What is this stuff?

[dcreef]

Need help identifying what this is and how to get rid of / prevent it. I have had two or three outbreaks of it over the past several months but it has always lasted 3 or 4 days and then gone away on its own. This time it is more widespread and has been around for a full week. I had thought it was diatoms based on the brown/gold color and the fact that it seems to be on the sandbed only, but they are always described as being powdery and after taking some close up photos of it, this stuff seems more slimy than powdery. One of my hermit crabs seemed to be eating it the other night, but there must be too much of it for them to handle. Should I just try to siphon it out? The tank is about a year old and all the water parameters have consistently been testing good. I do bi-weekly 25% water changes and this outbreak showed up about a day after the most recent water change. Thanks.

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[lilrobb]

RODI water being used?

 

[dcreef]

Yup. All water that goes in tank (salt and RODI for top off) is purchased from LFS.

 

[kirru]

how much are you feeding and how often?

 

[falos]

Looks like bga its a bacteria suck it up and clean you sand bed

 

[dcreef]

Kirru;757633 wrote: how much are you feeding and how often?

I have a clown and a coris wrasse and I feed them Spectrum pellets every day. The few they miss, my cleaner shrimp and hermit crabs seems to jump on and devour. I have also spot fed the corals the frozen cyclops a few times and that is pretty messy, getting all throughout the water column. However, because of this, I only feed it the day before I am doing a water change. This latest outbreak did show up a few days after the last cyclops feeding. Could that be the culprit? If it is, what can I spot feed my corals instead?

Edit:

falos;757635 wrote: Looks like bga its a bacteria suck it up and clean you sand bed

How do I clean my sand bed? I always vaccum the top layer when i do my water changes. Is there something else I should be doing?

 

[acroholic]

If your Blue Clove Polyps ever get too much for you, I can help you on those.

 

[falos]

Acroholic;757677 wrote: If your Blue Clove Polyps ever get too much for you, I can help you on those.

I'm starting to think you like killing blue cloves Dave

Edit:

DCReef;757639 wrote: I have a clown and a coris wrasse and I feed them Spectrum pellets every day. The few they miss, my cleaner shrimp and hermit crabs seems to jump on and devour. I have also spot fed the corals the frozen cyclops a few times and that is pretty messy, getting all throughout the water column. However, because of this, I only feed it the day before I am doing a water change. This latest outbreak did show up a few days after the last cyclops feeding. Could that be the culprit? If it is, what can I spot feed my corals instead?

Edit:

How do I clean my sand bed? I always vaccum the top layer when i do my water changes. Is there something else I should be doing?

Nothing I can realy thank of sum ppl use chems sum run uv I suck mine up wen it shows up along with the sandaround it. If you won't sifter gobies will clean your sand better then you can but they will bury corals on the bed
How leaky hrs are your lights on a day?

 

[dcreef]

Acroholic;757677 wrote: If your Blue Clove Polyps ever get too much for you, I can help you on those.

Yeah, I have noticed that the blue cloves have been spreading pretty aggressively. They are pretty much just covering the rock so far. Is it something I should be concerned about?

 

[dcreef]

falos;757694 wrote: I'm starting to think you like killing blue cloves Dave

How leaky hrs are your lights on a day?

The metal halides are on about 7 hours a day and I have a blue stunner strip that stays on for about 2 hours before and 3 hours after the MH.

 

[falos]

Yea cloves can take over a tank and spawn in them as well arcaholic had tons of them

 

[dcreef]

Ok. Once I get a handle on this brown gook, I guess I will have to figure out how to "prune back" the cloves. I like the way they look, but I would not want them completely covering everything and competing with my other corals.

 

[crobattt]

it's stringy like cyano, but brown like diatoms. I have no idea :l

 

[ralph atl]

Chemi-clean
Follow instructions to t

 

[hiimsean]

isn't that dinoflagellates? i had a similar outbreak in my tank. i dont know if i can link the two, but shortly after adding some purigen to my HOB, it was gone and i haven't had an outbreak since.

 

[dcreef]

HiImSean;757983 wrote: isn't that dinoflagellates? i had a similar outbreak in my tank. i dont know if i can link the two, but shortly after adding some purigen to my HOB, it was gone and i haven't had an outbreak since.

I googled some photos of dinoflagellates and I can see how they look like them also, just not as many stringy things rising up. I am currently running ChemiPure Elite and Purigen in my media basket, but they are both about two months old. I had read that you can go three months or more between changes, but maybe I shoud try and change them and see if it helps? I also read that leaving the lights off for 24 hours might help if it is them. Should I try that as well?

 

[dcreef]

Just wanted to post an update. I did a partial water change last night and was able to vaccum 95% of it up. It turned out to be kind of powdery and vaccuumed up pretty easily, so I am starting to think maybe it was diatoms? I am planning on leaving my MH lights off for today and just going with the blue stunner strip in hopes it will not come back.