MDUllrich Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 I have been struggling with a bloom of some unknown brown slime/stringy substance in my tank for 3-4 weeks now, pictures attached below. My zoanthid colonies, red mushroom and ricordea mushroom are all closed up 24/7 and have been since this brown substance has shown up. Prior to this they seemed to be thriving and seemed to be growing/expanding fairly well. No major additions or removals to the tank. No changes in maintenance (weekly 10% water changes with parameter testing each week as below). Tank has been set up for approximately 2 years with really no major issues until now. I feed only about 8-10 small flakes of food to the fish each day and they seem to eat most of it. Below are details of my set up to help orient you to my system so you can hopefully help me to fix my tank before things get too bad. I have tried removing it via suction with each weekly water change and adjusting my photo period to decrease daytime lights with no change. Set Up: Innovative Marine Fusion 10 gallon Nano tank NanoBox Mini Tide LED (Daytime photoperiod 12 hours) Innovative Marine Aqua Gadget ChaetoMax 2-in-1 Refugium LED (Reverse 12 hour photoperiod when main display lights are off) - Middle chamber in the back has chaeto in it Jebao WP10 Cobalt Aquatics 50w neo-therm submersible heater Marineland Maxi-Jet 400 return pump Innovative Marine ATO system Livestock: Gladiator clown Six line wrasse 3 Scarlet reef hermits 4 Trochus snails ~3 Cerith snails (Literally never see them though so not sure if they are alive) ~3 Mini nassarius snails (only ever really see 1 out at any given time so unsure of actual numbers at this point) 2 zoanthid colonies 1 ricordea mushroom 1 red mushroom Tank Parameters: (Very stable, they measure this way after weekly water change consistently for months now with almost no change) Temperature - 78 degrees Specific gravity - 1.025 (maintained by ATO system) pH - 8.0 dKH - 8 (~143.2 ppm KH) Calcium - 420 Ammonia - 0 Nitrite - 0 Nitrates - < 5 Phos - 0 Magnesium - no testing kit Parameters of freshly mixed saltwater being used in weekly 10% water changes (Instant Ocean Reef Crystals): Specific gravity - 1.025 pH - 8.0 dKH - 9 (~161.1 ppm KH) Calcium - 480 Ammonia - 0 Nitrite - 0 Nitrates - 0 Phos - 0 Magnesium - no testing kit I have noticed that I have not needed to harvest any of my chaeto in the back chamber over the last 3 or so weeks which is not normal, the amount of chaeto in the back chamber has not really changed over that time. Any ideas on what this stuff is and how can I fix it? Quote Link to comment
coryscritch Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 I would do like a 4-5 day black out. Put a towel over the tank so no natural light gets in. Manually remove as much as you can. Do you use ro water? 1 Quote Link to comment
MDUllrich Posted October 30, 2018 Author Share Posted October 30, 2018 Yea I use RO water, haven't been able to check TDS on it though because I don't have a tester but I've been getting it from the same place for the whole time I have had the tank. What do you think it is? I'm just worried it's dino and not cyano... Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 I would say it's not cyano. Possibly a strain of dino's. Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 Oh no, sorry that’s happening to your tank. You can try to send a pic to Reef Cleaners, they offer to help ID: https://www.reefcleaners.org/nuisance-algae-id-guide Quote Link to comment
MDUllrich Posted October 30, 2018 Author Share Posted October 30, 2018 If it is dino... how do I get rid of it? Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 It's a difficult one to get rid of. There are various methods and I would do extensive research on all methods long blackout periods, no waterchanges, Vibrant Cleaner, 3% peroxide dosing are the few methods I can think of. Quote Link to comment
Travis Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 3-5 day lights out to start Get a bottle of nitrafying bacteria like Fritz Zyme 9 to boost up competing bacteria. Add pods (they eat dinos) and dose phytoplankton to boost the pod population. Test PO4 and NO3. You want PO4 between 0.04 and 1.0. NO3 between 5 and 15. Dose PO4 or NO3 to boost them up if they are low. Stop doing water changes until it's eradicated. No doubt, these steps cleared my tank permanently. If you start to see GHA pop up, you'll know you are on the right track. 1 Quote Link to comment
Travis Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 Oh, and while the lights are out, keep the tank well oxygenated like with a protein skimmer. Also, run a filter sock or filter floss to catch the dying dinos and clean it daily. Welcome to NR BTW! Quote Link to comment
MDUllrich Posted October 30, 2018 Author Share Posted October 30, 2018 Confirmed by Reef Cleaners as being dino... Let the black out period begin! Quote Link to comment
MDUllrich Posted October 30, 2018 Author Share Posted October 30, 2018 This might be stupid question but what type of pods should I add? I've never dosed pods like this before and it seems like there are a lot of different kinds of pods... Quote Link to comment
Travis Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 2 minutes ago, MDUllrich said: This might be stupid question but what type of pods should I add? I've never dosed pods like this before and it seems like there are a lot of different kinds of pods... I would go with Tisbe Pods. Algae Barn sells them with phyto. https://www.algaebarn.com/shop/live-foods/combo-packs/tisbee-copepods-phytoplankton/ Quote Link to comment
