Weird White-ish Algae

FriendoFish · May 27, 2020

Hi all! I have this strange looking algae growing all over my live rock. It kinda just looks like white-ish fuzz or some kind of green hair algae (pictures attached but it’s kinda hard to see it).

My tank is a Fluval Evo 13.5 with a firefish, some scarlet hermits, some astreas, a nassarius snail, GSP, a mushroom, and some zoas. My corals don’t seem impacted by it though (the zoas in the pic are closed bc I just turned on the light to take the pic). I use a filter basket with chemipure blue, some ceramic balls, and filter floss. I’ve had the tank for about 9 months. I do weekly water changes. Oddly enough it seems to be growing even more in areas which get less light. Am I doing something wrong? Is it some kind of bacteria? How can I fix it? Thanks everyone!

Butcher333 · May 27, 2020

Dinoflagellates perhaps? I had something similar only more tan‘ish and also more prevalent on outside backside of rock (less light). A little more clumping on the strands. Like a bacteria algae hybrid. It was pretty unique looking. It went away. Are your nutrients really low? I don’t seed the slightest of algae anywhere.

FriendoFish · May 28, 2020

Thanks for the help! My nitrates are a little on the lower side (.3 ppm) but I also just did a water change. I don’t think it’s Dinos though because they don’t come off easily and they don’t have those little bubbles. I do have a little bit of green algae growing on some of my rocks and one of my snails has red bubble algae growing all over its shell (though I keep removing it). The weird whitish stuff has been growing for a while and doesn’t seem to be getting any better. Do you think some sort of bacterial cleaning product would help

Butcher333 · May 28, 2020

How much water do you change once a week? Your rock looks white to me and your sand is also very white. Do you test Phosphate also? Is it higher than nitrate? How often do you change out the filter floss? I would not add anything that could create another issue. However, if you only have 1 fish it wouldn’t hurt to stop using the Chemi Pure or to remove the filter floss. I would also hold off on another water change unless really small. What light is on the tank? Is it the stock light? There is a small area in the back that you could place some Chaeto in and a small light could be placed behind the tank for the Chaeto. There is nothing competing against this white hairy fuzzy stuff and that is why it is there. This is only my opinion or advice, but also doesn’t ask that you put much effort into resolving the issue. Just a couple little changes.

FriendoFish · May 29, 2020

I change about 5 gallons a week. I usually test phosphate but I moved home from school once the coronavirus hit and I accidentally left my phosphate test there. But I’ve never had any phosphate issues in the past. I am using the stock light currently. I’ll definitely look into getting some Chaeto! Also, I included a pic that I took with my lights off but with my phone’s flash if that helps. Thanks again for all the advice!

cmoore806 · Jul 30, 2020

any update on how this problem turned out. I have similar looking issue, looks like algae to me. Parameters haven't changed much, nitrates 3, phos 0.04. weekly 25% water changes. mechanical removal helps, dosing vibrant may be helping me but not sure yet.

FriendoFish · Jul 30, 2020

cmoore806 said:
any update on how this problem turned out. I have similar looking issue, looks like algae to me. Parameters haven't changed much, nitrates 3, phos 0.04. weekly 25% water changes. mechanical removal helps, dosing vibrant may be helping me but not sure yet.

It seems to kinda come and go. Like get bad and then get slightly better but never go away. People kept telling me that dosing Vibrant would mess with my parameters too much so I’ve held off on dosing it until now, but honestly the weird algae has been bothering me so much I think I’m just going to go ahead and try it.