Something Nasty in my tank

[smcnally]

I need opinions. I've been noticing something in my tank over the last 2 weeks that seems like cyano, but not like any cyno I've had before. It is mostly niceable on my eggcrate that I have some frags on. It is thin slimey srings with bubbles all over them. The weird part is that today I blew them off with a baster and there are these dry looking very thin stems (maybe something different all together?). Yesterday my powerheads got turned off somehow while I was at work and all the tops of my eggcrate and rockwork were COVERED in it. It is clear when thin but has that violet color or cyano where it is thick. But don't have that "velvet" look of cyano. It has been on corals and hasn't seemed to harm them either. Does anyone have a clue of what this could be and what to do to get rid of it? I don't have a picture either because I already blew it off tonight. If I remember tomorrow I'll get a shot. Oh yeah, when there is high flow in my tank it still grows on the eggcrate, but nowhere else, and the eggcrate gets pretty good flow...enough to make it shake.

 

[Mr. Slippery]

Possibly dinoflagelates? (sp) They are very stringy and bubbly. They really suck too. Keep blowing them off and keep a routine of water changes.

Increased flow and elevated alk will help as well.

 

[smcnally]

I'll have to check my levels tonight. My alk has been around 10dKh, I've been trying to get it up some.

 

[sw300galma]

Pics?

 

[Moe_K]

Sounds like dinos, I agree with Matt.

 

[Michael Mota]

I had the same problem when i started my frag tank and then it disappeared after I added the snail clean up crew. But after a few weeks it gone all together

 

[smcnally]

dKh is at 11 tonight. I just cranked up the Ca reactor more, so maybe it will be a little higher tomorrow.

 

[TBoisvert]

Steve, I had that too. It is dinoflagelates. I raised my alk to about 12 dKh and it killed it off. Never had a problem since then.

Tam

 

[NateHanson]

They're nasty, but you can beat them by blowing them off the rocks at the end of every photoperiod, scoop out the stinky snot that collects in your overflow, and raise your alk way up. I kept mine around 4.0-4.5 meq/L, and that seemed to help. Even so it took me a month to get rid of them. Yucky.

 

[smcnally]

Hears a picture...the Zoa frag is a little pissed off.