dino, brown algae, or brown cyano?

[Jason7504]

here are some more pics that i took before i sucked some out..they look a little better i guess...

 

[hazmat]

Oh man....I'm sorry to say this but it looks exactly like what I had. Mine formed really thin strings like that. And you see how it hold bubbles?

 

I had Mr. Fosi helping out the wazoo for months and I could never get rid of them. I'm so sorry. I'm not trying to be a downer. I did everything. Lights out, macro algae, dosed carbon to out compete, water changes, carbon, minimal feeding.

 

That's what I mean about sometimes it's not anything you did or are doing. My water params were always good. No phosphates or nitrates. I assume because the dinos were absorbing them. Like I said, on month 3 I rescaped my tank, added some cured rock, and they appeared right after that. Not sure if it was in the sandbed that I stirred up or on the new rock.

 

It seems like your best bet is to increase your pH at least up to 8.4 and keep it there along with some blackouts. How old is your tank again?? You can keep doing what your doing and see if they will slowly disappear. keep up with the water changes, lots of macro algae and siphon it up as much as possible. but if it's like mine it's hard to get it out of the tank. It's like slime and just disinegrates when you try to pull it out.

 

i hope it all works out for you...

 

Edit: I don't think that's cyano

[Mr. Fosi]

The stuff sucked right out without a problem? Did it come off in sheets or just little strands?

[Jason7504]

The stuff sucked right out without a problem? Did it come off in sheets or just little strands?

 

well most of it did, some i had to kind of scrape off and then suck it up..it seemed to come off in strands

[Mr. Fosi]

Sounds like it might be dinos/raphids.

[Jason7504]

Oh man....I'm sorry to say this but it looks exactly like what I had. Mine formed really thin strings like that. And you see how it hold bubbles?

 

I had Mr. Fosi helping out the wazoo for months and I could never get rid of them. I'm so sorry. I'm not trying to be a downer. I did everything. Lights out, macro algae, dosed carbon to out compete, water changes, carbon, minimal feeding.

 

That's what I mean about sometimes it's not anything you did or are doing. My water params were always good. No phosphates or nitrates. I assume because the dinos were absorbing them. Like I said, on month 3 I rescaped my tank, added some cured rock, and they appeared right after that. Not sure if it was in the sandbed that I stirred up or on the new rock.

 

It seems like your best bet is to increase your pH at least up to 8.4 and keep it there along with some blackouts. How old is your tank again?? You can keep doing what your doing and see if they will slowly disappear. keep up with the water changes, lots of macro algae and siphon it up as much as possible. but if it's like mine it's hard to get it out of the tank. It's like slime and just disinegrates when you try to pull it out.

 

i hope it all works out for you...

 

Edit: I don't think that's cyano

 

 

oh cr@p!! this really sucks..so do you just keep sucking it out since you couldn't get rid of it? did running carbon help at all? and would a UV sterilizer get rid of it since its a bacteria thats in the water column?

 

i read that some dinos are toxic, ive noticed my algae blenny nipping at some..if it is poisionous, how long until it will kill it?

 

yeah i have perfect water conditions too and last weekend i did add like a 1lb of cured LR and did stir up the sandbed a little when i was doing my WC..what the heck could be causing the dinos from stirring up the sandbed?

 

ok i will try and raise the pH to 8.4+ but RK said that wont kill all of the species of dinos...my tank is 2 months and 3 weeks old..i do 10% WC everyweek and i have a fuge..and i suck out as much as i can each day..man i hope that helps!!

 

Sounds like it might be dinos/raphids.

 

damn! whyyyyy me! some on my rocks is kind of sheeting up though..

[hazmat]

Actually dinoflagellates/raphidophytes are not bacteria. They are single cell organisms that have a flagella that propels them. I looked at mine under a microscope (thanks to Mr. Fosi ) and I could see them swimming across the slide.

 

Carbon did not help for me. I did not use a UV. My understanding of UV is that only a portion of your water goes thru the sterilizer so it doesn't kill much of the dinos (and you should see how many there are in 1 drop of fluid on a slide!). I don't think UV would hurt. My tank kind of waxed and waned. Sometimes the dinos were worse than other times. Just when I thought they were on their way out they would reappear.

 

My problem was I could never keep a steady high pH. I would dose kalk but didn't have a drip system or a reactor so my pH would drop at night. But other than that my params were good. I feel your pain. And totally understand your frustration. I'm not sure where the dinos come from. Maybe they are always in our systems and when things get out of whack they get out of control. Or maybe they came in on your new rock. This is Mr. Fosi's forte. he's the expert. Problem is there is only so much you can do. He was able to get rid of his dinos in 4 months. I, on the other hand, couldn't get control in the 9 months I had them.

 

I had one guy here on NR recommend starting over when I first got them. I'm not saying you should do that but in hindsight I wish I would have done that then. It was a frustrating 9 months. This is supposed to be a fun hobby and I found myself really not enjoying it.

 

Unfortunately, I've got my 90 gallon up and going and it's looking really good. And now I have to move to Connecticut so I have to tear it down

 

Edit: some dinos are toxic. I had snails, crabs etc..eat it with no ill effects. I think your Blenny will be OK.