red slime alge

fnycar97 · 02-14-2008, 07:01 AM

I have a 54 gallon reef tank with some coral and alot of red alge. I only keep the light on for 8-9 hours and also have phosfate spong meadi in filter.How should I get rid of it.Also my fish have white dots on them do you think it is connected? I also have a 30 gallon reef tank with no problems and am usingtap water in both.

**leebca** · 02-14-2008, 03:32 PM

WELCOME TO REEFLAND!

Your post implies you don't know a lot about some common problems. One is the white spots. This may be a disease that requires that all fish need treatment. You might want to Google for "Marine Ich" and/or Cryptocaryon irritans. Please read this, too:
Marine Ich - Myths and Facts

Red slime 'algae' is really a micro-organism. It requires some nutrients, and low water circulation to flourish. Check first your flow rate in the display where you see this. How many times per hour is the water circulated?

Small outbreaks of this organism is common in new systems. How old is your marine system?

What are you putting into the aquarium/system? By this I mean:
additives
supplements
food (what kinds and how often do you feed)
anything else?

We might help more on the red slime matter if you provide the above information and more about your marine system (equipment, sump, aquarium size, refugium?, filtration types, lighting, list of all marine life and their size (length), etc.).

fnycar97 · 02-17-2008, 05:53 PM

My tank is a 54 gallon with a compact halide light. Filter is a fuvel 404 and a 10 gallon refugeum. As far as water flow, I have the filter out let pointed toward the front of the tank and a Maxi-jet 400 power head pointing across the tank. I have had the tank for about 3 months but the tank was running at the pet store I bought it from About A year. When I got the tank I got All the water, substrate, live rock,and refugeium with it. As far as the white dots I had A feeling it might be ick. I have had ick in my fresh tanks and have used clout. Reeding the box it says it is safe for salt water but not for invertabraes. What would you recommend? I run my light for about 8-9 hours a day, my temp is 76-78, Ph8.4, NO3 is a bit high at 40,NO2 is 0,Ammonia is 0, and posphats are also 0. My salinity is about 1.024 and I do 10 gallon water changes every two weeks. For additives I use Purple up, kent marine Essential Elements andsuperbuffer-dkh, Seachem Prime,and stress coat.THANKS for the help.

**leebca** · 02-17-2008, 07:54 PM

Clout is one of the most harmful products to our marine fishes. One of the ingredients is a poison, actually. Okay for fresh but not for salt.

If your fish has Marine Ich, then first read this and try to remember as much of it as you can:
Marine Ich - Myths and Facts

Remove all fishes from the display (since they are all infected) and once into a hospital tank or tanks, treat with hyposalinity: Hyposalinity Treatment or a copper treatment: Copper - Treatment, Use, Problems

The preferred method and most gentle on the fish is to treat by hyposalinity. This is, however, very time and energy consuming for the hobbyist.

Aim the water jets at the locations where the red algae is the most well established. It doesn't like water movement. Water flow will inhibit and even prevent its growth. I may be wrong, but it seems like there isn't enough circulation in the aquarium.

For that size marine system, the flow should be about 500 gallons per hour. This is the total flow. The total is equal to the sum of the outside filter flow rate and the inside power head(s). Remember that the outside filter may be 'rated' for a certain flow, but the more head pressure on it, the less flow.

liebz15 · 03-13-2008, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fnycar97

I have a 54 gallon reef tank with some coral and alot of red alge. I only keep the light on for 8-9 hours and also have phosfate spong meadi in filter.How should I get rid of it.Also my fish have white dots on them do you think it is connected? I also have a 30 gallon reef tank with no problems and am usingtap water in both.

What kind of water is your tap water? I had a red slime cynobacteria outbreak that almost lead me to selling my tank. Apparently I was given bad advise about evaperation top off water... I used spring water. This spring water overloaded my tank with phosphates which caused (or helped contribute to) this outbreak. Coupled with poor flow in some areas and you have yourself a real annoying red slime problem.

I suggest to test your tap water to ensure its as clean as you think. This is probably your nutrient overload source. Discontinue tap water use and purchase distilled water, RO/DI (reverse osmosis/de-ionized), or pure water for top off purposes.

If all else fails (as it did with me.. I still couldn't rid the slime) a quick and very effective fix is Red Slime Remover. I purchased this product from Ultra Life Reef Products and was very happy with the VERY quick results. Be sure to watch your pH as this chemical is rather acidic... but you should be happy with the results.

Best of luck and let me know how you do.

johnmaloney · 03-21-2008, 07:50 PM

All good avice so far. Is the "red algae" a dusty type of semi-brown algae? If so it is probably diatoms. Is it stringy and slimey? If yes it is probably cyano. Whatever you do, DO NOT USE CLOUT IN THAT TANK. You will regret it, and may as well get rid of it unless you only want fish. No corals, no snails, no hermits, no clean up crews or any other inverts. Not worth it. I have had success with Kick Ich before. Ich infestations are usually a symptom of poor water quality. A water change to get those nitrates down will really help. Use mangroves, live rock, or chaeto to keep your nitrates down. There are also many other ways. Don't use the sugar method. Good luck, keep us updated!