help with slime on zoanthids!

[redemer123]

my tank has been up for about 7 months now and everything has been going good up until now. Im starting to get hair algae and all this brown slime is getting on my zoanthids and making them very upset...its pretty annoying because zoanthids are my favorite coral. not sure what would be causing this because it seems like this is something that happens when you cycle the tank.


as you can see this brown crap is making my candy apple reds all mad...same goes for other polyps as well

[litttlelondyn]

Are there strings coming from the Zoas?

[redemer123]

no none of its coming from the zoas its all on top of them making them close up...

[jimsflies]

Most likely a water quality problem. Among the typical things to try are running phosphate media, carbon, water changes and make sure your skimmer is working well.

[redemer123]

ok, I run carbon...I do keep up on my water changes and my skimmer skims

[reeferdale]

What are your tank parms - specifically TDS, phospate, nitates? If it is algea, something is there for it to feed on. Could even be ols food. Do you have a protien skimmer? what about water changes? (although if you have a problem, water changes are not going to fix the root cause)

[Mr. Microscope]

What kind of carbon are you using. I find Chemi-Pure Elite really helps. How big is your tank? Did something die recently? A few bigger water changes should help along with using any chaeto in a fuge. Using other macros will help combat the algea.

[redemer123]

ok, im not sure what kind of carbon. I bought it at reef paradise from Andy its sold by the pound there. I put it in a filter sock connected to my drain. I also have chaeto in my fuge. However my pseudo chromis did die a few days ago, not sure if this is the problem because this was occurring on a lesser scale prior to the fish dying.

[Mr. Microscope]

How long has it been since you've replace it?
Are you also running anything like phosphoban?
Have you tested your water lately?
I would guess that your fish dying was more of a symptom of the bigger problem and perhaps not the cause. Though, if you didn't get it out fast, I'm sure that didn't help. I'd do a big water change, use chaeto or some other macro, and change your carbon or add chemi-pure elite. Also, what's your lighting schedule like? You could reduce that to help a little.
Another thing you could check is your pod population. Are you still seeing lots of pods? If not, you definitely had a crash of some sort and will need to repopulate.

[jimsflies]

ok, I run carbon...I do keep up on my water changes and my skimmer skims

Algae needs nutrients to grow (specifically phosphorus and nitrogen)...so just because you're doing everything it may not be enough. Typically the controlling nutrient is phosphate...algae is so efficient at processing it, that it needs to be nearly zero to prevent algae from growing.

I know you've added several fish to your system fairly recently. It can take a system awhile adjust to the increased bioload. Bacteria present in the system need to increase in numbers to process the additional waste. It is also possible that you have reached the point without adding more/better waste removal processes that your system can't process more. I don't know that this is the case, but I'm just saying...