Grayish white fuzz on my rocks

[karimwassef]

My tangs are eating it. Should I be worried?

[Fishmommy]

I'm not sure ... I have heard it is worse for inverts

[Lavoisier]

Originally Posted by karimwassef

My tangs are eating it. Should I be worried?

Only if you think it is a hallucinogen.

With your macro, if you set up some eggcrate about 1/2 to 1 inch above your water and put the harvested algae on it most of the Copepods will find their way back to the water in 5 or 10 minutes. Give it a good shake and take it to LFS for trade.

[karimwassef]

Now my emerald crabs are dying...

I guess between the bubbles and invert deaths, the diagnosis is dino? And the deadly kind at that?

[karimwassef]

Going dark/increasing pH

I'll start exporting the chaeto and doing large changes in the morning.

[Michael Hoaster]

Sounds like a plan.

Sorry you're having to deal with this. Bummer.

[karimwassef]

Another interesting datapoint. I have very high flow tank with a dual surge, etc... I also have a massive skimmer.

Last week I travelled overseas and my main circulation pump failed. This stopped my surge flow too as well as disengaging my skimmer ... and the tank went from high flow & oxygenation to minimal flow with only the fans and a couple of surface powerheads that I had installed in case of a breakdown.

Simultaneously, my kalk reactor ran out of media and my pH dropped a 0.15 ...

And we had a cold front that dropped the temperature of the tank from 77 to 72 ...

Perfect storm?

[kenneth wolfe]

It sounds/looks like die off on your rocks from all the problems listed...I would hold from removing any chaeto from your sump in fact I would go to 24/7 light to help with the nutrient export if it get so dense that it impedes your flow then maybe ..more light in the fuge for better penetration threw the dense cheato = more nutrient export even increasing flow threw the dense macro helps as well.

[karimwassef]

Yes. I turned all DT lights off and all sump lights on 24/7.

My chaeto is growing out of the water, so I've removed a handful to give it room to grow.

Done a 100g water change. Checked my RODI and my TDS was at 7 so I changed the DI. I've only used about ~2000g so far (only 4months) so this seems premature, but better to prep for the next massive WC.

[karimwassef]

Fresh SW is at a lower pH ~ 8.1
Used up all my RODI reservoir- unfortunately that's the source for my kalk reactor inlet- so pH is dropping.

Turned the skimmer on 24/7 too- it was on a 12hr cycle to allow plankton to thrive.

[karimwassef]

So... This stuff grows in the shade? There's more on the bottom than the top?

[karimwassef]

Here's a closeup. Maybe I have two kinds? Or maybe a combo of dino on the top and brown hair on the bottom?

[karimwassef]

The sea urchins are eating it so far

[Michael Hoaster]

Karim, is it coating all of your fake rock or is it patchy? If it is all over, that points to your rock as the source/cause.

Here's a possible solution: Get the rock out and let it dry and clean it. They get some big, cheap brushes and paint on fiberglass resin, like I did with my wall, and throw some sand on it while it cures, so it doesn't look glossy. You'd need to do both sides of them to really seal 'em up. That would stop whatever's leaching out into your tank. I know it's a huge pain in the @$$, but it should work.

[Fishmommy]

some say the cure for dinos (if it is dinos) is high Magnesium.
If your rock has no corals, I might just remove it all and soak it in hydrogen peroxide.

[karimwassef]

My rock is already heavily inhabited. The holes I drilled as coral anchors lead into caverns inside the cloth rock/plastic. At night, I see worms and pods using them as inlets and exits.

My real nutrient source is the surface of my sand. I can't vaccum my sand surface due to the complexity of the suspended rock and the fine grain of the sand. So fish detritus builds up on the sand surface. The flow from my surges moves them around but it can't move them up to the overflow. So, there's a detritus suspension that hovers across the sandbed.

[karimwassef]

I got horseshoe crabs and a big tiger cucumber. I'm not sure they eat enough detritus to make a difference.

Big water changes help, so does the large skimmer... But without getting the detritus into the sand for the bacteria to consume... Or in the overflow for the macro farm to use... it'll keep building up.

[karimwassef]

Magnesium? I can raise that pretty easily.

[Fishmommy]

read the many threads on dinoflagellates. the way out is long and hard.

[Michael Hoaster]

I'd definitely check out what Fishmommy said.

I have my doubts that your sand/detritus is the cause. If it was, that's where the fuzz would be. The fuzz grows where its' food is.

Cukes are great for cleaning sandbeds. I think 3D-Reef has several large ones. And there lot's of other detrivores out there.

Ultimately though, you need to find the cause, and fix it.

[karimwassef]

This bloom only happened when my waterflow was compromised due to my main pump failing. No flow, no aeration, no skimming.

I think bacterial die off did it and rebuilding the bacterial base should kill it

[karimwassef]

I've read the dino posts.

I just got out of a nasty war with severe hair but I kicked it. My hair was 6" long and over all my rocks. When it died off, I'm sure it left enough organic matter for this stuff to root and the bacterial death made it bloom.

The fact that this grows in the shade is strange. No one else reports that for dino.

[karimwassef]

The kalk (8.4 target) + darkness + massive WC (2x100g in 2 days on my 380g)+ heavy wet skimming (80g skimmate) + Mg increase + 24/7 refugium lights + 7 urchins (sluggish but alive so far) ... seems to be working.

I basically threw the kitchen sink at it. The GAC bucket will be here on Wednesday.

HOWEVER - I am convinced that I have two distinct problems. The dino has the bubbles on the rocks facing the light. They're getting walloped. But the fine translucent fuzz in the shade isn't effected...

This stuff isn't slimy or bubbly or even brown. It's fine fuzz and I don't know what it is.

Help.

[karimwassef]

[Michael Hoaster]

Sounds like you're making progress.

I have some thoughts, but you may not like hearing them. I know I wouldn't! And since I'm not there, I really don't have a clue! Everything I suggest could be completely WRONG. All I have is what you've posted, and my own experiences. But I want to help if I can. I'm not trying to sound superior or anything. In fact I think you are a genius. But you're human like the rest of us, and sometimes we're too close to the problem to see it. So here comes the 'tough love'!

Everything you're doing addresses the symptoms, not THE CAUSE. What happens when you discontinue these 'band-aids'? The problem with band-aiding symptoms is, they add up. Eventually you find yourself in a no win situation, where you can't band-aid one thing because it will cancel out a previous band-aid. Then you have to trash all the work you've done and start over. Does that make sense? Do you remember that old commercial where they said, "You can pay me now or pay me later"? You may be in that situation with your tank. Hell, I may be in that situation with my tank!

If I were in your situation, I'd STOP, take a step back, take a breath and THINK. Carefully observe and make deductions, and ask yourself, "what is the cause?".

I don't think your perfect storm killed your bacteria-quite the opposite. You may just have a bacterial bloom of a much less desirable kind. It may be there because you removed the urchin band-aid. Is the fuzz on the sand? Is it on the glass? The plumbing? In the fuge? Same questions for your previous algae outbreak. Are there commonalities? What deductions can you make from your answers?

After looking at the pics you posted, I see that your rock is very consistently coated with it, which from here, points to your rock. I really hope I'm wrong! But let's say you come to the same conclusion. What's next? You could disconnect your huge fuge and use it as a temporary home for your fish and corals, while you role up your sleeves and get down to business. Fix (seal) or completely redo your rock. Man that would suck! But you've done it once. You can do it again-and better this time.

That's one sucky scenario! But it's my best guess. Hopefully you'll arrive at a different conclusion. Put that big 'ol brain to work!

Good luck!