Is this an algae or something else? Kind of red algae?

[JZet1]

Few weeks ago I had an outbreak of GSA in my planted tank, it is now disappearing but on the Seyru stones I am getting kind of red / burgundy color, velvet like coating. I thought these were either a dying algae or kind of remnants of BBA. But it does not die and it keeps slowly spreading?

Does anybody have a clue what this could be? I haven't found anything in the forum describing similar stuff, only one article describing an "orange coating" but this one is dark/rusty red.

I am dosing 80% EI, adding pressurized CO2, light is T5 6500K at about 55 PAR at the substrate, light is on for 1 hour gradual light up + 7 hours full strength + 1 hour gradual dimming.

Picture attached below.

Many thanks, any advice would be really appreciated.

Jan

 

[DRG93]

Hi Jan,

Red algae seems to favour tanks with high pH levels (so that is a pH level of 7.5 and upwards) but with you injecting pressurised CO2 into the tank I find this strange as your pH should be around 6.5.

What I would do is to spot-treat the red algae with Liquid Carbon - turn off your filter, use a pipette/syringe and squirt liquid carbon directly onto the red algae. Be slow and careful when doing this as you want as little flow and movement in the water as possible so that the liquid carbon directly hits the algae and remains on it for a while. Be careful not to overdose, just do patches at a time (so one rock a day) just to make sure you don't cause harm to your fauna. Once you have spot treated an area, leave the filter and any equipment that causes 'flow' or 'current' in the tank OFF for at least 15 minutes. Then turn everything back on. Give it a day or two and you should start to notice the red algae subsiding.

If this does not help then you could try the Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) method which is IMO safer than liquid carbon and can have good effects on certain algae although I'm not sure if it's good on red algae. Follow out the steps above but using H2O2. You can buy H2O2 over-the-counter or online, just get the 'Food Grade' stuff.

Hopefully that will help,

 

[sWozzAres]

Few weeks ago I had an outbreak of GSA in my planted tank, it is now disappearing but on the Seyru stones I am getting kind of red / burgundy color, velvet like coating. I thought these were either a dying algae or kind of remnants of BBA. But it does not die and it keeps slowly spreading?

Does anybody have a clue what this could be? I haven't found anything in the forum describing similar stuff, only one article describing an "orange coating" but this one is dark/rusty red.

I am dosing 80% EI, adding pressurized CO2, light is T5 6500K at about 55 PAR at the substrate, light is on for 1 hour gradual light up + 7 hours full strength + 1 hour gradual dimming.

Picture attached below.

Many thanks, any advice would be really appreciated.

Jan

It's not BBA, it's the wrong colour for diatoms and I doubt that it's the green algae on the rock dying. Maybe it's something leeching out of the rock?

 

[Clint Hewitt]

Hi Jan,

Red algae seems to favour tanks with high pH levels (so that is a pH level of 7.5 and upwards) but with you injecting pressurised CO2 into the tank I find this strange as your pH should be around 6.5.

What I would do is to spot-treat the red algae with Liquid Carbon - turn off your filter, use a pipette/syringe and squirt liquid carbon directly onto the red algae. Be slow and careful when doing this as you want as little flow and movement in the water as possible so that the liquid carbon directly hits the algae and remains on it for a while. Be careful not to overdose, just do patches at a time (so one rock a day) just to make sure you don't cause harm to your fauna. Once you have spot treated an area, leave the filter and any equipment that causes 'flow' or 'current' in the tank OFF for at least 15 minutes. Then turn everything back on. Give it a day or two and you should start to notice the red algae subsiding.

If this does not help then you could try the Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) method which is IMO safer than liquid carbon and can have good effects on certain algae although I'm not sure if it's good on red algae. Follow out the steps above but using H2O2. You can buy H2O2 over-the-counter or online, just get the 'Food Grade' stuff.

Hopefully that will help,

Or both

 

[Clint Hewitt]

Few weeks ago I had an outbreak of GSA in my planted tank, it is now disappearing but on the Seyru stones I am getting kind of red / burgundy color, velvet like coating. I thought these were either a dying algae or kind of remnants of BBA. But it does not die and it keeps slowly spreading?

Does anybody have a clue what this could be? I haven't found anything in the forum describing similar stuff, only one article describing an "orange coating" but this one is dark/rusty red.

I am dosing 80% EI, adding pressurized CO2, light is T5 6500K at about 55 PAR at the substrate, light is on for 1 hour gradual light up + 7 hours full strength + 1 hour gradual dimming.

Picture attached below.

Many thanks, any advice would be really appreciated.

Jan

I think it makes the rock look naturally aged.

 

[alto]

No idea is this is same stuff or just very similar looking stuff - but had some appear on wood in tank a few weeks ago ... it may've been on the wood for awhile, I noticed it during a rescape ... once fish were back in the tank it seemed to disappear within a day or 2 (best guess is that the Stiphodon goby ate the lot)
- must admit I was disappointed as I thought it rather attractive ... it was the dense, short, velvety kind that sometimes appears on wood & doesn't seem invasive

pH ~6 - 6.2 (never alkaline as tap is soft & acidic)
moderate CO2

 

[JZet1]

Many thanks for the ideas, I spot treated parts of the stone with liquid carbon yesterday, will see in couple of days if it has any effect on the "thing".

My pH is about 6.5 during the day when CO2 is on ( I turn it on 3 hours before the lights are fully on), it tends to get back to 7.4 in the morning).

Actually I also initially liked the reddish color but now it does not look that good in bigger spots.

Will let you know how the stuff develops. I will also check if Neritinas eat it