prettyfishy76 Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I have a 100g seahorse tank (with an additional approx. 20 gallons in the sump) that is about 2 months old. Starting about 3 weeks ago I was seeing some small areas of brown growth on only two particular rocks. It grew quickly and became stringy and "snotty." I try my best to siphon it out, but it keeps coming back. I was looking through photos on the internet and it looks like I might have dinoflagellates in this tank. Now, it has taken over most of my rocks. It is so disgusting. When I siphon it out or rinse something off that has it on it, it smells horribly. I hate that it reproduces so quickly. It doesn't seem to be bothering the seahorses - all life in the tank seems to be doing well, but it is an EYESORE. What are some suggestions on how to eradicate this issue? I have never had this in one of my tanks before. Could it have come from those particular rocks where it first started to appear? I used live rock that had been kept in a large trough for about 2 months prior to us placing it in our tank. I currently use both a protein skimmer and UV sterilizer. I have attached some photos for ID just in case I am incorrect as to what is taking over my tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 If you can take the rock out that would be your best bet. I would just buy a piece of LR to substitute for it and switch it out then boil/bleach the rock or rocks in question then resell as dry rock. If you have a sump then I would build a reverse algae scrubber so that hair algae can grow faster and starve out the dino but this could take a month. Some people raise alk/ph but with seahorses I wouldn't even try that. I would also PM KimP as she has extensive seahorse experience for her opinion as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 looks like dino to me, but sometimes nuisance algaes are hard to ID. Give this a good read:http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php The long and short of it is to a) reduce nutrients (reduced feedings, wetter skim, GFO, DSB, fuge, Biopellets, sulfur denitrator, water change) and increase pH (kalkwasser). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 iT doesn't look like a dino to me. I've had them in tanks before, and they typically are coming from a twisty tube-like thing. That looks more green, with bubbles, which leads me to believe its just a hair algae. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 What's your PO4? Like cyano every time I've had them there was an excess of PO4. I think lighting and flow have a big impact as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Looks like Dinos to me. I've got it in my 55 gallon also. Oddly enough some of my snails eat it, but it has killed two varieties of zoas, a turbo snail, and an emerald crab. I literally have to turkey baste everything in the tank several times a day, and change out my sump sponges catching gunk from the overflow daily. And they STINK to high heaven. I have to hold my breath when rinsing sponges as to avoid vomiting. They're as annoying as it gets and I haven't had any success in winning the fight. Just daily removal. At a glance it isn't noticeable, but if I don't intervene, it only takes two or three days to COVER the tank. There are hundreds of threads and articles floating around about how to cure them, but it seems like a combination of efforts is likely to win. You having seahorses is another challenge. People have succeeded with ZERO water changes for months, heavy weekly water changes, aggressive gfo and carbon use, peroxide dosing at 1ml per 10 gallons or more, bio pellets, multiple day black out periods, algae medications, hypo salinity, and kalkwasser dripping to stabilize ph at 8.5 for several months time. I've read reports of each of the aforementioned methods working like a charm, and I've read reports of each method making it worse. Pick your poison. I've tried the lights out and no water change method to no avail. Elevated ph seems to be the most popular method, but as I don't have a ph checker or a kalk setup, I'm not going to try that. Peroxide dosing will likely be what I do next, just worried it may negatively affect good bacteria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieMEDIC Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I had a lot os success treating dynos peroxide. 0.5mL for every 10 gallons. Zoos hate it but it doesnt hurt them. I had it everywhere so I did 3 days of darkness and 2 weeks of peroxide. Everyonce in A while I see what looks like it so I treat for a day or 2 and it goes away. I see dead people. Then I bring them back to life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I have an idea so thought I'd see what you guys thought as a solution for algae. After vodka dosing my tank and ridding myself of all algae I set up a reverse algae scrubber so I can dictate exactly where I want the algae to grow. This has worked perfect so far since I started it 2 months ago. I think the consensus is if you have a sump and want to get rid of algae you need to introduce another algae such as chaeto to starve it out. I attempted this method and unfortunately the stuff in my tank, Dictyota at first then Dino afterwards when I weened vodka off, beat the chaeto. Now I have hair algae but only on my reverse scrubber so my question is, Would setting up a reverse scrubber with existing algae covering the mat beat out other algae for nutrients faster and cheaper than any other method? I have all the parts to set one up so if you or anyone with a algae problem would like to give it a go we can try it out and test it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I think the consensus is if you have a sump and want to get rid of algae you need to introduce another algae such as chaeto to starve it out. Whoooooa there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teresa Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I have an idea so thought I'd see what you guys thought as a solution for algae. After vodka dosing my tank and ridding myself of all algae I set up a reverse algae scrubber so I can dictate exactly where I want the algae to grow. This has worked perfect so far since I started it 2 months ago. I think the consensus is if you have a sump and want to get rid of algae you need to introduce another algae such as chaeto to starve it out. I attempted this method and unfortunately the stuff in my tank, Dictyota at first then Dino afterwards when I weened vodka off, beat the chaeto. Now I have hair algae but only on my reverse scrubber so my question is, Would setting up a reverse scrubber with existing algae covering the mat beat out other algae for nutrients faster and cheaper than any other method? I have all the parts to set one up so if you or anyone with a algae problem would like to give it a go we can try it out and test it out. I've done this before, on my seahorse tank, and it really did compete with and reduce the hair algae problem I had growing in my tank. Now that you are talking about it, I think its time to bring it back. I took it down for some reason I really can't remember right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 chaeto, calerpa, and a GFO/Carbon reactor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 "Survival of the fittest" If you use a reverse turf scrubber and its flourishing, there wont be enough nitrates/PO4 for anything else to grow. Once a balance can be struck, you should see slower growth on the scrubber. Very handy for people who feed too much. Its also a great place for pods to floursh and replenish them in the DT if you have a dragonet or similar lifestock that depends on live pods for food. I personally let the GHA grow on the back wall of my lil 16g tank. It only grows there and eventually just dies out but while its growing the pod number explode. I dont feed as theres no fish in there so the only P04 I get in there is from external contamination from my hands, or maybe salt/water thats added. Seems the GHA usually comes back shortly after a waterchange so there must be a PO4 source somewhere in that chain. Doesnt bother me though as its all part of the balance to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 "Survival of the fittest" If you use a reverse turf scrubber and its flourishing, there wont be enough nitrates/PO4 for anything else to grow. Once a balance can be struck, you should see slower growth on the scrubber. Very handy for people who feed too much. Its also a great place for pods to floursh and replenish them in the DT if you have a dragonet or similar lifestock that depends on live pods for food. I personally let the GHA grow on the back wall of my lil 16g tank. It only grows there and eventually just dies out but while its growing the pod number explode. I dont feed as theres no fish in there so the only P04 I get in there is from external contamination from my hands, or maybe salt/water thats added. Seems the GHA usually comes back shortly after a waterchange so there must be a PO4 source somewhere in that chain. Doesnt bother me though as its all part of the balance to me. That's what I was suggesting but a new scrubber takes time to grow the algae and I was thinking of kickstarting it with a mat already filled with algae. Maybe one day I'll get all scientific with some experiements to see what works the fastest. Maybe a couple of 10 gallon tanks filled with tap water and a rock with a different kind of algae and let it get out of control then test to see how fast to reign it in again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 How is your scrubber working out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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