Chrysophytes & Chemistry to Remedy?

[TulaneDane]

Was pointed to this forum as a place that might be able to help. Have what best to my, and other RC members', opinion a Chrysophytes outbreak in my tank:







Some very helpful RC members pointed me to the link below, and the above most closely resembles the last one on the list - Chrysophytes:

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/conditions.html

Looks kinda like hair algae dying, but stuff was never green. I'm on a 175 gallon setup that is ~5 months old. Skimmer sized at 400 gallons, pulling decent gunk out daily. Running a BRS dual Carbon/GFO reactor. Parameters below:

Temp: ~78*
SG: 1.024
NH4: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 0 (likely because this stuff is sucking it up)
PO4: 0 (again likely because this stuff is sucking it up)
Mg: 1280

I scraped what I could off the glass/rocks, and am on day 3 of lights out/tank covered. Working on feeding less and changing filter socks weekly.

My research has been inconclusive as there seems to be a lot of confusion between this and dinoflagellates (don't think it's Dino as snails are OK), as well as Chrysophytes being primarily a freshwater problem?

Anyone have any Chemistry recommendations on Chrysophytes (presuming my diagnosis is correct)? :uhoh2:

 

[reefwars]

if its remote to a few small rocks or you can get the rock out for a dip then a h202 dip ( hydrogen peroxide) will quickly get rid of it.

also you can epoxy a small sheet say 4" x 4" over it and starve it out

not sure what fish would touch it but maybe a foxface might

 

[bertoni]

I'd probably spend a few minutes each week harvesting as much of the alga as was easy to get, and give the feeding changes some time to help. Ramping up the GFO a bit might help, too.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I too recommend going after nutrients (nitrate and phosphate) and manual removal. Have you measured nutrients?

You might also check soluble silicate. Some Chrysophytes use silica to form structures, but I do not know if the type you may have do (or actually, if it is even a Chrysophyte).

Good luck!

 

[whosurcaddie]

I know this thread is old but was just wondering if anyone else has ever dealt with this stuff. Its overtaken my tank.

nitrate 0
phosphate 0
cal 425
alk 9
mag 1350
ph 8.2
There is no other algae in the tank besides this.

 

[bertoni]

It looks similar to blooms I've seen when starting a tank, but I can't be sure. Those numbers seem fine, although I might try a bit of GFO, if I hadn't already, because it's easy to add and sometimes helps.

 

[whosurcaddie]

Its gotten a lot worse the color is almost gold and its covering every rock. The growth has become more dense as well. It hasn't touched the glass it only grows on the rock.

I know its chrysophytes. Ive read that they use silicate much like diatoms. The thing is I use dual di canisters and the first DI canister is a full anion stage. My tank is 120 gallons with 40 gallon sump and Ive been running two cups of gfo for almost 2 months. Ive changed it out one time.

I'm worried because it doesn't show any signs of slowing down. I have a very small bioload right now and I don't feed that much. I don't have any idea of what to do, Ive done a lot of reading and people start threads but theres never a concrete resolution there's no "oh I beat it this way" moment.

 

[tmz]

Some use silica; some feed of silca deposits in/on rock. Some are amoeboid without a cellulose slica cell wall. There are about a thousand species.They are mostly autotrophic ,relying on photosyntesis but some can be heterotrophic when they need to be. I've never had to deal with them.

It is noted in the link below that they usually occur in freshwater and marine environments where calcium is low:

http://chrysophytes.weebly.com/

What have you tried to date? Is taking out the rock and keeping it in the dark for a period of time an option? What type of rock is in use?

 

[whosurcaddie]

It was dry rock from a previous build its carib sea dry rock much like macro rock. The rock was leaching when I first got it but I went through lanthanum chloride dosing to rid it of phosphate. Removing the rock is not an option simply because I don't want to ruin my scape.

I can try a lights out period. I know 3 days is usually recommended. The steps Ive taken so far is scrubbing the rock then doing a 20 gallon change right after. Ive used GFO non stop. When I scrub the rock the algae grows back in a day. I rarley have to clean the glass so I know the GFO is doing its job. This leads me to believe phosphate is not fueling it. I could push the calcium higher but its in a good range right now.

