brown algae

muggiwhplar

muggiwhplar

Member
I'm not a noob, but I'm certainly feeling like one right now. My tank has recently undergone a rapid decline with simultaneous epidemics of flatworms, brown slime algae and ich. I've had some flatworms for a while, but never all that many. The brown slime algae and ich are both new. The brown slime and flatworm explosion started about two weeks ago, and I just saw ich on my blue tang for the first time yesterday. I added a yellow coris wrasse about a week ago, but I seriously doubt he's the cause of all this. Other than that, I don't think I've done anything differently recently that should cause problems. I even started to cut back on feeding a bit and started to do more frequent water changes in the past month or so.
It's a 75 gallon with a 40 gallon sump/fuge with a DSB and chaeto. The display has about 80 lbs of live rock and a 1" sand bed. I get about 31X turnover and run an AquaC EV-240 skimmer with a Mag 12. The lighting is (2) 250W XM 10K halides that are about five months old, with (2) 54W T5 actinics that are a couple months old. My water parameters are:
NH3: 0 (Seachem)
NO2: 0 (Seachem)
N03: ~.02 (Salifert)
PO4: 0 (Seachem)
Alk: 180 ppm (Lamotte)
Ca: 460 ppm (Salifert)
Temp: 78-82
pH: 8.1-8.3 (Seachem)
Despite the good test readings, I figure something has to be wrong in my water. I added a Phosban reactor yesterday, and I'm probably going to add some carbon today. I'm preparing RO water for some water changes as quickly as I can, and I'll probably cut back the photoperiod temporarily. Is there anything else I should do/check?
 
mrmaroon

mrmaroon

Member
Sorry to hear that. How often do you do water changes and how much water? Are you running a skimmer in your sump or just the fuge? Your parameters are good, but obviously the algae is finding something to live on. Cutting back on feeding a little is a good idea. How stocked is your tank? I would change 10% of your water, maybe two days in a row. I change 10-15% per week, every week. If you don;t have a skimmer, you may want to add one.
 
muggiwhplar

muggiwhplar

Member
Originally Posted by MrMaroon
http:///forum/post/2527816
Sorry to hear that. How often do you do water changes and how much water? Are you running a skimmer in your sump or just the fuge? Your parameters are good, but obviously the algae is finding something to live on. Cutting back on feeding a little is a good idea. How stocked is your tank? I would change 10% of your water, maybe two days in a row. I change 10-15% per week, every week. If you don;t have a skimmer, you may want to add one.

I have an AquaC EV-240 in the sump. I upgraded about six weeks ago from a Remora Pro and I'm still working on getting it tuned perfectly, but it pulls out quite a bit of gunk. The tank is pretty heavily stocked and I'm sure that contributes, but with the fuge and oversized skimmer, I'd think it should be OK. I do a ~20% water change every two or three weeks. I'm thinking I'll try three 20% changes spaced about four days apart and see what happens.
 
grim_reefer

grim_reefer

Member
i dont wanna sound like the tang police, but your aquarium is too small for a tang.. it will live a short life due to the stress of the environment..
flatworm exit is a GREAT product.. follow the instructions to the T..
 
david24

david24

Member
I dont wanna sound like the tang police but don't you know you need a ocean for keeping tangs?<----Sarcasm
 
air_putih

air_putih

Member
Originally Posted by David24
http:///forum/post/2529987
I dont wanna sound like the tang police but don't you know you need a ocean for keeping tangs?<----Sarcasm
does he need a sarcasm right now ??
if you dont have anything to help him about his problem...keep it to yourself...
@muggie...try do water change more often this week and see what happen..
 
muggiwhplar

muggiwhplar

Member
Originally Posted by air_putih
http:///forum/post/2531126
does he need a sarcasm right now ??
if you dont have anything to help him about his problem...keep it to yourself...
@muggie...try do water change more often this week and see what happen..
I think David's sarcasm was actually directed at Grim Reefer (who, like it or not, is a member of the tang police, seeing as how he hijacked a thread about brown algae to discuss the proper tank size for a tang). To be fair, the tang isn't totally off-topic, as they do produce a lot of waste and mine could be a significant factor in the nutrient build-up that caused the brown algae. Of course, Grim didn't say any of that; he just harped on me for not adhering to the rules laid down by the tang police.
Anyway, I'm doing water changes as quickly as I can make the RO water for them. I expect the brown algae to disappear rather quickly, as I'm preparing to remove all of the fish for six weeks of hypo treatment as soon as the QT cycles. So there won't be much in the way of nutrient build-up for a while, and the algae and flatworms will hopefully starve to death.
 
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