Need help Identifying this tan slime!!!

[KrazyOnetime]

I have, all of the sudden (last 2-3 weeks) light tan slimey stuff growing all over my rocks and frag plugs ect. It looks like tan snot that kinda covers a section of rock and has upward growths of bulb shaped stuff which can have bubbles attached to it. I've looked at dino pics and it didn't really look like any of the pics I saw. The dino pics looked more like brown hair algae with bubbles that was stringy and either grew up like hair algae or spread out along the substrate like cyno. This is basicaly light tan snot almost "sponge" like. I am currently in the middle of a cyno treatment, which I hoped would take care of it but doesn't seem to be. I did have a small amount of cyno but it's history now. I run GFO, keep good water quality Nitrates 0 (API), Phospates 0.00 (hanna) Alk 9-9.5 dkh, Ca 460-480, Mg 1450-1500, ammonia 0,Nitrites 0. I also run O3 and keep it between 350-400mv. SWC 250a skimmer on a 250g Marineland DD tank. Here's some pics of it I don't have a nice camera so this is the best pics I can get:

Here its on the frag plug and also covering theegg crate.

Here I was hopeing to show the small cluster of it above the magnet.

Here its on the same ro

ck and above the star polyps.
And here is a pocket of it to the left of the frag center of the pic. If anyone has any ideas please let me know it's taking over literaly.

 

[KrazyOnetime]

Somm of the extra bubbles are from a temp air stone but the substance does have bubbles in it.

 

[seapug]

Look up Dinoflagellinates.

I have a crazy theory that it is a seasonal thing. I know of many people with healthy, well maintained tanks that are battling it right now. It usually subsides on its own but raising pH with the use of Kalkwasser is an anecdotal cure.

 

[dogstar74]

I too have gotten a new outbreak, interesting to hear it may be seasonal. I've had a well established tank for a while, I was wondering how in the heck it could be rearing it's slimy head.

 

[KrazyOnetime]

WOW, so you all believe it's dino's. I looked for dinoflagellate pics and couldn't find any that looked like this (exactly)

 

[KrazyOnetime]

How does one get rid of it? And what did I do to cause this to happen?

 

[haikufriday]

i'm experiencing something similar. they say it helps to raise ph and limit the light cycle. i went extreme: 2 days of no light and 4 hours of light for several days. running skimmer wet and running GFO. so far, it's getting better- i'm 4 days in...

 

[phuzzykins]

I have a slime that looked extremely similar... it's in one of my display tanks but not the other, despite them sharing a sump.

Under the microscope, it's a mix of primarily dinoflagellates with a few diatoms. One of the interesting things I found is that there are also hundreds of tiny flatworms consuming it from the inside.

Manual removal on a daily basis helps tremendously. I scrub it with a toothbrush, and siphon into a filter sock.

 

[GlassReef]

Does this look like the stuff you have?

Here's what they look like under the microscope:

My 375gal tank was full of them for close to a year. I tried raising pH to 8.6 with Kalkwasser - no luck. Daily removal helped, but didn't diminish the base problem.

I sorta/kinda agree with the seasonal theory as they started to diminish at the start of last winter. As it now stands they are still there, but only evidence themselves in the form of a thin film growing on they glass. Looks much like diatoms - but isn't.

The glass has to be cleaned every two days. I finally started to change my GFO/GAC filters once a week (3/4 cup BRC HC GFO and 1-1/2 cup Rox 0.8 GAC for 375gals). This seems to be keeping them from a growth explosion. I guess time will tell if this works over the long run.

In any case, these are nasty buggers and very difficult to get rid of.

 

[dwa_jeff]

Tagging along, I've had this pop up in a few systems and never really had good luck getting rid of it.

 

[jimnrose]

I'm having the same problem for about 2 weeks and have been syphoning (removing) the stuff daily but it seems to be a loosing battle. I just turned off the lights and have ordered a magnesium test kit (due today). Tryng to keep the Alkalinity at 12 to 14 & amtold it may be dropping due to low mag.
I believe it's teated the same as cyanobacteria. Jim

 

[MabuyaQ]

It's either Dinoflagellates or Chrysophyceen. Only viewing under a microscope will tell for sure.

 

[chrisv]

+1 for Dinoflagellinates