Algae problems and Ich

Algae and Ich.

I'm struggling with algae. Tank is established and all water parameters good. Having said that did have an alkalinity swing last week. I do dose each day but alk dropped from 8 to 6. Then back up a to 10. At 9.8-10 for last week. Have stopped. Originally thought maybe I was dosing a little extra each time so over time it created a lot of alk.
I run GFO on a slow tumble. I could possibly reduce tumble a little slower.
What algae is the this below? Diatom? Thought I might have been over feeding but don't think I was. Lost my job a month ago and my tank is in my office, I spend all day in looking for work. So would grab a pinch of flake food every once in a while. Maybe 4-5 times a day, just a small pinch and all 4 fish would eat it right away. Then mysis once a day usually around 4-5pm.
Just cleaned all pumps and circulation pumps that were covered in algae. A little algae isn't bad but I get this on sand bed everyday. Cleaned it yesterday and back this morning.
So how do I fix this? I do regular water changes. Levels good. Run GFO. Reduced feedings.

Now for ich. The alk swing stressed my powder blue tang. I saved him a year ago from LFS with ich. Put in QT and saved. Now has it again. Couple days ago saw bumps, not white ich dots. It's been swimming weird. Been hyper and darting all over. Sometimes swim sideways. I did some water changes to stabilize alk. Think it's a combo of all that. Today 3 white spot. Ugh. I've been through this before. Setting up QT isn't not appealing. But I know how this works. I knew the risks when I got the tang. Been a great fish. Ich is so time consuming to get rid of. Fallowing alone is 8-10 weeks.
Anyway...
Any suggestions on algae?
Thanks.

PH 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Calcium 460
Alk 10
Mag 1350
Salinity 1.026
Temp 80

Screen shot of water parameter graph from Aqurimate. Love that app


Diatom?
Photobomb

 

My guy with ich
Can't see spots. Just a pic so you can see him


Does have a mark on its face

 

I wouldn't worry to much about the ich ballgame, I would feed more algae based foods and nori and let his immune system do the rest. My hippo tang had white spots every month for years. Removing him now could be detrimental. As far as the algae goes It looks like detritus. Try letting it sit and don't disturb the sand bed to let the natural fauna do its job. Try getting a fighting conch to keep the sand clean instead of constantly disturbing it. If your not reading phosphates then take the gfo offline for a bit. I only run phosphate remover when I show a little phosphate but I never keep it going 24/7/365. Hope this helps man

 

Thanks. I'll try taking it offline. Guess I thought had to run it all the time. I'll try that for sure

Thanks!!

 

That's a nice powder blue!

 

Keep in mind Powder Blues are ich magnets. They are hands down my favorite fish, but I've given up trying to keep one. I have a constant algae problem. I've done everything by the book and still have it. I'm upgrading my return pump thinking mine is not strong enough and hopefully that fixes it. I've literally taken out every piece of LR and hand scrubbed all 300lbs of it only to have most of it come right back a month later. Gotta love this "hobby"!!

 

when I see stuff like that on the sand it usually means for me that not enough flow is getting to thst one stop causing the algea to grow. my two jeboa wave makers are directional so it's hard to hit every single nook with them. I occasionally change the direction of them to fix the problem for a while. Same thing could be said about cynao that grows on sand beds

 

Nutrients added>nutrients exported=algae. Stress and poor fish selection =Ich and frustration.

 

Hello all,.

I put in my first fish tang (dory) in my new tank yesterday, doing very well however I notice there is a single white dot on his body, should I worry or it will just comes off by itself, please help.

 

it's hard to say, is the fish eating and acting normally? read some articles about ich - it will help you understand what it looks like and the causes - this is an old thread - you could start your own