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Re: grey slime



 
> Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2002 18:25:29 -0800 (PST)
> From: Cavan <millsman7 at yahoo_com>
> Subject: Re: grey slime / grumble
> 
> I took a sample of the grey slime to the biology
> department at school where it was identified as a
> eukaryotic algae.  He didn't know exactly what species
> it is, but I did get the number of a guy who might.
> If anyone else would like a sample, the offer still
> stands (Paul?).  Of all the people on this list,
> nobody knows what kind of alga it is?  Tom Connors and
> June Oberding (sorry if I got that wrong) both have it
> in a tank or two, but no positive ID yet.  This stuff
> really is the worst.

----------------

Hi Cavan,

    I don't know if it's any help, but I too have a tank suffering from this
um... "snotty", grey/green algae. It came out of nowhere, and is only
affecting one of my tanks. Tank parameters are similar to each of my other
tanks, but I'll list them, and maybe we can come up with a common thread
among infected tanks.

    65 gallon, 128watts T8 chroma 50's, CO2 supplemented through Eheim
cannister filter, kH 12, pH 7.2, temp 75F, nitrates 5-10 ppm, phosphates
.2-.5 ppm, dosing PMDD at 3 mls per day. The plants are in removable trays
and pots in this tank, with various substrates including plain 2-3mm quartz
gravel, gravel with laterite and gravel over topsoil. Water changes are
normally about 25% weekly.

    In the winter, this tank gets a couple of hours of sunshine through a
south facing window (on days when the sun shines here in the Great White
North), but this outbreak didn't coincide with the timing of the additional
light, so I hesitate to place the blame there.

    So far, most of the algae has been forming on the surface and masses of
najas sp. floating in the tank. It seems to rinse of of the plants quite
easily, and every few days I hook up my diatom filter, letting it draw out
of a plastic ice cream container clamped in the top of the tank with one
edge just below the surface of the water. This seems to work well as a
"skimmer", and cleans most of the gunk off of the surface in a few hours.

    I have a dozen rosy barbs, 3 bushy nose ancistrus, 13 ottos and 14 small
SAEs in this tank, and none of them seen to be particularily fond of eating
this stuff (can't say I blame them!)

    This all started for me about 3 weeks or so ago, and I'm quite thankful
that it's in a basement "work tank", and not a display tank upstairs.

feeling your pain in Perth,

Ron Barter