What are we dealing with here? Pretty good pics for ID.
- Thread starter CuzzA
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CuzzA
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Despite being brown, I'm leaning toward cyanobacteria, hoping it's not lyngbya. Could just be hair algae with diatoms attached. Po4 dropped from .04 to .01 since it popped up so whatever it is it definitely sucked up a bunch of phosphate. Noticed some paleness on the bases of my sps as well.
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Although there are some very weird cyano in the world that do some stuff like that, the simplest explanation is diatoms covering filamentous algae.
like this...
diatoms on strands of derbesia and cyano
(do google image search for epiphyte diatom for more similar things)
like this...
diatoms on strands of derbesia and cyano
(do google image search for epiphyte diatom for more similar things)
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CuzzA
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Yes, I think you're right. It appears to be just stalked diatoms on hair algae. The algae is pretty brown, but under the cheap scope there's a few green spots within the walls. No fish in my system currently and nutrients are pretty low so although it grew I think it's days are numbered and why it appears brown rather than green. I checked nutrients again today and I'm at no3 2.5 and po4 .01. I gave a few spots a squirt of peroxide and those spots cleaned right up. I'll probably just keep hitting it directly until it's gone since I dose peroxide daily anyway.
Another good pic from the internet.
Phycokey - Oedogonium images
cfb.unh.edu
Oedogonium sp. trichomes heavily encrusted by periodic attachment of Gomphonema (stalked diatoms) as epiphytes on Oedogonium trichomes.