MDUllrich Posted October 30, 2018 Author Share Posted October 30, 2018 Thanks for all the help! This might also be a dumb question but I have chaeto in my back chamber so when I do this blackout, does that mean all lights off 24/7 or just the display light off? Quote Link to comment
Travis Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 Yes, lights out in the fuge too. The cheato will be fine. Quote Link to comment
MDUllrich Posted November 1, 2018 Author Share Posted November 1, 2018 Okay plan of attack: Black out of all lights for 3 days, during the 3 days I will be using additives to maintain a pH around 8.3-8.4 and I have been overfeeding/dosing just enough to bump nitrates and phosphates. No water changes until this stuff is gone. I'm going to add the nitrifying bacteria and tisbe pods/phytoplankton on day 3 of the blackout about middle of the way through the day to try to give them some time to be in the tank before I end the blackout. After I end the blackout, I am going to manually remove any remaining dino I can see. Hopefully then the lights will go back on and all this other stuff will outcompete the dinos. After only 1 day of blackout, the dinos seem to be receding significantly, although they are still present. I will post an update once the lights go back on! Thanks for all the help everyone Quote Link to comment
dandelion Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 3 hours ago, MDUllrich said: Okay plan of attack: Black out of all lights for 3 days, during the 3 days I will be using additives to maintain a pH around 8.3-8.4 and I have been overfeeding/dosing just enough to bump nitrates and phosphates. No water changes until this stuff is gone. I'm going to add the nitrifying bacteria and tisbe pods/phytoplankton on day 3 of the blackout about middle of the way through the day to try to give them some time to be in the tank before I end the blackout. After I end the blackout, I am going to manually remove any remaining dino I can see. Hopefully then the lights will go back on and all this other stuff will outcompete the dinos. After only 1 day of blackout, the dinos seem to be receding significantly, although they are still present. I will post an update once the lights go back on! Thanks for all the help everyone Why chase pH? Quote Link to comment
kylexarbor Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 I just fixed the same issue in my tank. Complete blackout for 3 days. I put a towel over the entire tank. No feeding at all. And I dosed the proper amount of hydrogen peroxide everyday, and even after they were gone for about 2 weeks. I had no I’ll effects on anything. I would suggest removing as much as you can before anything. I used a toothbrush to scrub them off everything I could and ran a net around the tank until I could scoop up everything I could. I still see a few here and there but everyday I see less. Good luck! Dinos are no fun! Quote Link to comment
kylexarbor Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 3 hours ago, MDUllrich said: Okay plan of attack: Black out of all lights for 3 days, during the 3 days I will be using additives to maintain a pH around 8.3-8.4 and I have been overfeeding/dosing just enough to bump nitrates and phosphates. No water changes until this stuff is gone. I'm going to add the nitrifying bacteria and tisbe pods/phytoplankton on day 3 of the blackout about middle of the way through the day to try to give them some time to be in the tank before I end the blackout. After I end the blackout, I am going to manually remove any remaining dino I can see. Hopefully then the lights will go back on and all this other stuff will outcompete the dinos. After only 1 day of blackout, the dinos seem to be receding significantly, although they are still present. I will post an update once the lights go back on! Thanks for all the help everyone Dinos typically don’t show their full face until after a few hours of light being on so use caution if you do decide to turn the lights back on early. Quote Link to comment
MDUllrich Posted November 4, 2018 Author Share Posted November 4, 2018 Maybe too soon to say but I had a limited photo period yesterday (4 hours) and have had the lights on since 8 am today and it's looking pretty clean! Even the zoa's are starting to open back up after being closed for weeks. Thanks for all the help everyone! 2 Quote Link to comment
Sancho Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 On 10/29/2018 at 10:42 PM, MDUllrich said: If it is dino... how do I get rid of it? Take a beating hammer or throwing brick to the tank be prepared for water to get all over the place and I would suggest some safety goggles. Quote Link to comment
MDUllrich Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 After several months of trying everything I've been able to find as a possible cure for the dinos... I am finally giving up and starting from scratch. I will be upgrading to a Biocube 29 and starting with all new rocks and sand. What should I use to clean/sterilize equipment from the old tank (i.e. heater, powerhead, etc) to ensure that the dinos do not transfer to the new tank? Also, can I save the fish? What do I need to do to the fish before transfer to ensure they don't bring the dinos over with them to the new tank? Thank you all for your help Quote Link to comment
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