Microscope Id snotty brown gunk

[Kurt03]

Can anyone assist in iding this? It's growing mostly on the back wall of a qt tank, snotty slimmey consistency. I do have osteoporosis Dino's in this tank that I'm currently fighting also. Thought from the Dino thread is that it may be another form of Dino...

Osteoporosis Dino is the larger sesame seed shape, small circular things are what I'm looking for. They do not move under the scope but can post a video if it would help.

Back wall,

 

[Kurt03]

Maybe it's a form of cyano?

Chamaesiphon
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/blo...inal-blog-sequencing-results?fromGateway=true

 

[stephenhall1987]

Common cyano is long spring looking strings, and they do have a slight movement (also Dino usually moves like crazy). Although Kurt's article dose suggest that cyano can come in a unicellular form.

It's hard to tell from this picture. Can see cell structure very well. Can you get a closer view? What power is this lens?

Diatoms can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. when they get thick they can be slimy.
This book is very helpful: http://www.amazon.com/Algae-Problem-Solver-Guide-Oceanographic/dp/1883693020

 

[Kurt03]

Thanks for the reply!

I agree about the long stringy looking cyano, thats what i have seen traditionally as well. Was a little surprised when i found the link i posted and read that it was a form of cyano.

The larger sesame seed shaped thing is (I think) Ostreopsis Siamensis, size seems to be: "Cells have a dorsoventral diameter of 108-123 um and a transdiameter of 76-86 um (Faust et al. 1996)." http://botany.si.edu/references/dinoflag/Taxa/Osiamensis.htm

So the smaller circular things are quite small, at i guess a seventh of that size. So are the small circles ~10-15um?

I think my image is at 1000x magnification and the highest my scope goes. I might bring a sample in to work and see what kind of images i can get.

I found this paper regarding Chamaesiphon and they have some images with sizes and magnification listed. Seems to somewhat match up? at least the 1000x images look close to the same size?
http://download.springer.com/static...766abbcfba845cf37e8d1683f55d32a721ab20499da0c

 

[stephenhall1987]

If it is cyano, common causes could be temp over 80*, old florescent lights, light on too long, direct sunlight, low water flow, etc. As usual, try to strip the water of nutrients. Make sure dkh mag etc are in range.

A live aquaria website suggests that Astraea tecta and the banded Trochus snails will eat cyano, although I have not witnessed this myself.

Chemiclean or ultralife red slime remover work great, But if you don't correct the cause, the cyano could come back.


For fun, here's my old post on my Dino: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2495570