Red Mold Algae ?

[Jackopus]

I took off for 2 days...

 

When I came back I have 3 pieces of a red mold growing. Anybody seeen this before? leather texture, crimson in color.

 

I'll attach a photo once my wife finds the camera....

 

I took off for 2 days...

 

When I came back I have 3 pieces of a red mold growing. Anybody seeen this before? leather texture, crimson in color.

 

I'll attach a photo once my wife finds the camera....

 

 

Nada?

[PrimoPromo]

Possibly thick red slime. I've been fighting the slime for a while here, and when I let it get a little out of control it gets thick and leathery looking.

[Jackopus]

Possibly thick red slime. I've been fighting the slime for a while here, and when I let it get a little out of control it gets thick and leathery looking.

 

 

Yup, thick red slime

 

Any help from you super reefers? I found 4 more spots, all about 1 inch in size...

[PrimoPromo]

I use chemi clean and it will make it go away for a while, but it is not a permanent solution. If you're going to use chemi clean make sure to use an airstone and change 20% of your water 48-72 hours after using it. To control my red slime I'm trying to control my silicates. I know that it feeds off nitrates, silicates, phosphates, and light. I would recommend testing for each of those. What is your light schedule like?

[Mr. Fosi]

Cyanobacteria. How old is the tank? What foods do you feed and how often?

 

Don't resort to chemiclean unless you do the following and can't get rid of it:

 

1) Reduce lighting period.

2) If the cyano is popping up in low-flow spots, direct a powerhead or some other water-flow device across it.

3) Suck up the excess with a turkey baster or a siphon tube.

4) Don't feed as much and target feed what you can.

5) Drain off the juice from frozen/wet foods instead of chucking the whole cube in the tank.

 

There is more you can do if we get some more details about your setup.

 

The cyano is there because you have an excess of nutrients (probably NO3 and/or PO4). Chemiclean kills cyanobacteria, but you put your tank at less risk if you take care of the cyano naturally. The way to take care of it naturally is to remove as much as you can, cut your light back and figure out where your excess nutrients are coming from.

[Jackopus]

I have 3 - 36w PC ( 2 atinic ) and a 24w sunset/sunrise bulb

 

I am running about 9 hours lighted,

Amm 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate less than 2ppm

Sal 1.022

 

I have read that removing and scrubbing can clean a rock, but I have it in 8 different locations, that means killing/damaging the bactiria on every Large LR in my tank.

 

The cause seems to be bad surface aggitation ( low flow across certain locations ) according other sites.

this is the case in where mine is growing currently.

 

Scrapping from the spot, while in the tank, doesn't increase it spreading over the whole tank, but rather it collects in slow flow areas again, and starts to regrow.

 

I am still researching, Hopefully I can post a sreious control technique soon...

 

Cyanobacteria. How old is the tank? What foods do you feed and how often?

 

Don't resort to chemiclean unless you do the following and can't get rid of it:

 

1) Reduce lighting period.

2) If the cyano is popping up in low-flow spots, direct a powerhead or some other water-flow device across it.

3) Suck up the excess with a turkey baster or a siphon tube.

4) Don't feed as much and target feed what you can.

5) Drain off the juice from frozen/wet foods instead of chucking the whole cube in the tank.

 

There is more you can do if we get some more details about your setup.

 

The cyano is there because you have an excess of nutrients (probably NO3 and/or PO4). Chemiclean kills cyanobacteria, but you put your tank at less risk if you take care of the cyano naturally. The way to take care of it naturally is to remove as much as you can, cut your light back and figure out where your excess nutrients are coming from.

 

 

good info, your on track with what I am finding as well..

 

the tank is about 4 months now..... MY others are much older, 2 years, but they are not nano tanks

 

I feed every 3 days, cycle feeding the zoas, and xenia. and fish. with in 24 hrs, so there isnt too much food lying about

[Mr. Fosi]

Amm 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate less than 2ppm

Sal 1.022

 

Those wet-chem test results don't tell you much because you are measuring what is left in the water after everything takes what it needs/wants. You can have a nutrient problem without it reading on your test results, as evidenced by the fact that you have cyanobacteria.

 

Salinity would be measured in a number like "31" in units of parts per thousand, what you llisted above is a specific gravity. Specific gravity is affected by water temperature where salinity (for the most part) is not.

 

I have read that removing and scrubbing can clean a rock... low flow across certain locations according other sites...

 

Technically, low flow is the proximate cause, but the detritus that settles out of the water in such areas the ultimate cause.

 

this is the case in where mine is growing currently.

 

Then give it some more flow, but expect it may come back if the detritus isn't your only problem.

 

Scrapping from the spot, while in the tank, doesn't increase it spreading over the whole tank, but rather it collects in slow flow areas again, and starts to regrow.

 

That is why you suck it up with a baster or siphon it out.

 

 

good info, your on track with what I am finding as well..

 

I should hope so.

 

I feed every 3 days, cycle feeding the zoas, and xenia. and fish. with in 24 hrs, so there isnt too much food lying about

 

What foods are you feeding them with?

