Fluffy loose brown growth

[pinnatus]

I have had this brown fluffy loosely-attached material growing in my tank forever. I don’t think it’s an algae, I was wondering if you smart people out there could identify it. And also offer a way to eliminate it. I have a 240 gallon fish-only. I’m sure my parameters are not great, and haven’t checked them in forever. Don’t need to be chastised about it. Mainly looking for an identification.

 

[game misconduct]

reminds me of that gunk that comes up with clumps of mussels full of worms and amphipods. every time i grabbed a clump for bait off the dock or boat pilings at the beach. when fishing. it always felt like algae to me how to get rid of it i have no idea aside from picking it off with long tweezers

 

[pinnatus]

It is very loosely attached. You can basically blow it off with no problem. I think it isn’t an algae, but something else, dinos, cyano, or something else.

Also, I think it is mildly poisonous to the fish. Luckily they don’t much eat it.

 

[Uncle99]

I don’t no the names of the algae and bacteria’s forming on your rocks.
I put them all in one basket called pest stuff. It appears to be a mix of several.

Unfortunately they multiply super fast in unstable water chemistry, or chemistry lacking basic needs like trace phosphate and nitrate, fluxing Alk and temp or a combination.

Under these conditions, they take over the hard surfaces not allowing the development of the good guy stuff. These guys keep hard surfaces clean but are slower to populate in sufficient quantities.

Without keeping an eye on chemistry, things can change a lot without you knowing.

Good guy algae’s and bacteria’s thrive in super stable waters and over time, if stablilty is maintained, they out compete that bad stuff and keep rocks and sand clean.

I’ve not cleaned a rock or sand in years.

 

[brandon429]

Pinnatus

I have something based on logged work from rtr threads, there's a good chance this method will help:

ID doesn't matter much in tank fix threads, only degree of action willing to apply


Chrysophytes
is what I think it is.
A key is removing whole test rocks with target on them, keeping them in a cheap but heated side bucket where you learn about them, and try scaled down modeled pre runs To both kill and suppress regrowth on the targets. The invader is lightly attached, scraping like a reef dentistry on small test rock area, using precision metal tools, dislodges the target off the rock and you rinse it away.

Always physically scrape off any regrowth in the small bucket reef, keep rocks clean. Try preventatives, you're searching for preventatives as the removal step is something you do on a busy work day. The test modeling is to learn what keeps it gone, without subjecting your main reef to a large stasis change.

The key is you don't experiment with a large tank, it stays invaded till we are ready to act

Only test rock samples are tested for various forms of compliance options. There will be something that works well in that test bucket, for sure. And when action X results in a sustained die off, and kill, then we're ready for action with predetermined results.

You do not want that much mass degrading in your system. That's the kill risk: any clouding from pent up waste or degrading material is bad

What we do is precision cleaning, then it sticks, modeled in a safe way matched to your tank and specific invader habits.

There's a small price in mass export work due, for the delay. What you're searching for is the prevention combo required, before you undertake one heck of a big manual export weekend on that tank.


You have to detail it like a veterinary dentist run would be precision scraping in corals and rock surfaces, getting that stuff out physically is number one requirement. De-eutrophication is the specific art we could apply, your tank would skip cycle back to clean because you worked it that way in a grueling 8 hour straight dentist export run weekend of doom work.


you're removing the mass that could rot and harm the tank

And then the clean condition holds.

But the tank will shine

And by pre testing in a bucket you model and know the true prevention action needed, before all that work. It will preserve all your life. People have already experimented with killing that stuff off, it might respond to peroxide added but Id never do that.

I have threads on rtr where we worked Florida university's hurricane outage reef this way. They had simple eutrophic overgrowth during their power outage time from a bad storm. After dental run, they had a team of college kids run the detailing of all rock, it all skip cycles back to brand new. It would be great to see this tank given a run in my opinion. I can at least promise this method has the most documentation avail and is the safest option. If we killed that growth in the tank, old school half used bottle of vibrant off ebay may kill it no joke, and it rotted in the tank, that's the loss risk. All steps we planned isolate any waste risk for your corals and fish.

A couple five gallon buckets as bubbling, cheap heated lighted cheaply test buckets are invaluable matchers of action, without risking your whole tank on a guess.

You could: really consider old school banned vibrant half used on ebay they exist

Apply that in a test tank at prescribed levels, we will note the changes if any.

