Purple algae?

[powen]

I seem to have some gray/purple algae forming on my crushed coral on the bottom of the tank. It sort of looks like the purple stuff on the live rock.
I know it’s not cyano (I have conquered that) and it’s not the brown diatoms (that are getting eaten by the cleanup crew).
Is this stuff bad? What is it?
Thanks!
-Phil

 

[ericholcek]

prob coarline.
"Is this stuff bad?"
:nope:

 

[guru]

I just went through this. It' a form of bacteria. You need antibiotics. Contact a local deal and tell him you have "red silme"
He'll give you the appropiate medicine.

 

[krowleey]

Originally posted by guru
I just went through this. It' a form of bacteria. You need antibiotics. Contact a local deal and tell him you have "red silme"
He'll give you the appropiate medicine.

if it is red slime you can get rid of it without adding chemicals to your tank.....like moving more water....cutting down on feedings and shoten your lighting period...do a search here for red slime gl

 

[powen]

its not cyano. i have seen that algea and i have eradicated it.
the algea that you refer to is dark red. the algea that i refer to is the color of this smiley thing ->:jumping:

 

[guru]

I wasn't refering to chemicals, I was refering to Erethromiacine a light antibiotic. If used sparingly can be quite effective, but in large quantities can kill the good bacteria along with the bad.
But it seems like there is a different problem going on, so the point is kind mute.

 

[nero]

does the "red slime" antibiotics also kill off hair algae? i have some red slime in my tank, but i dont want to kill off my emerald crabs' food by treating it...
thanks

 

[powen]

there is an excellent thread on slime removal. it worked for me!
the biggest things in combating it for me were: RO/DI water use, not over feeding, and no more than 12-14 hours of lighting.
heres the thread:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/73002/how-to-rid-your-tank-of-red-slime

 

[guru]

Originally posted by Nero
does the "red slime" antibiotics also kill off hair algae? i have some red slime in my tank, but i dont want to kill off my emerald crabs' food by treating it...
thanks
The algae will most likely go uneffected, directly anyway. The primary target is bacteria. If used in moderation you wont see any ill side effects in a fish ony setting.
I'm not the expert here I'm just giving suggestions based on my own experiance.

 

[big911dog]

if ur SURE u dealt with the cyano and its not that, its probably coralline (damn i'm a bad speller!). and its purdy!
p.s. i like the jumpy guy too! :jumping:

 

[crm13]

Just my thoughts on this, but if it's a purple color it could be cyano or coralline. If it's coralline, it will have a hard, crusty texture to it because it's actually calcareous. It could be cyanobacteria which isn't always red. In fact, sometimes it's called red slime, sometimes it's called blue/green algae; cyanobacteria can take on different shades that aren't always red, but either way, it is slimy, not crusty. When I had cyano in my tank, it was predominantly red, but I also had shades of this really funky green and purple, which I think was different degrees of the red and green combined.