What are these guys?

[peterire]

So after getting rid of dinos recently, I did some large water changes on my reefer 350 (7months old) to get rid of dino x.

But now I’m getting brown spots on the sand. i’ve been told on some dino facebook groups they arent dios, maybe some sort of plankton.

Can anyone Id them? Should I just leave them be or try vacuum them out of the sand?

(microscope is at 1200 magnification)

Reef tank critters

youtube.com

 

[bday1335]

Diatoms maybe??

 

[ChiCity]

diatoms, as bday mentioned...

you can vacuum it up,
but i’d just leave it and maybe increase amount of water change volume for a couple of changes until it goes away on its own...
and double check your filters to make sure you’re not introducing silicates

 

[peterire]

Really yea? Because straight after the water changes I had stuff that looked like this, which I was told were diatoms.
But now it seems to be outcompeted by the stuff in my clip, but just a different type of diatom then..?

 

[attiland]

So after getting rid of dinos recently, I did some large water changes on my reefer 350 (7months old) to get rid of dino x.

But now I’m getting brown spots on the sand. i’ve been told on some dino facebook groups they arent dios, maybe some sort of plankton.

Can anyone Id them? Should I just leave them be or try vacuum them out of the sand?

(microscope is at 1200 magnification)

Reef tank critters

youtube.com

Do you have a microscope? I had similar looking ones but it is hard to tell. Looks like matting which is not diatoms and don’t want to shout the “D” word.

 

[peterire]

Do you have a microscope? I had similar looking ones but it is hard to tell. Looks like matting which is not diatoms and don’t want to shout the “D” word.

Yes the youtube clip is from my microscope.
Matting..?
Pretty sure not the D word, too small to be. I’m also used to looking at them under a scope, so fairly sure they arent but nt positive

 

[attiland]

Yes the youtube clip is from my microscope.
Matting..?
Pretty sure not the D word, too small to be. I’m also used to looking at them under a scope, so fairly sure they arent but nt positive

Looks like they are coming some sort of mat on your sand I could be wrong. I am sure I have seen these.

Let’s get someone expert to ID these.
@ScottB @taricha

 

[vetteguy53081]

Diatoms. Siphon gently and add 1.5ml of liquid bacteria such as Microbacter 7 per 10 gallons during the day.
Add some cleaner crew such as Nassarius snails, astrea snails, cerith snails, aand about 8 blue leg hermits (the small ones)

 

[saltyhog]

The video is definitely not diatoms. If it were you could likely just ignore them because they would go away when they have used up available silicates (unless you have a source of silicates like your RO/DI water).

Can you get another video at a higher magnification? Small cell amphidinium would be a possibility. How did you get the sample for the microscopic view?

 

[saltyhog]

Just re-read your post...are you sure the magnification was 1200x?!!!! If so it's not dinos.

 

[peterire]

Just re-read your post...are you sure the magnification was 1200x?!!!! If so it's not dinos.

yes I'm sure its x 1200

 

[ScottB]

So I think we'll just have to call it an undefined microorganism. Kinda surprised not to see a little more diversity at that level of magnification. How old is this tank?

 

[peterire]

Tank is 7 months old. This brown stuff is growing on the glass now too, under the microscope its the same

 

[peterire]

Tank is 7 months old. This brown stuff is growing on the glass now too, under the microscope its the same

at least my conch is eating them, he wouldnt touch the dinos I had before!

 

[attiland]

Tank is 7 months old. This brown stuff is growing on the glass now too, under the microscope its the same

at least my conch is eating them, he wouldnt touch the dinos I had before!

That is good news. It is not diatoms for sure I have seen them plenty of times under microscope not the classic Dinos and an as long there is something eating it I would probably wait it out to see if it sorts itself out.

 

[ScottB]

I am with @attiland given the youthful biome. Those guys are going to get beaten into submission by whoever is next in the biome puberty process.

 

[taricha]

agree these are too tiny to be our normal problem dinos. I think they are a small predatory flagellate / ciliate of some kind that should be short lived.

 

[peterire]

ok thanks guys, I'll keep an eye over the next week and hope it doesn't spread much more !

 

[peterire]

Update: so on saturday I siphoned the worst part of the sand through a 1micron filter then put the water back in the tank. The very next day the brown covering was back! It was as if I hadnt siphoned at all! Its spreading to more sand now too.. not much else I can fo for now than wait it out I guess

 

[attiland]

Update: so on saturday I siphoned the worst part of the sand through a 1micron filter then put the water back in the tank. The very next day the brown covering was back! It was as if I hadnt siphoned at all! Its spreading to more sand now too.. not much else I can fo for now than wait it out I guess

If it is any help when you siphon the Sandi had more success when I didn’t disturb the sand just got the top layer off and most importantly done the siphoning in peak time of lighting.