Help identifying rust colored Algae all over tank

[roly01]

About two months ago I started noticing that some of my live rock close to the sand bed was starting to get this fuzzy hair like appearance in certain areas. Little by little it began spreading and moving down toward the sand and up towards the rest of the rock.

I've tried siphoning and brushing some of the rocks during my water changes but does not help. Over the last two weeks it has really exploded to another level and has gone from looking like a hairy fuzzy algae to somewhat slimy and stringy. I've tried identifying it with other forum post but can't really find anything that matches what I have.

Any help would be appreciated

 

[roly01]

Here's a video


https://youtu.be/SxdQLK0pel4


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[Sk8r]

Looks like dinoflagellates, aka (not affectionately) dinos. ON the interwebs, look up dinoflagellates, and prepare for a many-suggestion headache. A 3-day lights-out treatment as for cyano might help. There is a preparation, Dino-x, which some say is spotty in whether it works or not. The key to making a sudden die-off solution work is your skimmer...or a massive water change when treatment is done. If you have a wimpy skimmer, that's a problem in exporting out the badness, which otherwise just hangs around for another round. A 30% water change followed by a 20% and another 20% two days apart is a radical cure for a tank with problems. As an alternative to having a super-efficient skimmer, If you use ro/di with GOOD filters in place (not expired or used up) and the same salt mix, it can actually rejuvenate a tank, or get rid of enough badness to help the chemical-antibiotic solution work safely without harming your tank with piled-up badness.

 

[roly01]

Help identifying rust colored Algae all over tank

I had a feeling it was dinoflagellates on the sand bed but what's throwing me off is the fuzzy hair like stuff on the rocks.. unless I have two problems.

Thanks for the input


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[Posseidon]

Yup. Dinos. They can have such fuzzy looks too.


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[rhkingsfan]

i just battled this. It's a disaster. So basically the rule is dinos are generally caused by an imbalance in nutrients. You might have started GFO and put too much or add new rock, etc. I didn't want to add any chemicals to my tank so I had to do the black out method (3 days) with no water changes, feeding extra while running a UV sterilizer. It worked but came back in a month and I had to do the same thing over again. It is one ugly issue to deal with.

 

[Posseidon]

Help identifying rust colored Algae all over tank

A 3-Days lights out is not a treatment. It'll help you get an advantage with whatever treatment you're doing. Take Sk8r advice to get the nutrients under control. You could also check the product called "œVibrant" if you want to avoid chemicals. Just make sure you don't dose any other liquid carbon along with Vibrant.


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