PizzaOven
Supporting Member
Yeah, I had an explosion a while back in my main tank (all of this rock came from that tank). I was feeding reef roids a couple times per week which I think contributed to the problem.
PizzaOven '25 Budget Build
- Thread starter PizzaOven
- Start date
I have some in my display or at least did before I moved everything into a holding tank. I am not sure I'll move them back in given how quickly they can spread. I had a central rock that I still have no idea how they got onto (I think one detached and floated onto it) and even after scraping with a bush + peroxide I couldn't get it permanently gone.
PizzaOven
Supporting Member
They’re very stubborn and annoying. I did the following to get them under control:
Filter floss changed weekly
Added Bumblebee snails
Coral snow 1x per week
Feed fish small amounts with turkey baster, no broadcast feeding
I did the shotgun approach, which worked well over time.
PizzaOven
Supporting Member
April Update:
Overall things are good. I've noticed slow growth from zoas/mushrooms. LPS seem healthy, but I haven't noticed any significant growth. I think I need to spend some more time dialing this tank in.
Changes:
Overall things are good. I've noticed slow growth from zoas/mushrooms. LPS seem healthy, but I haven't noticed any significant growth. I think I need to spend some more time dialing this tank in.
Changes:
- Added another $10 "wavemaker" but removed a $10 chalice coral. No change to budget.
- Added a green hairy mushroom from my main tank ($0 PIF from myself)
- I've been noticing some strange photosynthetic stuff appearing on the rockwork (see 2nd picture). I sort of think it's some kind of photosynthetic bacteria (just a guess). Anyone know what this stuff is?
PizzaOven
Supporting Member
Oh no, not the D-word
. Hopefully I can manage if it's indeed dinos.
They're in every tank really, it's more what's out competing them.Oh no, not the D-word
PizzaOven
Supporting Member
May Updates:
- The 3 hermit crabs all died (RIP). Maybe there wasn't enough food for them.
- Some stuff is surviving rather than thriving (purple favia, toadstool, candy cane).
- Still experimenting with N and P dosing.
- Trying fewer water changes while riding out the dino (?) wave.
If it's ostreopsis, that can be toxic and fatal for some inverts. If you can get a sample of it under the microscope, then at least have a better plan on how to combat it. If you can confirm ostreopsis, then some carbon and UV will really help battle it. Also, a healthy dose of AquaForest Life Source will also help a lot.
PizzaOven
Supporting Member
Interesting… I’ll buy or borrow a microscope to take a few pictures. Thanks!
@Srt4eric has one in san jose i think.
PizzaOven
Supporting Member
June Update
I ordered a cheap $20 handheld microscope from Amazon to try to ID the snotty stuff in the tank (dinos?):
I didn't have high hopes for image quality, given the price. I grabbed some snotty tank water and sandwiched it between two 1mm glass coverslips using a pipette. Below are some pics I took:
Mystery brown stuff:
Stringy algae?
Weird green blob:
From what I gathered online, I'm looking for oval shaped cells between 30-80um. The closest thing I found is in the photo below (sorry I can't increase the magnification more).
Digital zoom doesn't reveal much extra detail, but they seem very irregularly shaped (unlike dinos from photos I've seen online):
@Darkxerox , @ReyDeFarts (or anyone else) any idea if these are dinos or not?
Out of caution, nothing I brought to the swap came out of this tank.
-Andrew
I ordered a cheap $20 handheld microscope from Amazon to try to ID the snotty stuff in the tank (dinos?):
I didn't have high hopes for image quality, given the price. I grabbed some snotty tank water and sandwiched it between two 1mm glass coverslips using a pipette. Below are some pics I took:
Mystery brown stuff:
Stringy algae?
Weird green blob:
From what I gathered online, I'm looking for oval shaped cells between 30-80um. The closest thing I found is in the photo below (sorry I can't increase the magnification more).
Digital zoom doesn't reveal much extra detail, but they seem very irregularly shaped (unlike dinos from photos I've seen online):
@Darkxerox , @ReyDeFarts (or anyone else) any idea if these are dinos or not?
Out of caution, nothing I brought to the swap came out of this tank.
-Andrew
The next time I turned on the microscope after you gave me that sample the bulb went out. I need to replace it and then look. Its weird, I still have you sample and the brown stuff is still in it. Id figure if it was dinos they would of died by now.
MarcosD
Supporting Member
Not zoomed in enough to be able to ID. When I had dinos I used a kids toy microscope and surprisingly I got some pretty clear images. This is what my dinos looked like under a microscope and got ID’d as ostreopsis by Mack’s Dino group on FB. Very helpful guys over there
Attachments
Hard to ID. But from what I have seen, it doesn't appear to be dinos to me.
I'm dealing with some slimy brown stuff in one of my systems too. I need to stop being lazy and bring out the microscope.
I'm dealing with some slimy brown stuff in one of my systems too. I need to stop being lazy and bring out the microscope.
divewsharks
Supporting Member
Looks similar to what i have in my new LPS tank (and had before in my SPS tank when it was new). Not dino's based on what i could find. I beat it by feeding heavy and siphoning it off the rocks weekly. Had some on the sandbed, that has already cleared up.
-rob
-rob
PizzaOven
Supporting Member
Since I don't have any fish/inverts, I haven't been feeding the tank. I was dosing N/P, but very recently switched to feeding some leftover LRS juice prepared for my other tank. I'm hoping this helps. I'll try to scrub/siphon it off. I should stop being so lazy, it's only 3g haha.
Thanks for the mini sea cucumbers btw! They're super cool looking critters. I put them in my 65g.
PizzaOven
Supporting Member
I almost sprang the extra $$ for a legit microscope with a stand, sample holder, stage, etc. Yours looks pretty good for a toy microscope.
If it is dinos, I would think I would see dense groups of cells, like in your picture? It seems like the brown slimy stuff in the first pic doesn't have many oval shaped objects present.
PizzaOven
Supporting Member
No worries!