Need help with Red Slime/red hair algae

[Webmanny]

Hi guys,

I've been running this Biocube for a few months now and I had a quick case of Red Slime about two months ago that went away by itself. However, about a month ago, it came back and I left it alone hoping it would go away to.

Fast forward a month and it is now waving red hair all over the sand. My rocks are clean and no algae. This is only on the sand. I have changed flow to the point where some LPS corals are not opening. I also tried two doses of Red Slime Remover and no luck.

Do you think this will go away and it is normal on "New" tanks?

Any help will be appreciated.


Temp: 78 - 80
Alk: 9.5
Cal: 398
PH: 7.78 - 7.98
Salt: 1.24


Pic

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[MGP]

Patience, water chages, and less feeding. Simplest way to restore your tank to balance. Do you have a good protien skimmer?

Last resort you can do a blackout for 3-4 days, but underlying nutrient issues will still persist

 

[Travis1787]

Obviously read into it before you tried it. But vodka dosing helped me with red cyano long time ago

 

[Webmanny]

Patience, water chages, and less feeding. Simplest way to restore your tank to balance. Do you have a good protien skimmer?

Last resort you can do a blackout for 3-4 days, but underlying nutrient issues will still persist

Thank you for your response.

Feeding is at the bare minimum right now. I only feed once a day and a very small amount of pellets. Maybe 3 pellets per fish. Regardless, the weird thing is that it is only on the sand. I have gotten green hair before on my old tanks, but it was everywhere. As far as the protein skimmer goes, I have a small one, which is removing a bunch of skimmate daily (Very wet) and I have a large fuge in the back chamber, which is alive, but pretty much static in growth.

I'll try to do a large water change and I'll do one of the ICP-OES Testing Kits to see if they find something else with my water.

I suspect that something is leaching silicates into the water column and it seems like it is the sand, but maybe I am wrong.

Obviously read into it before you tried it. But vodka dosing helped me with red cyano long time ago

I appreciate it the response.

I used to do this before on my old tank and it worked ok, but I feel like it is too much work and it is only a patch to the problem as well. I will try to find out the source of the issue and if all else fails, I will have to go back to Vodka.

I'm wondering if this could be related to using the Triton Method. I know it has some additives that are design to help macro algae grow in your fuge, but it may be also feeding the tank something that is helping the cyano grow as well.

I appreciate the suggestions, hopefully with your help, I will find a solution to this one and share the results with the group.

 

[Ted_C]

If the red slime remover doesn't work - you dont have cyano. Surprisingly - you might be out of balance on the clean side instead of the dirty side and what you are seeing might be dinoflagellates and not an algae.

you'll be able to tell better after some water changes - if water changes have no effect or it gets worse - it might be dinos.

 

[MGP]

If you think it's Dino's then get a UV sterilizer. That will reduce numbers initially. Then do 4 days lights out. Feed your fish well during this time. You can also dose hydrogen peroxide during the blackout. Once lights come on continue feeding well and do not do a water change for a while. After about a week after lights out, it should clear up and other algaes should start to outcompete the dinos. Your macro should grow well during this time

 

[Webmanny]

If the red slime remover doesn't work - you dont have cyano. Surprisingly - you might be out of balance on the clean side instead of the dirty side and what you are seeing might be dinoflagellates and not an algae.

you'll be able to tell better after some water changes - if water changes have no effect or it gets worse - it might be dinos.

Oh I hope you are wrong buddy. I don't think I have the time or energy to deal with Dinos right now. I will try doing a water change and see where things go.

As I was reading your post, I was thinking oh yeah, my skimmer and fuge have been picking the nutrients clean from my aquarium and the fact that the Chaeto is alive but not growing by much tells me that there isn't enough of a balance on nutrients in the tank, which may explain the Dinos.

I hope that this is not the case. I know of people that have been fighting them for years.

Thank you for the suggestion. I will keep everyone posted.

 

[Webmanny]

If you think it's Dino's then get a UV sterilizer. That will reduce numbers initially. Then do 4 days lights out. Feed your fish well during this time. You can also dose hydrogen peroxide during the blackout. Once lights come on continue feeding well and do not do a water change for a while. After about a week after lights out, it should clear up and other algaes should start to outcompete the dinos. Your macro should grow well during this time

I will try this once I determine if it really is Dinos.

