Solving Algae Problems in My Tank. Any Thoughts?

[vetteguy53081]

What do you mean by disease vectoring? Do you think the fish I got died from diseases?

Without pics and video, will be hard to tell if fish died from disease
You will have seen signs such as decreased feeding/loss of appetite, elevated breathing, scratching on objects, dots, cloudy eyes and lethargic behavior as examples.

 

[noobreefer2]

Without pics and video, will be hard to tell if fish died from disease
You will have seen signs such as decreased feeding/loss of appetite, elevated breathing, scratching on objects, dots, cloudy eyes and lethargic behavior as examples.

I never saw apparent signs of disease except for the first fish that disappeared which was about 3 years ago (white dots)

Fish that died/dissapeared:

Orchid dottyback (White dots, disappeared, from "other" lfs)
Jester goby (disappeared, from "other" lfs)
Diamond goby (disappeared, I saw skeleton eaten by CUC, from "other" lfs)
Royal Gramma (Disappeared, from OG lfs that QT's)
Yellow coris wrasse (disappeared, from Live Aquaria)
Another dimond goby (disappeared, from OG lfs that QT's)

The fish that are successful (currently in the tank), no problems at all, never shown signs of disease:

2x Ocelaris (science beginning of tank, from OG lfs that QT's)
2x Firefish (one disappeared about 6 months ago, but still lived very long compared to others that died), from OG lfs that QT's
1x Bangia Cardinalfish, from Live Aquaria
1x Flame hawk, from OG lfs that QT's

 

[vetteguy53081]

I never saw apparent signs of disease except for the first fish that disappeared which was about 3 years ago (white dots)

Fish that died/dissapeared:

Orchid dottyback (White dots, disappeared, from "other" lfs)
Jester goby (disappeared, from "other" lfs)
Diamond goby (disappeared, I saw skeleton eaten by CUC, from "other" lfs)
Royal Gramma (Disappeared, from OG lfs that QT's)
Yellow coris wrasse (disappeared, from Live Aquaria)
Another dimond goby (disappeared, from OG lfs that QT's)

The fish that are successful (currently in the tank), no problems at all, never shown signs of disease:

2x Ocelaris (science beginning of tank, from OG lfs that QT's)
2x Firefish (one disappeared about 6 months ago, but still lived very long compared to others that died), from OG lfs that QT's
1x Bangia Cardinalfish, from Live Aquaria
1x Flame hawk, from OG lfs that QT's

Did you check overflow box and sump? Some of your missing fish are ones that easily slip through overflow grids.
If there is a guilty fish if aggression- Flame hawk. Have you noticed it being aggressive?

 

[noobreefer2]

Did you check overflow box and sump? Some of your missing fish are ones that easily slip through overflow grids.
If there is a guilty fish if aggression- Flame hawk. Have you noticed it being aggressive?

Its always the first to get the food, but it stays hidden in the rocks during the day and leaves the other fish alone. I can check the overflow as well but I'm thinking its unlikely.

 

[brandon429]

its also easy to search out 'chemiclean killed my tank' threads, that can't be ruled out as well and given the loss tied to the treatment I could be swayed that's a top contender possibility. anytime cells en masse are made to degrade in a tank and leak their contents there can be problems with sensitive life. can't rule out oxygen issues as well coupled with the dosed items but I rank that lower on the scale of likelihoods.

the persisting irony is that rip cleans are seen as destabilizing...not any losses in any rip clean thread though.

the unsafe mode is the hands off mode. if you're practicing the biosecurity for your corals added, things wet beyond just fish that's making a good effort. pet stores promising to qt is better than skipping it, but that's also just words they use/no way to verify. no way to rule out aerosolization cross contamination, it's in a pet store after all. at least some effort counts though, buying qt-stated fish is better than buying no qt fish for sure.

 

[noobreefer2]

Ok, guys update: I got a UV from Amazon - I thought it would help but it really didn't do anything, I think I have Amphidinium dinoflagellates, the UV doesn't really help (they go into sand at night), and here is a microscope ID:

I have been blowing off the rocks and trying to feed more to up the nutrients, but the Dinos kept coming back. I also got 4 new firefish to up the bioload. Just yesterday I cut the white lights out, and today 80% of the dinos are gone, which is great. I think from here I might pick up some MB7 or MB Clean so I can get my bacteria in check. I will continue to feed more, and dose Nitrate/phos as needed and I am planning on getting a tang and a wrasse (if compatible with hawkfish and other stuff).

I think what I have been hearing is that dinos/cyano thrive in environments where there is nothing else to compete with. They take up all the nutrients and suffocate all the other organisms, I'm hoping that adding MB7/clean, it will help replenish those populations. Also, I am looking into getting some pods and culturing phyto for an extra prevention method against future outbreaks

It looks like I am finally nearing the end of my 3-4 year battle with this algae, I am so appreciative for everyone who contributed to my many threads/questions; this has been such a great resource for me. I will be sure to keep you all updated!

Resent Fts (before I cut the whites):

 

[noobreefer2]

Another update: Dinos kinda came back, I started dosing Sodium Silicate, will see how it goes. I also started microbacter 7, stopped skimming, added airstone for oxygen, feed more to get the nitrate and phos up. Also been turkey bastering the rocks and sand every day.

Been listening to the Reefbum podcast with Dong from Acro Gardens, he says that algae like this can feed off of organic particulates in the water column that is untestable with any test kit, the only way to get rid of them is with water changes, that is what I'll do after I get diatom bloom. I haven't really been doing water changes because of neglect/laziness/in an effort to get nitrate/phos up, and I think I have a lot of them haha (I have tons of algae problems with almost no nutrients).

Lps frags are not doing so hot, the tissue is slowly reducing and getting covered with algae, could they be starving from low nutrients? Even though I have 0.04 phos and 2 nitrate? Alk: 8-9, Cal: 410-420, Mag 1350- 1400, Or just irritated by algae.

Thanks guys