fuzzy stuff growing in tank

zoie2

Active Member
Hi everyone, it's been forever since I have been here. My 12 gal. tank is 5 years old and I thought I was getting some hair algae. I went out and got some more snails and hermit crabs and they didn't help.
It got worse and covered my whole back wall and all my rocks. I did a 2 gal water change keeping a gallon of water in 2 seperate bowls. In one bowl I scrubbed each rock then rinsed it off in the cleaner water. My star polyps got really mad at me. I scrubbed my whole tank and vaccummed as I went. I put the rocks back in and waited. It came back again and started growing on my sand. I scrubbed my rocks again, but this time I put them in my 6 gal tank if I could tell all the fuzzy stuff was off. They are doing good. It has been a month and all the rocks I scrubbed are fine and my star pollyps are finally comming out again.
BUT, my 12 gal is still all fuzzy. I don't think it's hair alage. I do have one spot where there is some long green hair algae growing. This stuff is short and not really green.
I vaccummed out all the sand that was covered with fuzz and added 10 lbs of live sand. my sand looks good, but my back wall and the two rocks I have in there are still covered.
I think I am going to toss the two rocks in there, but how do I get it off my back wall.
I will try to get a picture, but it's been so long, I forget how to get them here.
Any help would be great.
 

katsafados

Active Member
Whats your water parameters, lighting, clean up crew.
Could it be cyanobacteria?
We will need a picture to help you out.
 

zoie2

Active Member
My amonia, trites and trates are 0. My salinity (taken with the refractometer) is between 1.02 and 1.03. My PH is 8.0. I don't have an alkalinity kit right now, I'm picking one up today along with a new heater. the temp is low at75, that's why I'm getting a new heater. I have the nano-cube DX so what ever comes standard for lighting, I will be doing my yearly maintenance in Feb and they will be changed then.
I will try and get a picture today.
thanks
 

zoie2

Active Member
by yearly maintenance I mean change the lights, I usually change the heater every other year, stuff like that, not water changes, or water testing. I do that weekly. I am taking a picture now, will see if I can post it,
 

zoie2

Active Member
That fuzzy stuff is growing all over the back wall and I don't know what to do. I could get rid of the rocks, but that doesn't help my wall any. My poor clown fish has been in my 6 gal and I feel bad, but don't want to put him back in here until this problem is solved.
 

meowzer

Moderator
I'm thinking it could be a type of bryopsis....even though I do not see the feathery strands.....i was looking at some other pics, and I saw some that matched the bubbly hairlike look
I can tell you that a lettuce nudibranch will eat it, slowly, but surely.
it needs to be removed manually, and try not to let it float away. Do you have a scraper? If so, you can scrape it off the back wall, but I would have a net in there too catching it
Do you know what your phosphates are? WHat filter media do you use?
 

zoie2

Active Member
I have a sponge in the first chamber with a purigen bag on top of that, my heater in the second chamber and the pump in the third chamber.
I have scraped it, vaccuming as I go and then using a net to catch what ever I missed. I also change my filter the next day and vaccumm up anything that has settled.
I have been trying to get rid of this since October. I broke it down to this point after Thanksgiving.
I also have a Koraline nano head thing, but I'm wondering if water flow would have anything to do with it?
 

meowzer

Moderator
All you have is a Koralia nano? I think you may need more flow, but not gonna say that is why you have it......you have to look at everything...feeding, lighting, maintenance
also if it is bryopsis, it is harder to get rid of then hair algae.....do you test for magnesium? I do know that raising it will also help to kill it off....(or a type of it anyway)
also how long do you run your lights? you can try cutting that down? Do you have corals?
 

zoie2

Active Member
No, the Koraline is not the only thing, I replaced the stock pump with a maxi-jet 900, I replaced the water outlet thing with the wave maker.
I turn the lights on at 9:00am and trun them off at 3:00. I do have the LED or moon light on all the time. I took out all my coral and moved them to my 6 gal, along with my clown fish. They are all doing good in there. So I have shut off the lights for 3 days at a time hoping to slow or stop the growth of the algae.
I only have about 3 red legged crabs, and 3 blue legged crabs, a huge turbo snail wich does pretty good at cleaning the wall, but then moves off before it's all gone. I have about 4 narsis snails. I don't want to add anything else to the tank untill I get this undercontroll.
I forgot to mention I use RO water for all top offs and water changes.
I haven't been feeding anything for over a month because I moved my clown to my 6 gallon.
I don't get this, I have had a 12 gallon tank for over 5 years, a 6 gallon tank for a year now and I have never had a problem like this. I'm, not doing anything different.
 

zoie2

Active Member
nope, all my rock is my original rock. I haven't bought any new corals. I did recently add 10lbs of live sand because I had done so much vaccumming, but that was way after the problem started.
 

meowzer

Moderator
WOW....I love that mushroom
IDK what else to tell you that I have not already suggested...Have you tested the magnesium?
Personally I would add more snails...astrea, nerites and cerith
 
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