Stringy algae growing out of control and hurting corals! Please help.

[dommythaGOAT]

Hello, so I have been into the reefing hobby for about a year and a half now and about 4 months ago I purchased this 30 gallon tank and cycled it, and placed a few fish and corals in. I am at about the 3-4 month mark and all of the sudden this strongly algae began to grow very quickly and in a matter of days it is all over the tank and almost all of my corals have closed up. Just wondering if anyone could identify what it is and any suggestions how to get rid of it quickly. Much appreciated!

 

[chaostactics]

What are your tank water test parameters? And what test kit are you using?

In the meantime start doing some larger water changes and figure out underlying causes: too much feeding, under skimming, lights on too long, needing to change filter sock or filter pad more often.

Good luck.

 

[dommythaGOAT]

What are your tank water test parameters? And what test kit are you using?

In the meantime start doing some larger water changes and figure out underlying causes: too much feeding, under skimming, lights on too long, needing to change filter sock or filter pad more often.

Good luck.

I have a 7.6dkh for alkalinity and both in ranges for my calcium and magnesium. I use the Hanna alkalinity checker and the salients for the others. I don’t yet have the kits for nitrate and phosphate because I felt they were unnecessary because I do a 5-10 gallon water change and my tank only carries about 20 gallons of water(water displacement from rocks and the filtration in the back) so I figured that my nutrient export would be good based on that(going to buy the kits now to make certain of that). As far as the other issues you mentioned, I believe I was feeding too much, so I have dialed that back just in case that is the issue, however i don’t believe this to be the issue because most of the food I put in the tank is consumed by my fish(I could be totally wrong!). my filtration is 2 compartments for filter floss which I change out about every 2-3 days or when it starts to get a little brown, so I don’t think this is the issue. The only other two things I do as far as dosing:
1. I dose a small amount of vibrant sometimes weekly, sometimes every other week, but I’ve been doing that for a while now so idk if this would cause that(however if it’s Dino’s, it could possibly be caused by low nitrate or phosphate so maybe the vibrant is contributing to that? I’m not an expert by any means so I’m not sure about this.
2. I just started dozing kalkwasser to the tank and have since stopped because the issue arose very soon after I started this(could just be a coincidence, but I didn’t want to take any chances!)

Some of the fish shown are in this tank temporarily so tang police don’t come for me!

IF ANYONE HAS ANY TIPS HOW I COULD FIX THIS OR IMPROVE MY TANK IN ANY WAY I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THE INPUT also including some pics of the tank!

 

[Jonas Bergkvist]

I think this guy had the same problem if it helps: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2574467

 

[dommythaGOAT]

I think this guy had the same problem if it helps: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2574467

Thank you I’ll check it out!

 

[Glass Algae]

At your current time with a cycled tank your reef could be just hitting a late ugly phase and a build up of diatoms. You shouldn't need to dose much this early. Mmif you have some feed able LPS then some spit feeding will help with excess nutrients.

If you continue regular water changes weekly with a larger one once or twice a month you should see the problem clear up on its own.

My 2 cents but curious what others say!

 

[dommythaGOAT]

At your current time with a cycled tank your reef could be just hitting a late ugly phase and a build up of diatoms. You shouldn't need to dose much this early. Mmif you have some feed able LPS then some spit feeding will help with excess nutrients.

If you continue regular water changes weekly with a larger one once or twice a month you should see the problem clear up on its own.

My 2 cents but curious what others say!

I considered that as well, however I just have never heard of diatoms causing corals to close up, but I’m not super experienced so I could totally be wrong. These corals I have in there have sprouted many new heads in just like the last month, and then started to close up! I would love to hear what others think as well!

 

[Glass Algae]

I considered that as well, however I just have never heard of diatoms causing corals to close up, but I’m not super experienced so I could totally be wrong. These corals I have in there have sprouted many new heads in just like the last month, and then started to close up! I would love to hear what others think as well!

When my tank ugly phased I had some zoas and toadstools close up as they seemed to not like the minor change In water chemistry. Again though could be something totally different. It's always hard to give exacts when you can look at the tank in person

 

[dommythaGOAT]

Does anyone else have any other ideas? I have spent every day this week blowing off the rocks in the sand with a turkey baster and changing the filter floss daily. Friends in the hobby have told me that they believe it to be dinos, does anyone have any input on that? Does anyone have any ideas of steps I could take to help reduce it? I’m going to try to include some pictures along with this post/update. It pretty much comes back every day and it seems nothing I am doing is contributing to prevent it’s growth much.

to give a more accurate description of the algae itself(because it’s hard to see on the photos):

The algae almost looks like tiny spiderwebs connecting together. It is darker in color almost like a light red or dark brown. It grows across the sand, all over the rocks, on the back glass as well, all over the corals and causes most of them to close up. If there’s anything else you would like me to describe about it please comment below!