[Jackopus]

3/4oz Cyclopleze, and frozen baby brine soaked in Ref-plus every 3rd day, fish 1/2oz frozen Mysis or brine shrimp every day after feeding the zoas.

 

My sal is 32, Sg 1.022 according to the way cool refractometer.

 

but enough about stats...

 

there is a technique I just read about, that calls for a turkey baster.....

 

 

[Mr. Fosi]

3/4oz Cyclopleze, and frozen baby brine soaked in Ref-plus every 3rd day, fish 1/2oz frozen Mysis or brine shrimp every day after feeding the zoas.

 

That is a lot of food. How often do you do waterchanges and how much do you change? Do you protein skim?

 

My sal is 32, Sg 1.022 according to the way cool refractometer.

 

32 is pretty good, assuming it is calibrated properly. Some people like it saltier but it doesn't have to be.

 

there is a technique I just read about, that calls for a turkey baster.....

 

That's where it's at.

[Jackopus]

A little too much information, but I felt it was good to pass on:

 

Cyanobacteria are aquatic and photosynthetic, that is, they live in the water, and can manufacture their own food. Because they are bacteria, they are quite small and usually unicellular, though they often grow in colonies large enough to see. They have the distinction of being the oldest known fossils, more than 3.5 billion years old, in fact! It may surprise you then to know that the cyanobacteria are still around; they are one of the largest and most important groups of bacteria on earth.

 

Many Proterozoic oil deposits are attributed to the activity of cyanobacteria. They are also important providers of nitrogen fertilizer in the cultivation of rice and beans. The cyanobacteria have also been tremendously important in shaping the course of evolution and ecological change throughout earth's history. The oxygen atmosphere that we depend on was generated by numerous cyanobacteria during the Archaean and Proterozoic Eras. Before that time, the atmosphere had a very different chemistry, unsuitable for life as we know it today.

 

The other great contribution of the cyanobacteria is the origin of plants. The chloroplast with which plants make food for themselves is actually a cyanobacterium living within the plant's cells. Sometime in the late Proterozoic, or in the early Cambrian, cyanobacteria began to take up residence within certain eukaryote cells, making food for the eukaryote host in return for a home. This event is known as endosymbiosis, and is also the origin of the eukaryotic mitochondrion.

 

Because they are photosynthetic and aquatic, cyanobacteria are often called "blue-green algae". This name is convenient for talking about organisms in the water that make their own food, but does not reflect any relationship between the cyanobacteria and other organisms called algae. Cyanobacteria are relatives of the bacteria, not eukaryotes, and it is only the chloroplast in eukaryotic algae to which the cyanobacteria are related.

 

Below is a better Google on the issue:

 

Red slime algae is actually not a "true" algae at all, but classified as a cyanobacteria. Often considered to be the evolutionary link between bacteria and algae, cyanobacteria are one of the oldest forms of life on earth and date back at least 3.5 billion years. These organisms produce oxygen as a byproduct of photosynthesis, and scientists believe that if it weren't for this microscopic organism, there would be no blue skies on Earth.

Commonly referred to as "red slime" algae, the name cyanobacteria literally means "blue-green" algae. Despite the naming, only about half of these organisms are actually blue-green in color. Most forms found in saltwater are other colors, ranging from blackish green to blue-green, from orange-yellow to reddish-brown, and often appear deep purple to fully black in color. Starting out as small patches, it spreads out from there as a mat of sheeting covering.

 

What Makes Slime Algae Grow and Solutions For Eliminating This Problem

 

We suggest that you don't try to put all of these solutions into action at one time, because if you do, when to problem subsides you'll never really know "exactly" where the problem was coming from and which solution worked to fix it. Start with one solution and see what results you get, and if that one doesn't work, try another one, and so on, until the problem is resolved. Now, i n order for all forms of algae to grow, they require only two things; light and nutrients.

 

Lighting: The use of improper bulbs, lack of maintenance, and extended lighting hours are contributors that can lead to all sorts of algae problems. While these organisms do well in the 665 to 680 nanometer (nm) wavelength range, they are quite active bewteen the 560 and 620 nm range as well.

Solutions: Only use bulbs that are designed for aquarium use, run the lights 8 to 9 hours a day, and following the basic wattage rule of thumb, try different types of bulbs to increase the intensity and the spectral qualities of the light in the aquarium, particularly when it comes to any type of full-spectrum or color enhancing tubes being used.

Nutrients: Phosphates (PO 4 ), DOCs (Dissolved Organic Compounds), and nitrates (NO 3 ) are primary nutrient food sources for red and other slime algae.

Phosphates (PO 4 ) are commonly introduced into aquariums by means of using unfiltered fresh tap water, and through many aquarium products that may contain higher than normal concentrations of this element, such as sea salt mixes, activated carbon, KH buffers, foods, and many other sources. Also, for established reef tanks the long-term use of kalkwasser precipitates phosphates out of the water, and these phosphate based compounds can settle on and in the live rock and substrate.

 

 

Solutions: Use RO/DI filtered make-up water, a high quality sea salt mix, and be aware of the elements contained in other common aquarium products you may be using. For solutions to problems that can arise from using kalkwasser, refer to The Fishline's Microalgae article. (linked)

 

http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dynamic/o...line/micro.html