Algae help, what is this??
 

Hi

I have been dealing with a very though algae for a while. I am torn between Cyano and Dinos. The only problem is that it doesn't carry the exact states of either i.e cyano and its red colour or dinos with the trapped air bubbles so I am confused.

It comes back very quickly if disturbed, and acts as a web but doesn't look slimy, or most cotton like.

Heres a video;

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4sy1h0nqn3...82859.mp4?dl=0

It almost looks like a hair alga covered with microbes, but it might well be 100% microbial. It'd take a microscope and a skilled eye to be sure what you have. Does it retain any structure if you give it a light rub, mostly a touch, or does it disintegrate very easily?

if you blow it with a turkey baster it blows into like a dust and then reforms and it's really rapid at reforming.

Looks like diatoms to me. Just a slight brown tinge to the sand with it growing no where else?

It appears over the back of the tank. If you blow a turkey baster around the tank it comes back heavier.

I have ordered a microscope so will post some pics.

That sounds like dinoflagellates, if it reassembles quickly.

Diatoms don't form slime structures themselves, since they have a silica shell, but they can grow in combination with dinoflagellates and cyanobacteria.

I had got a feeling it maybe dinos, so I need to find out what strain it is to find out the best course of action in treating it?

I've ordered this, will this be sufficient?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Microscope-...rds=microscope

I'm bad at microscope ids and know very little about microscopes, but that probably will be useful.

Are air bubbles always present when there is dinos. I'm pretty sure I have dinos but what makes me wonder is there is no air bubbles like I've seen in pics and on videos.

Microbes tend to be highly variable, and I think there are thousands of species of dinoflagellates, so I wouldn't count on any simple rules.

Probably good bacteria will take care of that.