 

[Garf]

Don’t look like Dino’s to me, but without the benefit of a microscope, hey. New tank stuff to me. Algae will grow everywhere enough light hits. Clean up crew like snails will help. Don’t stress.

 

[dommythaGOAT]

Don’t look like Dino’s to me, but without the benefit of a microscope, hey. New tank stuff to me. Algae will grow everywhere enough light hits. Clean up crew like snails will help. Don’t stress.

Is it normal to have algae that harms corals? for the most part I wouldn’t care about any algae(my other tank is proof of that but I have never seen it grow on corals and make them close like that. It seems to spread through the water column really easily and just have not seen anything like it in my 1 year experience with tanks. Just don’t wanna see my corals hurt!

 

[Glass Algae]

Is it normal to have algae that harms corals? for the most part I wouldn’t care about any algae(my other tank is proof of that but I have never seen it grow on corals and make them close like that. It seems to spread through the water column really easily and just have not seen anything like it in my 1 year experience with tanks. Just don’t wanna see my corals hurt!

I have some gnar gha in my tank at the moment and it's growing a little between my micromussas polyps. I wouldn't say it's hurting it but it's definitley not opening as wide as it used to. Is it the gha? Idk for sure. Could be the params that causef the gha affecting it. Anecdotally it is the only coral that looks any kind of hindered by the gha so *shrug* haha

 

[dommythaGOAT]

I have some gnar gha in my tank at the moment and it's growing a little between my micromussas polyps. I wouldn't say it's hurting it but it's definitley not opening as wide as it used to. Is it the gha? Idk for sure. Could be the params that causef the gha affecting it. Anecdotally it is the only coral that looks any kind of hindered by the gha so *shrug* haha

It’s possible that its green hair algae(I do have a good amount of green hair algae in another tank) however this algae visually looks very different. And as far as my corals, it has killed a small colony of zoas and completely closed up a very large colony of GSP. this makes me think it must be something other than just regular green hair algae. I would really like some input if anyone had experienced anything similar. I have been dosing 1ml/10gal of hydrogen peroxide for the last 4 days, and it has not seemed to affect the algae and it appears to be getting more and more out of control. Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated! I will send some update photos later today.

 

[dommythaGOAT]

Don’t look like Dino’s to me, but without the benefit of a microscope, hey. New tank stuff to me. Algae will grow everywhere enough light hits. Clean up crew like snails will help. Don’t stress.

Unfortunately this appears to be more than just some regular old algae. It has now killed at least one of my corals and caused many others to close up and it continues to grow out of control. My daily routine has been to blast the rocks and corals with a turkey baster to remove the algae on the surface, hanging filter floss daily to remove the algae that has been trapped, and regular weekly water changes (every saturday). so that’s where I’m at lol

 

[NATE-DAWG]

Unfortunately this appears to be more than just some regular old algae. It has now killed at least one of my corals and caused many others to close up and it continues to grow out of control. My daily routine has been to blast the rocks and corals with a turkey baster to remove the algae on the surface, hanging filter floss daily to remove the algae that has been trapped, and regular weekly water changes (every saturday). so that’s where I’m at lol

Did you ever figure out how to get rid of the algae? I think I’m dealing with the same problem. If you fixed the problem please let me know how you did it. Thank.

 

[dommythaGOAT]

Did you ever figure out how to get rid of the algae? I think I’m dealing with the same problem. If you fixed the problem please let me know how you did it. Thank.

No, I have not been able to figure it out, it has decreased quite a bit, but it still shows up every other week or so, I have just been blowing it off with a turkey baster. If anyone has any ideas please post them below?

 

[Grumblez]

maybe calothrix???

 

[Turkey head]

I’ve had this same issue for a get months on a little over one year old tank. Typically nothing attached to my corals but this stuff did. I haven’t been able to beat it but it does get better and worse. I haven’t documented things well enough to say for sure, but it appears more skimming makes it worse. I’ve stopped skimming and it seems better. I’m not buying any coral until it’s under control. My smaller mature tank doesn’t have it so I moved some rocks and sucked up some sand and nastiness from the small tank and put it in the one with the issues. Maybe there’s bacteria in the mature tank that isn’t built up in the one with the problem? They both are in the same room, get the same natural light, foods etc. very similar conditions in the two other than tank size and age.

 

[Turkey head]

It may not apply for many, but I discovered something yesterday. I have a 65g AIO tank. There was a ton of that stringy crap growing in the sump portion of the tank. No wonder I can’t get rid of it. I pulled out as much as I could and covered the sump portion with black plastic. The skimmer went wild this morning so I did a water change and it went back to normal. Looks like it’s working. I’m going to find some sort of permanent solution for covering the back and that should make a huge difference.

 

[Just John]

When you suck it out, does it stay stringy or break into lots of little pieces? If it breaks up, then I think there is a really good chance it is dinos. This document has a good description of different dinos besides just the microscope pics. Maybe it will help. Also, if it doesn't come off of the corals very well with the baster, a dollar store makeup brush works really well.