Help! Wierd brown algae on acros

dcw1sfu

New member
Have this wierd brown algae on a few acros and it's actually attached to coral flesh not dead skeleton.

Flow in the tank is quite high 2 r jebao rw8s running about 70% and a gyre 130 running 80% with a couple small koalas behind the rock all in a 60 gallon.

Anyways looks like an algae of some sorts. Any ideas??? And why it's attaching to live coral flesh?

Here's a pic best quality I could get on my phone.

20151113_165822_fx.jpg
 
dipped and swirled in Revive. Nothing unusual looking came off. Lots of pods and even swirling it i had to scrape the brown off with my finger nail. Underneath is still nice orangy pink flesh although somewhat duller then the rest of the coral.

Couldnt tell is any of the pods that came off might of been red bugs. I have trouble IDing these things in the bottom of a white bucket.
 
what I do when I can't see them well is try to get a shot with my phone or other zooming camera then you can make the image bigger and get an Idea
 
Usually algae will not grow on live flesh. My guess is something is killing that area allowing it to grow or its not algae but some type of dinoflagellate. Maybe brown cyano as well? Pretty sure that can grow on flesh
 
Could this be a type of Dino?

Yes but don't freak out. There are a ton of species of dinoflagellates. Not necessarily one of the toxic incredibly resilient types. It could just as easily be cyano. It could also be zooxanthellae expulsion (my torch throws up sometimes) from an lps near by that just happened to stick to the coral haha.

Is it only on a few acropora? Not on the rocks or sand or any other corals? If so, that parts suspicious to me and makes me think it's run of the mill cyano or algae growing on dead or dying tissue from a pest of some sort.
 
Yes only on some sps. When dipping no noticeable pests but I do have some tissue loss on some of my Joe the coral acro. I run pellets and a ULNS and thought this might have occurred from a recent alk spike.
 
Yes only on some sps. When dipping no noticeable pests but I do have some tissue loss on some of my Joe the coral acro. I run pellets and a ULNS and thought this might have occurred from a recent alk spike.

What dip do you use?

Where is the tissue loss located?

How big was your recent alk spike and how fast? Are you positive that the algae (or whatever it is) is not anywhere else in your tank? Did you recently add a new frag and it is on that?
 
Have absolutley no algae of any kind anywhere else in the tank alk spike was 7.8 to 10 with a large waterchange. No new frags added lately.

I used revive to dip. And tissue loss is on tips as well as up one branch.
 
Have absolutley no algae of any kind anywhere else in the tank alk spike was 7.8 to 10 with a large waterchange. No new frags added lately.

I used revive to dip. And tissue loss is on tips as well as up one branch.

2.2 dkH in one water change is definitely big enough to cause alk burn and necrosis. As far as algae growing on dead tissue, I have only seen algae that was elsewhere in the tank populate on the dead tissue, not appear out of nowhere. However since you are ulns, the necrosis could be the only source of nutrients allowing algae growth i suppose. I have also had cyano in a ulns system and that could have just started there.

There are 3 things I would do:

1. First try manual removal of the algae (if possible) and see if it reappears and if so how quickly.

2. If you can collect a substantial amount of the algae (let's say a dime size minimum in this case), then you can perform a test to help determine if it is dinoflagellates or cyano.

Put the algae in a water bottle with tank water. Shake it up vigorously for a minute and then strain it through a paper towel into a bowl or glass.

If it any "magically" reforms within the bowl 45 mins - 1hr later, it's likely a type of dinoflagellates. Most cyano will stay in the paper towel and although it can get through and reform, it will usually take much longer and not regroup to the same extent.

3. Try dipping affected acros in bayer while blowing with a turkey baster or powerhead (please research how to properly use and rinse after bayer to avoid any personal health risks/issue with your tank), as I am not sure revive would be sufficient in killing or even stunning aefw or red bugs. I have never used it however.


My guess at this point is that it is simply run of the mill diatom/algae/cyano growing on dying or dead tissue caused by alk burn or stn.
 
Dipped again in bayer saw no pests out of the ordinarry. I'm yet to do the paper towel test. Here is another frag with this brown stuff on the tips.

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