Red flake algae?

[Exee]

Its been a really long time since i've posted here

 

I'm not sure if anyone remembers me but i have a 10 gallon tank with zoos, mushrooms, xenia, and a candycane coral

 

my tank is doing great

 

and i have only 1 problem right now, i've got this weird algae that looks like little red flakes growing everywhere

 

they are not stuck to what they grow on (i can suck them out with a turkey baster). I'm not even sure if they are algae or not... they grow really fast like i suck some out and 1 hour later i can see more already.

 

They seem to grow everywhere on the glass, on the sand, on the rocks, and when they sometimes grow on my zoos the zoos that have them won't open up until i suck the flake off

 

I was wondering if anyone has ever had a problem like this before and what info anyone has on stopping this stuff from growing...

 

any help would be most appreciated

thanks

[ELGORDOINAVW]

might be cyano- what color spectrum lighting are you using?(kevlin) also try increasing the flow might help, post pics if possible

[Exee]

i can't post pics as i have no digi cam :*(

 

i'm using one of the coral life aqualights 24inch 72watts

i think it has one 10000k and one actinic bulb both 36watt

 

i will try moving my powerheads around but i think having more than 3 powerheads in my little tank my overdo it a bit...?

 

PS thanks for replying

[2manytanks]

if it sorta looks like this ...it's not algae..

 

What you have my friend is flatworms...i'll bet lots of them.

They really are harmless, and eventually will disappear...or so they say....

 

Did you recently add a new addition in the way of a mounted coral ?

 

If so, that's how they arrived.

The research I've done indicate that they will start to appear in mature tanks...seemingly overnight !

 

One of my tanks is a 30gal... and I had literally thousands of them....on the glass...on the rocks...on the returns..everywhere but on my corals or clams.

 

not to worry. you can eradicate them.... but it is a bit of work.

 

do a search on Google for flatworms or planaria (which is their scientific name).

 

See if you have them first. Get a magnifying glass and look at one that's on the glass. You should see what is a rudimentary "head". You might also see movement.

 

If you do have them, get back to me and I'll tell u what I did to diminish them in my tanks.

 

I don't think I'll ever totally eradicate the little buggers.....

but the population is down to around 20 or so.....

 

good luck and let me know.

[Mnesarchus]

I had the same kind of algae in my 10g a few months back. Nothing ate or touched it. Personally, I thought it looked kind of good. Just pull it off if it bugs you.

[Exee]

Yes!

the picture in that link looks exactly like what i've got!X)

 

ok apparently they will just sort of die down after a while so i will continue to suck them off my zoos for now and hope they slow down a bit

I wonder what they are eating....

 

 

i'm going to look at them more closely when i find one on the front glass...

i can't look at the ones in the back as there is a wall there and i can't fit my head there

 

thank you!!

[caja]

You can also purchase some Flatworm Exit, but read and follow the directions carefully. Dead flatworms in the tank release some hefty toxins.

[2manytanks]

Originally posted by caja

Dead flatworms in the tank release some hefty toxins.

 

caja is right.

 

When flatworms die, they release a pretty strong toxin in the water. Sorta like some cukes. They really are not harmful to the tank and are detrivores, so they'll help keep it clean.

 

It's actually the toxins that do the damage, not the Flatworm Exit.

 

I used Flatworm Exit in my tank. But NOT at the reccommended dosage.

 

Here's how I did it:

 

1. Siphoned out most of the visible worms that I could reach. (this was a chore....'member, I had thousands !)

 

2. Removed my clams and a couple of my corals. (paranoid about losing them.)

 

3. Used Flatworm Exit at a considerably less dosage than recommended.

 

It calls for one drop per gallon. in my tank, that would've been 45 drops (15gal sump included) however, with all the horror stories I had heard, I only dosed 6 drops at first.

 

Two minutes later, I had hundreds floating in the water column.

Siphoned all the ones I could catch and the foam in my sump/fuge caught the rest.

 

4. 10 mins. later did a 25% water change. Also ran a bag of carbon in my return for a day.

 

5. Repeated the process two days later.

 

My 'shrooms and polyps shrunk for about a half hour on both occasions. Other than that, no ill effects. LPS and stonies were fine.

 

I was leery of using the reccommended dosage, 'cause I didn't want the die off to overwhelm me or the tank.

 

On a ten gal, this method should be easier.

My 30 is tall, so my rockwork is like a reef wall. I also don't have much room to work (24x13x24) so the contraptions I had to use to siphon all the nooks and crannies looked like something outta "Honey I shrunk the Kids"

 

HTH