The return of red slime algae

I've been battling green hair algae, and thought I had it on the run. But, my nitrates shot up to 20ppm last week and the algae started growing back with a vengence. Then, both of my very large turbo snails slowed down. One died Monday -- disintigrating into a stinky mess. The other died Thursday.

At the same time, I've noticed a return of red slime algae in one corner of the tank -- the corner where the first snail died. Uggh! I hate slime algae (cyanobacteria, blue-green algae, whatever you want to call it!)

I replaced my light bulbs last month. Phosphates are 0-0.25ppm, ammonia and nitrite are zero, pH is 8.2, specific gravity is 1.023, and alkalinity is high at 240+. The tank has been up and running for 18 months.

I did a 25% water change today. I also took out each rock and scrubbed it in a bucket of salt water. While doing this, I found the body of my scooter blenny. A small firefish has also been missing and presumed dead for the past 10 days.

I think the decomposing bodies of the two fish and the two snails created this bloom of red slime. I may perform a second water change (10%-20%) on Monday (after re-checking the test results tomorrow).

Any other suggestions?

What would kill both turbo snails? (All other non-turbo snails, and my shrimp, crab and serpent star are fine.)

 

Odds are the death and subsequent ammonia spike of your Blennie could of killed your snails. it would also contribute to the Nitrate rise.

How often and how large of water changes are you doing normally?

 

For the past 4 months (now that I have an RO/DI system), I change 4-6 gallons each week. For my 45 gallon tank, that works out to 9%-13%. Every 4 weeks or so, I do a larger change of about 9 gallons (20%).

Before you ask, I check my RO/DI water, and the dissolved solids are usually zero. My untreated tap water tests at 100-120ppm.

 

I think you may be right about the ammonia spike. I have enough live rock and gravel that the ammonia will eventually go to zero (and obviously, it has). But, if I didn't happen to test on the day the fish died, I would have missed the spike.

 

Well If I only had maintenance routines as good as your.

Cyano doesn't need a nitrate source to become a problem. with many algae or bacteria blooms it is hard to measure the Nitrate in the water as the Algae is consuming it so the tests do not show.

you may want to perform a few small water changes over the next few days just to help with the fish loss.
Do you know why the Fish died

J

 

Tell me what you are feeding this tank and how often and what all you have in it.. Also what size is this tank and internal circulation is being provided ? After size of tank what type and size of bio load is on the system ? mostly fish if so what types and coral ? Good skimmer ?

 

Check ph, make sure you have good flow and use chemi-clean

 

The tank is 45 gallon. I (now) have 3 fish -- a moderately large Yellow Tang, a firefish, and a Red Saddle Clown. See my sig for the inverts. I also have one small frag of coral, about 1/2 the size of my pinky finger, with 12 polyps on it. Circulation provided by 2 powerheads, a large HOB filter, and a Red Sea Skimmer.

I feed the fish flake food, Formula 1, once per day and no more than they can completely consume in 5 minutes.

Possibly related to all this is an accident last July, where the kid who was baby-sitting the tank accidently dumped "a bunch" of flake food into the water. Although I cleaned and siphoned and skimmed, I think there remained some rotting food which continues to affect my nitrates and pH.

 

Bouraganes,
Good comment. I've checked my pH 3 times now in 3 days and have gotten different readings or uncertain readings. I have added "proper pH" to the tank, and I am going to take Jason McK's advice and perform more small water changes over this next week.

Jason,
The firefish that disappeared 12 days ago was beaten up by another firefish -- after living peacefully together for 9 months. I don't know why the blenny died.