 

[brandon429]

Cause: simple import. Not a nutrient issue. Qt prevents the spread

An obligate hitchiker: can't be generated from common live rock without direct import most likely by stocking frags, and in the chem forum on this site from 2012 is a thread from poster DNA where he macro- photographs dinos cells riding over on the outside skin of fish transferred. Fantastic photography. But the point is it's possible even sloughed material from common riders in fish transfers (from pet store to home) transfers viable chrysophytes cells tank to tank.

If you could consider scoring a large oversized uv meant for a pond off Amazon that in my opinion is highly indicated here. But it must be applied in the clean condition, as preventative from growback control

I believe temporary running of oversized uv will be a secret weapon if needed.

Fluconazole

Should be test modeled, good chance of compliance there.

One bucket what Id do: knife off all growths detail dentist mode some rocks. Rip clean them.

Rinse in saltwater
Set in test bucket reef

Use a mister bottle of 3% peroxide and spray on larger rock surfaces that you scraped clean before setting in test tank. Don't spray corals, work around. Be rinsing that matter like plaque ejection calculus gone

Have one set of rocks you knifed and peroxided away from all the other animals, rinsed clean, under cool blue not high white light levels. Blue grows less invasion, in regrowth suppression patterns in my opinion.

Before

After

Rip cleaning

Light spectrum adjust to blue purple actinic vs white bright= selects for plants. This was a large tank, very thorough surgical skip cycle restoration I always reference.

Tools used

Veterinarian- surgical approach to rocks externally detailed and rinsed and hit with peroxide after cleaning

vs alter your tanks chemistry to try and starve a target by guessing. This gets corals free from encroachment. It's exactly a fresh post visit dental mouth and teeth, the tank is flipped to oligotrophic.
In a day, not hopefully by six months wait.

*predicted; putting back as much clean new water as you can will help. Make some gray trashcans of reef water ready for the job

but you can also drain off some clean current saltwater to reuse And save money

Mostly clean new water put back on rinsed sand and detailed rocks is the power move.

 

[brandon429]

A picture example of a rip clean eutrophic-》oligotrophic

The regrowth will be controlled.

That was a large reef. He planned out a long weekends work but it's his tank refreshed
The reason it's good for corals is you can now feed better without causing more outbreaks.
The porosity

The surface area is restored/ expanded

Live rock is meant to express waste matter and pellets, the resident microbial communities and sloughed plant matter etc. When it's restored clean there's more surface area presentation to wastewater: it can express waste from its internal surfaces vs be plugged up and blanketed

whole filter efficiency totally restored by removing all invasion mass, and all waste matter from the system surgically and in order of known safe handling. The system becomes the highest orp balance and oxygen balance right off the bat because these are actions that reduce bacterial loading/ conserves oxygen efficiency and water quality in the new system.


The newly restored live rock surfaces are wide open and tripled in area presentation to wastewater, fresh feed is quickly handled, the water currents are refreshing and there's no cloudy waste from our job so new water quality is high and the corals are brightly open next day usually.



Once your tank is set back up that perfectly

We then apply the tested tried killer of target discerned earlier: prevention slam.

We run the oversized pound UV unit / jebao off Amazon preventatively, from that totally clean condition as further regrowth restriction

If there was any lesser work way we'd be using it, but total waste ejection and clean start is the method. A rip clean. Less work directly means more waste retention than zero percent. That's a zero percent waste reef in the after pics.

 

[brandon429]

Wanted to add one additional detail

Bacterial management in the reef tank can be managed by subtractions too: not just by additives and $ testing to identify clade ratios.


When you remove plaque adherents and restore full flow contact to high surface area coralline- exposed reef rock that's a breathing vibrant system. With no bottle bac added

With no ammonia testing; only temp of water and specific gravity are the tests. This method allows existing and well- selected for microbiota strains on rocks and in water to regain foothold- their cover and competition are gone.

By removing the excess bacteria associated with high slough retention rates the tank tests better on aquabiomics testing, we had a guy send his post rip cleaned tank samples in, they tested well based on data summary. That one is found in the middle part of the 60 page sand rinse thread.

 

[brandon429]

What progress was made here? Any single rock testing done, any action done?

 

[pinnatus]

No action. Other than rip the whole aquarium down and restart, I don’t see a good way forward. And at this point I don’t really have the motivation to do that. I’ve been in the hobby for 51 years. I am losing the motivation to do all that. If it comes down to it, I’ll likely shut it down. Meanwhile, other than being unsightly, the fish are fine, so I’ll probably just leave it be. I do thank you for your reply.