 

[tmz]

Reaching; maybe they have an edge over competing lifeforms at zero PO4 and NO3 levels.What's the salinity btw?

 

[tmz]

The gfo also removes silicate, fyi. 425ppm calcium is a very good range. Alk, mag and pH look fine. I might try bumping the sg up to 1.026 /7.

 

[tmz]

If the type you have is mixotrophic; it might be absorbing some organics from the water for carbon; skimming and GAC might hlep if that's the case.

 

[TulaneDane]

Figured I'd share my experience getting rid of this stuff. As you can see from my post in this thread a while back, it was pretty much overrunning my tank. Unfortunately, there wasn't a magic bullet, and a lot of the boring stuff you hear about all the time:

- My tank was about 5 months old when the outbreak was at it's worst. A little over a year later and it's completely gone and has been gone for about 9 months now. So general maturation helped.

- To make the most immediate progress, I went heavy manual removal, followed by a 3 day blackout. This didn't address the underlying cause though...

- Made it a point to change my filter socks more regularly, at least 3 times a week.
- Limit use of flake food, and try to focus on frozen.
- Reduced lighting time. Now runs from noon till 9:00 p.m. including an hour long 'sunrise' & 'sunset'. More heavy emphasis on blues in the mornings/evening.
- Changed my skimmer. Had an Aqua-C EV-400 running off a Mag 24. Changed out to a Eshopps Snow Cone S-300. Anything with a cone is just a much more efficient/better skimmer.
- Pulled the live rock from my sump & added Chaeto instead.

I think all of the above helped. If I had to pick three. It would be general maturation, the new skimmer, and the Chaeto.

Best of luck!

 

[whosurcaddie]

Thanks for all the responses and thanks for responding Tulane didn't expect the OP to return because the post was over a year ago.

I just pulled carbon off line after running it for a month. Salinity is 1.026. My skimmer isn't really picking up anything, I'm running a Bubble Magus curve 7. I think its because my low bioload plus my tank is barebottom with high flow so my socks pick up a lot of organics. I usually change them out once a week. I'll start changing them more often. I just figured since I had zero nitrate that it wasn't a problem.

I hope its just a maturation issue with the tank being only a little over 3 months old.

Tulane did you notice if it impeded coral growth at all? Like from matting corals like zoas or clove polyps?

 

[necessary_evil]

Going to res an old thread hoping OP has alerts. Any success in your killing it off?

 

[TulaneDane]

Yes, haven't had any issues with it since. Tank is still running beautifully. It was really everything I noted earlier that did the trick:

- Made it a point to change my filter socks more regularly, at least 3 times a week.
- Limit use of flake food, and try to focus on frozen.
- Reduced lighting time. Now runs from noon till 9:00 p.m. including an hour long 'sunrise' & 'sunset'. More heavy emphasis on blues in the mornings/evening.
- Changed my skimmer. Had an Aqua-C EV-400 running off a Mag 24. Changed out to a Eshopps Snow Cone S-300. Anything with a cone is just a much more efficient/better skimmer.
- Pulled the live rock from my sump & added Chaeto instead.

I think all of the above helped. If I had to pick three. It would be general maturation, the new skimmer, and the Chaeto.

Hope that helps!

 

[caleb bruyn]

I have been battling this stuff for over 2 years and it never goes away. I have a 200 display with 75 gallon refugium and my chaeto died off. Corals are slowly bleaching out. the tank is 10 years old. Salinity is 1.026 and all other levels are normal. I wish there was a company you could send a sample and they sent you a remedy back.

 

[ERIC85854]

I have been battling this stuff for over 2 years and it never goes away. I have a 200 display with 75 gallon refugium and my chaeto died off. Corals are slowly bleaching out. the tank is 10 years old. Salinity is 1.026 and all other levels are normal. I wish there was a company you could send a sample and they sent you a remedy back.

Ever get rid of it?