Unresolved Some form of nasty growing

Discussion in 'ID This!' started by Peredhil, Nov 30, 2012.

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  1. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    I got this going on all over my rock. I took some out and put some iodine on it - no color change. Talking with John at reefcleaners, we're not thinking it is actually 'algae'.

    It's slimy and squishy. You can't really grab a chunk, it just disintegrates. But you can net out big portions.

    Throwing in a video too. But it's in photobucket so you'll have to click it. The stuff is very wavy in the water, it's kind of neat, in its way. The vid was taken through a Portal magnifier.

    I've got some cyano issue I'm dealing with right now - this new stuff didn't show up till after the cyano problem started. I'm thinking related.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    PS: Yes, it's the same tank as always for those that know it.
     
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  3. 2in10

    2in10 Super Moderator

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    Looks like some type of cyano or cyano is residing in it.
     
  4. thepanfish

    thepanfish Flying Squid

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    I had a similar algae when I first cycled my tank. Are the air bubbles inside it? If so it could be dinoflagellates or more likely Calothrix.
     
  5. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    Yeah I think so too. John Maloney doesnt think it is calothrix or dinos

    Calothrix is much more stringy. If u watch the video, you can see its more bubble like than dinos are - that I've seen anyway
     
  6. Thatgrimguy

    Thatgrimguy Flying Squid

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    I would post with wetwebmedia.com those guys are pro at ids like this.
     
  7. evolved

    evolved Wrasse Freak

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  9. aquariumclown

    aquariumclown Astrea Snail

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    Would it help to have a bunch of cleaner crabs of snails in the tank, at least to have them break free of the rock. Perhaps seeding your tank with other bacteria to out compete it?
     
  10. Dingo

    Dingo Giant Squid

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    A few reputable people I know go through this every few years. Some unknown mystery algae or whatever takes over the tank, crashes the beneficial bacteria and leaves you with something like this.

    I would suspect that it is an invasive bacteria mass. Have you been doing anything to mess with your natural fauna levels: vodka, bacterial additive, gfo, biopellets?
     
  11. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    I'll check out the referenced links, but to answer this question.

    I don't really do anything with this tank - but I did attempt GFO a while back, found I can't really run it without a sump or something, so I took it out. I tried putting a filter sock of it in my skimmer return chamber (see sig) but after a couple months, I didn't notice any difference so I quit messing with it. It just wasn't getting any turnover or real flow through it. As far as I can find, you have to have a second tank to run GFO (sump, refugium, whatever - just so you can pump between them). Since I have DT only, doesn't work out.
     
  12. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    All they had to say was the typical (and unhelpful) "identify the source, WC, etc" line.

    None of the typical stuff is helping. Chemi-pure doesn't touch it, manual removal/WC is a very temp fix, not that I can really manual remove most of it now that its on the rock and coral. I know I'm using clean 0 TDS water, the source must be gremlins.

    Anyway, my last thought was to ID it and go from there but that doesn't seem possible now. It's gone on long enough. I'm pretty close to throwing in the towel as I can only think to do a complete reboot and I'm just not interested in that After all these years.