroxide dosing, almost everything but chemiclean and reef flux again. Almost 4 months ago, I used reef flux to kill off some hair algae, and a few weeks later, this stuff showed up. The only thing that helps is siphoning it out when slime gets too long and irritates corals. On a side not, it isn't in the sand bed, only on the rocks from mid level to the top and is very random on locations. ANY suggestions welcome at this point.

BAMatter · Jul 22, 2022

Christoporia said:
Not trying to hijack your thread, I also am fighting this stuff. I just tested my RODI barrel, my ATO reservoir and the display for silicates. 0 reading on all 3 test. My chrysophytes look eerily like dinos, but scope images show otherwise. I have tried dosing MB7 daily, raising temp to 80, used vibrant (based on another thread), Dr. Tim's Waste Away, peroxide dosing, almost everything but chemiclean and reef flux again. Almost 4 months ago, I used reef flux to kill off some hair algae, and a few weeks later, this stuff showed up. The only thing that helps is siphoning it out when slime gets too long and irritates corals. On a side not, it isn't in the sand bed, only on the rocks from mid level to the top and is very random on locations. ANY suggestions welcome at this point.

You should join this FB group- where these are not Dino’s there is some info in a PDF about them that’s downloadable and the moderators may have some good advice for you.