Red snotty stuff with bubbles on algae

[Punchanello]

Is this cyano or dinoflagellates? Seems to only be where I have algae. Tank is 5 months old.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Looks like cyano to me, welcome to the new tank uglies. How is your flow? My wife's tank is pretty new, we blew it off the rocks, adjusted our flow, vacuumed the sand and bumped up our wc's. Problem went away in no time.

 

[NoWaiAma]

Looks like Dino to me, with those bubbles in it. But wait on the correct responses from the experienced folks before reacting.

 

[Scottybgood]

Looks like Dinos to me as well, just got over a case of them. Easy low-tech way to determine which is to do the paper towel filter test.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...ttling-altogether.293318/page-50#post-4043274

Just take a sample, shake it vigorously to break it all up, filter through a paper towel into another container, and let it sit in ambient light for a little bit. If it's dino, they will "re-form" into snotty clumps again.

 

[Punchanello]

Looks like Dinos to me as well, just got over a case of them. Easy low-tech way to determine which is to do the paper towel filter test.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...ttling-altogether.293318/page-50#post-4043274

Just take a sample, shake it vigorously to break it all up, filter through a paper towel into another container, and let it sit in ambient light for a little bit. If it's dino, they will "re-form" into snotty clumps again.

Thanks Scottybgood.

That thread is a little intimidating! 4000 plus posts is some read.

One thing that might be a factor, and has confused me, is that my nitrates and phosphates are at 0. I don't use gfo or phosphate remover. Just a skimmer and some chaeto under a regular bulb. I don't have many fish yet but always feel like I overfeed them. Yet, I have a bunch of algae everywhere and now Dinos (I assume but I'll test and/or get a microscope).

I can't tell if my problem is too much or too little by way of nutrients.

Another couple of factors I should mention. I had a massive phytoplankton bloom which I dealt with by using a UV skimmer. I took that off line a week ago. I also over dosed calcium, alkalinity and magnesium a few days ago
Nothing serious but put me on the high side. The slime you see showed up the very next day. Maybe correlation rather than causation but a bit of context anyway.

 

[NoWaiAma]

Algae consume nutrients. Consider those as false readings

 

[shred5]

Looks like Dino to me, with those bubbles in it. But wait on the correct responses from the experienced folks before reacting.

Agreed.

 

[Scottybgood]

That thread is a little intimidating! 4000 plus posts is some read.

A little? LOL. It took me weeks to get through it, and a lot was over my head since I am new to the hobby, but definitely helped me out.

One thing that might be a factor, and has confused me, is that my nitrates and phosphates are at 0. I don't use gfo or phosphate remover. Just a skimmer and some chaeto under a regular bulb.

Did you, by chance, start with dry rock? I started with the CaribSea LifeRock (the man-made painted stuff) and also started running GFO as soon as I put in some fish...because I had a new toy (dual reactor) and I COULD. This was a bad combo for me. I had 0 detectable NO3 and PO4. From my understanding, there is some level of phosphate "uptake" in new substrates and dry rock as well, and maybe THAT could be dropping your results (in addition to the algae you said you had). But at 5 months (my dino outbreak started at about 3 months) I would venture to say it is a "too little nutrients" issue. Dino's LOVE the low levels.

I started dosing (with daily testing) Brightwell NeoPhos for phosphates and mixed up some Stump Remover for nitrates then identified my strain via microscope (Ostreopsis for me) and that is where the @mcarroll thread came in very handy, because different strains have different actions.

 

[Punchanello]

A little? LOL. It took me weeks to get through it, and a lot was over my head since I am new to the hobby, but definitely helped me out.


Did you, by chance, start with dry rock? I started with the CaribSea LifeRock (the man-made painted stuff) and also started running GFO as soon as I put in some fish...because I had a new toy (dual reactor) and I COULD. This was a bad combo for me. I had 0 detectable NO3 and PO4. From my understanding, there is some level of phosphate "uptake" in new substrates and dry rock as well, and maybe THAT could be dropping your results (in addition to the algae you said you had). But at 5 months (my dino outbreak started at about 3 months) I would venture to say it is a "too little nutrients" issue. Dino's LOVE the low levels.

I started dosing (with daily testing) Brightwell NeoPhos for phosphates and mixed up some Stump Remover for nitrates then identified my strain via microscope (Ostreopsis for me) and that is where the @mcarroll thread came in very handy, because different strains have different actions.

Yes, I used formerly live, dry rock.

I was looking at your advice and @NoWaiAma's suggestion that perhaps my zero nitrate and phosphate readings were false readings. I think it may have been the case previously but not now.

I have certainly had algae problems and at their worst it's very likely they would be consuming all those nutrients. But I feel like I have been winning that battle and where I have scraped off dead and dying remaining algae nothing is growing back in it's place. I think it's possible that while I have algae, it is on it's way out and perhaps my chaeto and bacteria level are keeping everything in check. The Dino's make sense in this case.

Only one thing for it to know for sure.

 

[NoWaiAma]

Progress and patience. Nice !