Help!

[Kerchakone]

I have some sort of brown algae that looks and acts like cyano and I can't get rid of it.

I got rid of the cyano only to have this take over and MORESO. (chemiclean doesn't touch it.)

It started as just ugly, but now it seems to be killing my tank!

My ricordias have let go of their rocks and they seemed invincible! All the green stripes are melting and everything is bleaching, my fish look OK, but my clam isn't opening all the way anymore.

Any ideas!?!?

[Kerchakone]

I'ts gotten to the point where I'm thinking of giving up. and I DO NOT want to kill anything else or give it away.

[burning2nd]

Detail.......

what you have, your equipment, your inhabitants what you feed, how much you feed, what you do 2 it b4 you feed, flow, tank size,
LR Lb's sand lb's your maintence rutein,

no one can guess whats going on in your tank,
your water stats,
Ph, temp, No2, no3, nh4, salinty ph4, mag and Ca, do you test,
whats your lighting cycle,

the more details you can give the better anyone can guess as whats wrong.

Do you have a RoDI sytem. do you mix your own salt, do you do water changes, where do you get your water for top offs,
do you use a Refractometer,

i could ask a billion and one questions but we need to know whats up first,

[JFK_Jr]

I had to look at your tank thread...

Correct me if I'm wrong... you only have a powerhead running? No other type of filtration?

I only saw that you mentioned future plans for a skimmer and sump, but from the picture it only seems you have a powerhead.

[burning2nd]

[DaveK]

Originally Posted by Kerchakone

I have some sort of brown algae that looks and acts like cyano and I can't get rid of it.

I got rid of the cyano only to have this take over and MORESO. (chemic lean doesn't touch it.)

It started as just ugly, but now it seems to be killing my tank!

My ricordias have let go of their rocks and they seemed invincible! All the green stripes are melting and everything is bleaching, my fish look OK, but my clam isn't opening all the way anymore.

Any ideas!?!?

I'm going start my response by saying that I'm not trying to beat up on you. I will also say that this is a "best guess" since little additional information was supplied about your system.

This seems to be a classic case of why those "red slime remover" products should never, ever, be used. First, since the root cause of the problem was not resolved, all that happened was the red slime got killed off only to be replaced with an even worse problem algae. Second, the treatment seems to have effected many of your corals. In short, you have a serious problem.

I've said this quite a few times, but it's worth repeating.
No matter what the advertising says, no matter what the label says, no matter what the LFS tells you, no matter what other people tell you, never ever medicate a reef system. There is no "reef safe" medication.

Now to try to resolve you problem. You need to get almost 100% of the water changed. Obviously you can not do this all at once. I recommend you do about a 30% water change, and repeat this every few days or so, until you have made about 6 or more partial water changes. As usual, use RO/DI water for mixing salt, and a top quality salt.

That should get rid of any problems with anything in the water. Once that is complete, you can go back to normal water changes.

Next, to control algae, you need to control nitrates and phosphates. Clean you filter, and if using any substrata clean that also as you are doing water changes. It may also be a good idea to clean the live rock by using a power head to rinse them off, while in the tank.

Then check your feeding schedule and make sure you are not over feeding.

Skimming, water changes, and keeping the tank clean, will control algae. Don't feel that because you have low or zero readings that you don't have a problem. All that means is that the system is absorbing nitrate and phosphate at a rate in which you add it.

One additional thought. After seeing the pictures, double check the amount of live rock you have. It doesn't seen to look like 20 lbs, and you should actually be have about 30 to 45 lbs of live rock.

You've got a big job ahead of you, but it can be resolved.

[burning2nd]

one power head is not enough,

get at least 2, 3 or 4....

Tunze nanostreams 2 of them and your done.....

skimmer

[burning2nd]

Originally Posted by DaveK

You've got a big job ahead of you, but it can be resolved.

some times it feel like its best to start over or quit and say i have to start over...

water changes, feeding and movement.

like said, blow the rocks off b4 you do the water change that way you suck the stuff out in the stream and replace it with the clear new water...

you can see by looking at the new bucket of water thats clear, and the old bucket of water on the grond next to it, thats darker.

Good luck keep us posted... and remember slow down,

[Kerchakone]

I've been running a aqua remora skimmer with a MJ1200, a korallia 4 and a 300ish gallon per hour PH also.

I've only got about 27 lbs. or rock and only 2 fish a clam and some coral.

I had been changing 4-5 gallons of water every day or every other day for 2 weeks straight and it only got worse.

The water I use is ro/di water and it had never given me a problem until I added a toadstool mushroom coral with this slime on it. I tried to clean it off the rock and the coral in freshwater and then added it in. It died very soon after and seemed to obliterate my tank.

[Kerchakone]

I feed some frozen shrimp once a day and barely the size of my finger nail.

I have my lights on for about 8 hours a day.

I do not have a refractometer, I'm stuck with the "other" kind of salinity guage.

[BigAl07]

Are you running any charcoal in this system? If the coral died and "nuked" your tank you need some charcoal running 24/7 right now.

Are you testing your water? What are your current test results?

[BigAl07]

One thing is the frozen shrimp... you may want to thaw/soak it in RO/DI water then once it's thawed discard THAT water. Many times they are packed with preservatives to increase shelf life. The band news is Preservatives = Rocket Fuel for Algae

Also have you tested your RO/DI water? It's possible your filters are bad or damaged and need replacing. You could be introducing phosphates or other chemicals into your system that way.

What are your current tank water parameters?

[lcstorc]

If you had a leather that slimed you need to run some carbon to remove the contaminants.
You mention a clam. What kind of clam? What lights do you have? Where in the tank is the clam?
Most if not all clams live off of the light. They must have very strong light to survive. Insufficient light is often the reason for their demise.

[Kerchakone]

The toadstool died a WHILE ago. This started not that long ago.

I have PLENTY OF LIGHT FOR MY CLAM. He was growing pretty well until a few weeks ago.

I'll try carbon and a ton of water changes.

Thanks ya'all.

[michael_cb_125]

How much and what type of light do you have?
PLENTY OF LIGHT FOR MY CLAM. What type of clam?

Unless you have many t5s, LED, or MH you unfortunatley do not have enough light.~Michael