Something Growing

[fishndive]

Hey folks, noticed a couple days ago that there was a weird slime growning near the glass on the sand. I let it go thinking snails or some creature would eat it/clean it.

Negative. I got home today and the goo had gotten bigger, another spot came up and it has hair on it. Its a grayish purplish color, has the sand clumpy, and has hair. Any ideas?

I did clean it out by the way.

 

[kraze3]

Sounds line Cyano. Check here for a pic
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/algae.html

Use a turkey baster to blow off sand and rocks. You may need to scrub off rocks. How is the flow in your aquarium? What are your parameters?

 

[fishndive]

Params are good, flow good. My funk didn't look like any of that in the pics.

Stupid question, what will blowing the sand off the rocks do?

 

[nikon187]

it sounds like cyano to me as well. It doesn;t always look the same and isn't always the same colour. Blowing off the sand and rocks will get rid of it but it will be back as long as it needs are met to grow. What are your params? It is caused from too many nutrients, lower water flow and lighting ( Older bulbs, brand new bulbs, spectrum shifts ect.) It is always one of these things

 

[LiveRound69]

sounds like it is possibly red slime algae. if so its a phosphate issue. Are you using Reverse Osmosis water for top offs or tap water. [tap water is a big no no, as it has alot of phosphates/silicates in it usually to promote algae growth]


blowing sand off rocks doesnt do diddly squat except make you rock work look clean.

 

[fishndive]

I gotcha. So even if its not growing on the rocks it'll still help?

 

[fishndive]

Its starting to come back a little. Got the sand all clumpy looking too. And its only on the sand.

 

[tspors]

I have been fighting this also like everyone here does. I would do the the 3 days no lights things would clear up, then return. I have a very good LFS owner here and we have chatted several times about this and what the root cause was. Nutrients seem to be the cause however, the light encourages the growth. Yes flow helps. So after we went step by step throught my system as to what the cause was there did not seem to be any system breakdown causing the nutrients. Then we got on the food. Along with various things I feed I do use frozen Mysis and the frozen Multi Pack cubes. Here is where mine was coming from.
1. The frozen Mysis have a lot of oil in them. I was not rinsing the cubes down. The oil in the tank was an un eaten nutrient. So I began rinsing in a net before feeding.
2. The frozen cubes are held together with gel. I was letting them competely melt before adding to tank. Thus leaving mostly liquid again un eaten nutrients. So I do not completely melt down now.
I did the 3 days lights out. Cleaned the tank like always on Saturday morning blowing the rockes off. The cyno has been gone. My parameters during this were always good so skip the test find your root cause. It took me 6+ months to figure mine out so run through your system and your habbits. Most probelms like mine are self induced. Like said above complete darkeness no food for 3 days will kill it but if the the cause is still happening it will return. Good Luck
Red Slime Remover will work however, if the source of the nutrient continues it may come back.

 

[fishndive]

Thanks tspors. I too use the same food you do. I'll def try that, thanks a bunch