need to kill mystery algae!!!!!!!!!!

[merlin0883]

I have this red velvety algae, and everyone says that red algae is cyano. I don't think that this is. First off, it's not slimey at all. It's very short and velvety. I have asked before, but to no avail. I have used Chemi Clean, and it does not even slow it down. I finally got a decent digital camera, so I will put several pics up. Hopefully the species can be determined, and hopefully someone has had it and knows how to get rid of it. Water quality good. Nitrates the only thing that registers, and they never go above 15ppm--normally below 5ppm.

[merlin0883]

hopefully from all these, someone can identify it.

[copperband]

could be coraline

[erikharrison]

second set middle pic definitely looks like red coraline.

[hobogato]

it looks like cyano to me

[erikharrison]

Does it look like this?

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x315/erikharrison/Fish/redcoralinealgae.jpg

[merlin0883]

second set middle pic definitely looks like red coraline.
The shiny spots with no red is where my urchin plowed through it and polished the rock. He is the only thing that gets rid of it, but he eats all the coraline too. Also, this stuff is definitely fuzzy. Red coraline not fuzzy is it? All the coraline I know of is hard, almost like plaster. But, then again, that's why I asked you guys.

[merlin0883]

Does it look like this?

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x315/erikharrison/Fish/redcoralinealgae.jpgno. I have very small patches of that, but it's not the same.

[merlin0883]

it looks like cyano to me
yea, the pics give it a more slimey look, but it's not at all. very velvety

[merlin0883]

the pic with the sun polyps probably shows it the best

[Ed]

it looks like cyano to me


Looks like cyano to me too.

[Paul28]

Looks like cyano Bacteria (AKA) Red slime algae Best way I get rid of it is http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/2792/picture029si2.jpg

Make shur not to Overdose it. The problem that could of brang it on is Overfeeding way to high nutrients. Or low PH not enough water flow in the tank, To mutch lighting, the main problem most have is the food thay youse has High phosphate. Red slime algae is a pain to control try to solve the problem just do not dose it with meds i tried all of these and found out when i got a ph controler that it was my ph was way to low and flow in my tank was way to low. Good luck with it if you dont control it. it will take over your tank

[motohead]

Dude,it is Cyano.No Question.

[blueboy]

i have had the algae you are describing, although i do not know how to control it. it's NOT cyano. very tough leathery texture? difficult to tear away from the rock? unfortunately i don't know what it is either, but at least you know your not alone, and not crazy!

[Paul28]

Read this it will help http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/microalgae/a/aa092800.htm
it is 100% Red slime alge (cyano Bacteria)

[merlin0883]

i have had the algae you are describing, although i do not know how to control it. it's NOT cyano. very tough leathery texture? difficult to tear away from the rock? unfortunately i don't know what it is either, but at least you know your not alone, and not crazy!yes, very tough. steel wool has a hard time getting it off the rocks

[merlin0883]

Read this it will help http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/microalgae/a/aa092800.htm
it is 100% Red slime alge (cyano Bacteria)Important Note: If your tank is still cycling, DO NOT add any new animals, do ANY water changes, or perform ANY MAJOR substrate or filter cleaning tasks, other than to change dirty prefiltering materials and/or to QUICK siphon stuff off the bottom, until the tank has COMPLETELY FINISHED cycling. Because this type of algae does not attach well, it can easily be peeled off and removed by light siphoning, with larger floating pieces being removed with a net, or turkey baster.

This came from the article. Thanks for helping, and I was almost convinced that this is cyano, but this says "this type of algae does not attach well, it can easily be peeled off and removed" alone proves it not to be. Thanks though.

[merlin0883]

Ok. Instead of "What kind of algae is this?," let's go with "Can anyone convince me this IS indeed cyano?" I totally understand that is looks like it in the pics, but it does not fit the description on any website or from anyone I've talked too. It's not slimey, doesn't grow in any form of sheet, and is incredibly hard to remove even by scrubbing manually. Also, I have probably way too much flow, and no DOC's because of good skimming. Anyway.......

[tony]

looks like coraline to me

here is a good pic of red coraline for comparison:



http://www.melevsreef.com/id/other/red_coralline.jpg

[merlin0883]

maybe..........looks closer than cyano or the other red coraline pic. Just in case, is it completely cool to try chemi clean in the reef tank? Should I maybe do a water change, use the stuff without skimmers, then water change and skimmers back on? This is how I did it last time. I also only fed my fish during medication period, and it was minimal. Figured next to no food for bacteria in water would be best.

