Id please!

[christine2012]

Hey guys. It's been awhile since I've checked in. I've torn down my Malawi tank since finding out my family is expecting twins in June!
Anyway, this is my kids tank. This stuff



just popped up the other day. I was thinking cyano but didn't think it grew in FW. Thoughts?

 

[bettaowner]

cyano grows if freshwater but as a blue green form. I am stumped.

 

[christine2012]

Right! And that's obviously red/ purple! Lol

 

[christine2012]

Also params are good, 0,0,10, 7.6

 

[bettaowner]

Did you add any cichlid salts to your tank?

 

[christine2012]

No nothing! All I do is test and do pwcs. That's why it makes no sense to me!

 

[bettaowner]

I don't know what it is but if you let it dry up, it should die off.

 

[christine2012]

Yeah I figure ill just pull it out and clean it up. But I'm really curious as to what it is, If anyone else has any ideas let me know!

 

[Rivercats]

I've seen cyano in a reddish color in FW before and my guess is that is exactly what you have. Nothing else quite looks like cyano.

 

[christine2012]

Really? I had no idea cyano could grow in FW at all. This is all very interesting to me

 

[Rivercats]

Yep it sure can and in planted tanks it tends to rear it's ugly head in low nitrate under 5ppm. I've seen it black also besides its more common blue green color. I kept reefs for years too but only ever encountered it in a freshwater planted tank years ago.

 

[christine2012]

Ok, so can I just dry the peice out and not have to worry about it coming out? Thanks!

 

[Rivercats]

Since Cyano is a bacteria it's in the tank. Removing the wood and scrubbing it clean will help but that is no guarantee it won't come back in the tank. If it does come back you'll have to do 5 days of Erythromycin to kill all the cyano bacteria in the tank.

 

[herp_mommy]

there IS red freshwater "algae". Most likely dinoflagellates, these can be red or brown.