Please help me identify this algae and get rid of it! I can't find this type listed anywhere. . Ove

willdabo · Nov 24, 2013

I have a 250g reef, 1.5yr old, 4-5" deep sand bed, 50g sump, protein skimmer and about 150lbs of live rock.

One tang, 2 clowns, 5 chromis and 1 mandarin and a good copod population
1 sun coral, 3 anemones, a feather duster, a clam and a few zoanthis mini colonies

The nitrates and phosphates read as absolute 0 which always makes me curious how I have any algae w these readings.
I feed only 3 times a week to keep my water quality intact.

OK. . Here's the weird part. My tank was doing great and everything thriving until about a week ago I noticed the zoanthis were all shut and my anemones shriveled. .And out of nowhere this very long, stringy 'algae?' in a few spots. When I turn the jets off the strands all start to connect like Spider webs! It's amazing how fast it transforms. It looks like very fine silk holding millions of spores. There are strands over 3 feet long!
I did a 50g water change and vacuumed out as much of it as I could and even brushed all the rock down with a toothbrush. The next day 2 foot strands are already back. . Insane! I'm continuing to vacuum and I'm on day 4 of peroxide dosing which I've never tried before but I'm desperate at this point. .. It seems to be getting worse.
I don't believe any plant life can grow 2 feet in 12 hrs.. I feel like these spores must combine to form these strands, but I could be wrong. I do see these 'spores' as individuals floating all through the water column now.
I can't find anything even close to this on any forum or algae list. .Does anyone have any idea what this is and have any experience getting rid of it? It's choking out my inverts very quickly!

I'm going to post a few photos and a video if this will let me. It's hard to photograph since the strands are almost transparent.

Please help!

KSzegi · Nov 24, 2013

looks like could be some form of dinos. Does it get better during lights off?

willdabo · Nov 24, 2013

I've been leaving the lights off the last 2 days. . Doesn't seem to make a difference yet

willdabo · Nov 24, 2013

Actually KS.. I think ur right. Dinos.. I looked them up. .I have little bubbles forming which seems to be their MO. Sound right? I'm going to continue lights out. Any other suggestions?

willdabo · Nov 24, 2013

Oh I almost forgot. . Thank you!

SeahorseKeeper · Nov 24, 2013

Hydrogen peroxide has worked for some:https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/re...gellates-my-experience-h2o2-reefing-tool.html

KSzegi · Nov 25, 2013

willdabo said:
Actually KS.. I think ur right. Dinos.. I looked them up. .I have little bubbles forming which seems to be their MO. Sound right? I'm going to continue lights out. Any other suggestions?

Yeah .... thats part of their MO for sure. Not a guaranteed id but certainly puts another point in that column!! So does your snails dying .... it can be pretty toxic to them if they eat it. I hope I'm wrong for you, they can be a real pain to deal with. I am fighting them right now myself and am very frustrated to say the least!!

You can go through the 'reommended' list of ways to fight them ....... and depending upon what variety you have something may work for you. Lights out for at least 3 days, siphoning daily, elevating the PH, reducing nitrate and phosphate - getting aggressive with the gfo, changing carbon out every few days, no water changes ...... and then there is hydrogen peroxide dosing.

I really didn't notice any difference when I elevated my PH and it was difficult to keep it up high enough on a continual basis so I discontinued that. I am currently trying the hydrogen peroxide dosing along with a reduced lighting period (total lights out seemed a real temproary fix for me) changing the carbon every 2 days and no water changes. I did a large one last week after siphoning ...... and don't think it did me any favors so I'm on the no water change thing again. The first time I had them I went for a couple months without changing and it seemed to help.

My phosphates are actually testing at .04 as of yesterday but I'm not going to run the GFO aggressively - seems to me that is part of the reason that I got the dinos popping up both times. Not that the ulns caused them - but something about that situation allowed them to take hold ..... I'm just not a fan of the zero parameters anymore!