[tony]

if its slimy its cyano, if you can flake it off with your fingernail its likely coraline

if you follow the directions you should have no probs with chemiclean, i have used it a few times with no ill effects

[merlin0883]

will chemi-clean kill other types of algae(other than cyano)?

[tony]

here is a good pic of cyano for comparison:


http://www.melevsreef.com/id/cyano.jpg

[MKCindy]

I remember reading somewhere about Dark Brown and Red Velvet algae. It was considered good and improved water quality. I have some in my tank and it has always stayed contained to one side of one rock. Control is Sea Urchins and Sea Slugs.

[tony]

will chemi-clean kill other types of algae(other than cyano)?


never has for me

cyano is a bacteria, not really an algae

[apedroza]

I have seen this type of algae before. It is not cyano but a very short "velvet" algae. It encrusts the rocks and is very difficult to remove even with scrubbing. Not sure if it is harmful or not, but I got rid of it just in case. I just cured the LR for a few weeks and it seemed to work.

[caferacermike]

I met another reefer in ATX Friday that claims to have exactly what you have going on. Another "you are not alone" reply.

[Kristy]

Okay Merlin,
Wish you had posted this about one day earlier. I just peeled a bunch of this junk off a couple of rocks and I'm pretty convinced after reading all your replies that we're dealing with the same stuff.

I also think mine was not cyano or if so, then it would have been a different type of cyano than what I've encountered previously. We had a run-in with cyano shortly after our tank was set up and we were able to siphon it off the sand and treat the tank and contain it. This stuff is not siphon-able, not wispy and fluid like cyano. The texture is very different (velvety) but the color is the same. In fact it almost encrusted the two rocks in question.

I also have some coraline algae in the same burgundy color on different rocks and for a long time I scratched my head and could not decide what was going on... is all of this good coraline algae or is all of this some sort of velvety red algae? etc.

Here were the deciding factors for me: The two rocks with this problem were both from the same guy from MAAST and both had a little coral on the rock (one was green star polyp and the other a few zoas). In both cases the red velvety stuff began to aggressively grow in an almost encrusting way and began to choke out the coral.

I spent a couple of hours peeling it off with my fingernails and grabbing it with my tweezers. When you can grab a piece of it, it stretches and pulls off and has an almost balloon-like texture in very small bits. Underneath this mess I was able to find good old coraline algae as well as some gasping coral getting smothered. It is too soon to say whether the coral will recover but I am hopeful that it will in time.

Hope this helps! Good luck,
Kristy

[merlin0883]

I have seen this type of algae before. It is not cyano but a very short "velvet" algae. It encrusts the rocks and is very difficult to remove even with scrubbing. Not sure if it is harmful or not, but I got rid of it just in case. I just cured the LR for a few weeks and it seemed to work.
how did you get rid of it?

[Troy Valentine]

Josh,

I believe the algae you have is called Asparagopsis Toxiformis. It should look like this:
http://www.aquatouch.com/algae.htm

This is the worst algae that you can have..... I almost quit the hobby after 13 years because of it. Thank god a fellow member talked me out of it. So I did a lot of research on it, and found that is actually a common food source in Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. It is part of the Asparagis family.

The only way to get rid of it is to use Mexican Turbo Snails, and skim the heck out of your tank.... Remove any excess disolved organic matter. But the most important thing is PATIENTS it will take several months for the algae to go away. HTH

[merlin0883]

Josh,

I believe the algae you have is called Asparagopsis Toxiformis. It should look like this:
http://www.aquatouch.com/algae.htm

This is the worst algae that you can have..... I almost quit the hobby after 13 years because of it. Thank god a fellow member talked me out of it. So I did a lot of research on it, and found that is actually a common food source in Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. It is part of the Asparagis family.

The only way to get rid of it is to use Mexican Turbo Snails, and skim the heck out of your tank.... Remove any excess disolved organic matter. But the most important thing is PATIENTS it will take several months for the algae to go away. HTH
sweet. i do believe we finally have a winner.

[KyleV]

Where you able get rid of it? I think I might have it on a new rock...