Oh how I hope you are all wrong. :headwally:

 

[k2swat]

I had red algae slim issue. nothing worked well for me. I ran into this and it worked like a champ. Fish and coral safe.

Red Slime Remover

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ultralife-red-slime-remover.html

 

[Webmanny]

I had red algae slim issue. nothing worked well for me. I ran into this and it worked like a champ. Fish and coral safe.

Red Slime Remover

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ultralife-red-slime-remover.html

Yep. I have used it twice already with no positive results. In fact, I think the problem got worse after treating the tank with Red Slime Remover. I'm thinking the guys above are correct. This may not be Red Slime at all.

Thank you for your suggestion.

 

[ClownMan727]

I have beaten it by siphoning it out and water changes.

 

[Ted_C]

I had a severe outbreak in my 150 (Frag tank / Quarantine). I did try all the solutions: UV, Blackout (Twice), red slime remover, water changes, manual removal.

the only thing that worked for me was to run dirty and allow the bubble algae to take over the tank and out-compete the dinos - then deal with the bubble algae and bring everything back into balance.

 

[Webmanny]

Yeah. I did a water change yesterday and like I mentioned before, I did the Red Slime Remover. However, the algae looks better then ever today. I now agree 100% that this is not Red Slime, but rather Dinos. I am going to do some extensive reading on that and see where it goes.

Having said that, everything I have seen online says that they have a bubble at the tip and mine do not have any bubbles. Either way, I will continue the battle.

I will update you guys as soon as I can.

 

[MGP]

Mine didn’t bubble either, but I beat them after a lot of research and patience. Dino’s have a pelagic stage, get a uv sterilizer first thing

https://www.amazon.com/Microsystems...=1521684873&sr=8-1&keywords=sun+uv+sterilizer

That’s what I use. 4 day blackout and hydrogen peroxide dose. No more water changes for a while. Feed your fish well. I only had one fish in my 20, but added another to increase bioload.

If they aren’t growing on your rocks you could try siphoning out your sand, bleaching it for 3 days, then Dechlorinating for 3 days and returning to tank. Or just replacing your sand

Good luck!

 

[Webmanny]

Hi team,

I took a quick video last night with the white LEDs only in hopes that this will help others determine what type of algae it really is. Please note that it looks green under the white LEDs, but once all the LEDs are on, it looks very dark red.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqkw23nY7JA

 

[Ted_C]

try the paper towel test:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2531708

It's important to get a pretty dense population of the dinos in the sample water. I usually siphon dinos directly off the rocks or sand into a 1.5L water bottle with a 3/8" tube. It doesn't matter if you get sand or detritus in the sample, just try to get as many dinos as possible.

Also, it's very important to shake the bejesus out of the sample before filtering it. This ensures that the dinos are separated into small enough sizes to fit through the filter.

Lastly, the filtered sample might need to be lightly stirred to help the dinos come into contact with one another. If you don't notice any aggregation after 2 hours give the sample water more time. Set it up on a shelf somewhere so nobody mistakes it for their water! I've left these samples in ambient light over night and when I check them out the next morning there are nice colonies formed.

 

[Webmanny]

Very interesting. I will try this today and report back. I like the fact that I am not alone in the battlefield.

Heads up algae, reinforcements are 2 klicks away!!! :uzi:

 

[jaylensdad06]

In my experience doing water changes only fuels the bacteria...if red slime remover doesn't work I'd go with perixide..worse case u have to pull it rocks out 1 at a time and spray them with a 5050 mix of peroxide n water...I did that n got rid of all my hair algae and cyano

 

[Webmanny]

Ok. So it turns out that it is actually GHA. It just looks red under my LEDs. I built this light using some new full spectrum LEDs and they make GHA look red.

I syphoned most of it out of my tank and just for the heck of it did the test, but it was pretty clear by then what it was.

I really appreciate everyone's help and all the great suggestions. I hope I never get Dynos, but if I ever do, you guys have given me the tools to fight back.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk