Strange light green coating on one zoo colony

[rsaha]

I have a colony of red australian zoos that has developed this light green coating over most of the colony. They are not opening. Presumably some sort of algae but like nothing I have ever seen before. I tried quickly blowing at it with a turkey baster but it won't come off that way. Not slimy like cyano. It is like they just changed colour???

Tank is doing very well otherwise. No other zoo colonies affected nor is this stuff growing anywhere else. Lights were changed from XM10K 250 with Actinic Plus to Reeflux 12K with Pure Actinic about a month ago.

Probably due for a reload on the GFO but there is no algae anywhere else in the tank. Use RO/DI. Have a big clean up crew.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Wow, first let me say thank you for the very detailed and informative post on your situation.

One thing jumps out at me from what I didn't read. How long have you had them in your tank? Maybe I'm wrong, but are they a new addition?

Most likely it is some form of infant stage algae growth. Is there a chance that you can share a macro shot?

Since this is isolated to a single colony, I would literally pick up a few of the cleaner snails you have and place them onto the colony and allow them to do their work. Or, take the colony out of the tank and place it in a well rinsed, with no soap residue, bowl of tank water and place several of your cleaner ( Astreas ) snails on the rock. They will have no choice but to clean it off. I started doing this years ago when I purchased a few rocks which had unsightly alage which I wanted to clean, it works.

Also, take a look at the link below for future reference and note post # 7 by Scopus Tang. I have never tried it but I do trust the source who wrote the article. For your isolated application, I would give it a try if the snails won't consume it. I'm sure it is some sort of algae but a pic would put that to rest.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1853281

I hope this helps. Good luck and keep us posted.


Mucho Reef


PS... http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1154238&highlight=mucho+reef

 

[rsaha]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will try putting some cleanup crew on the colony directly when I get home tonight. The colony has been there for 5 or 6 months and was growing nicely so it is not new to the tank.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Good, then I'd try post # 7 in the first link after trying the isolation with the clean up crew.

And it's the only colony affected right?

 

[rsaha]

Only one colony affected so far. I hope I can dig the colony out of the DT. Not sure if I put it down with epoxy... been a while.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Just odd that it is affecting only one colony. BTW, is this rock covered in coralline or not?

If it was a high nutrient issue, your parameters might be in question, but more than one rock would be affected unless the rock was bare of coralline. Hmm, scrathing my head.

 

[rsaha]

Hmmm... I had a diadema urchin that took care of any coralline I might have in my tank. I had to get rid of him (he had a taste for zoos). I had a spurt of coralline under the XM10K but it slowed right down. I figured it might be the switch to reeflux. I do check calcium regularly and drip kalk but haven't checked my alk lately.

What parameter might be causing this?