Eric The Red
New member
My understanding of cyano is that it's a slimy red material that can be easily sucked up or wiped off something (lives in low-flow sand areas). I just had a star polyp colony die and it was covered in a thin but dense red coating. It did not have the strands of slime that visibly sway back and forth and it adhered and wouldn't come off. I tried to gently wipe it of with a soft toothbrush but it is stuck on there. Now, I just saw a section growing on a rock covered in zoas. The zoas beneath it are not opening. This stuff is not slimy and I cannot brush it off rock, even when I use a brush and apply force.
This stuff is like a felt mat and has a velvet appearance. There are no filaments or strands that come off of it (definately not red hair or turf algae based on pictures I've seen of them.) It has been growing in a few small areas on my LR. The colonies on the LR are small, ranging from pea size to that of a quarter. Until last week, I never worried about it (I figured it was some sort of red coraline based on the way it grew and looked.)
Then, I had a star polyp colony die in a matter of days and the body (not the polyps) were totally covered in this stuff. (unfortunately the open polyps entirely blocked the view of this stuff growing until it was too late) It appears to be a slow grower and has grown in areas of high and low light. All areas of growth had moderate flow (not in dead spots) and no growth in the sandbed. Now I've looked everywhere for it and saw it growing on this piece of rock with my zoas. (It's also growing in a few isolated spots on my LR.) There are already a few zoa polyps that have been covered and they no longer open! I've tried to scrub this stuff off with a toothbrush but it doesn't come off. It doesn't appear to be an algae or traditional (red-slime) cyano. I'm guessing it's some other form of bacteria...?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated on what it is and how to get rid of it.
FYI...
90G tank
T5 lighting (replaced bulbs 2 weeks ago)
27X water flow
NO3 = 5-10ppm
PO4 = undetectable (running GFO)
Ph = 8.3
dKH = 10
Ca = 440
The size if the "stuff" in the picture below is roughly the size of a quarter. I don't know when it started growing, but I've only owned the zoas for about 1.5 months...
This stuff is like a felt mat and has a velvet appearance. There are no filaments or strands that come off of it (definately not red hair or turf algae based on pictures I've seen of them.) It has been growing in a few small areas on my LR. The colonies on the LR are small, ranging from pea size to that of a quarter. Until last week, I never worried about it (I figured it was some sort of red coraline based on the way it grew and looked.)
Then, I had a star polyp colony die in a matter of days and the body (not the polyps) were totally covered in this stuff. (unfortunately the open polyps entirely blocked the view of this stuff growing until it was too late) It appears to be a slow grower and has grown in areas of high and low light. All areas of growth had moderate flow (not in dead spots) and no growth in the sandbed. Now I've looked everywhere for it and saw it growing on this piece of rock with my zoas. (It's also growing in a few isolated spots on my LR.) There are already a few zoa polyps that have been covered and they no longer open! I've tried to scrub this stuff off with a toothbrush but it doesn't come off. It doesn't appear to be an algae or traditional (red-slime) cyano. I'm guessing it's some other form of bacteria...?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated on what it is and how to get rid of it.
FYI...
90G tank
T5 lighting (replaced bulbs 2 weeks ago)
27X water flow
NO3 = 5-10ppm
PO4 = undetectable (running GFO)
Ph = 8.3
dKH = 10
Ca = 440
The size if the "stuff" in the picture below is roughly the size of a quarter. I don't know when it started growing, but I've only owned the zoas for about 1.5 months...
