Round two with my cyano, im losing again.

[-Pixie-]

After many posts on here about the cyano in my 55g and fuge i cut all light for 4 days, manually removed and syphoned as much as i could out, was fine for a week after that, now it has come back with a vengance.

All my parameters are perfect, alk, ph, nitrate, nitrite, phosphates, ammonia, calcium and mag is what i tested for, anything im missing?

I done a few large water changes even increased my flow with another power head, i just cant seem to kick it and i now want to resort to a drastic measure if there is one, any type of treatment that wont harm my corals or fish?

Any extra advice or help other that what i have already done would be greatly appreciated, also i only ever use ro/di water.

[-Pixie-]

Fish and corals i have consist of 3 x blue green chromis 1 x perc clown 1 x coral banded shrimp 1 x broadbar green goby 1 x blue linkia 1 x royal dotty back 1 x small unknown sandy coloured blenny 1 x blue zooanthid 3 x pink with orange dots morphs/mushies and a pink and green goniapora just incase this helps in anyway in what i can or cant treat with.

[BCreefmaker]

have you ever tried red slime remover? its a chemical treatment. I have heard that story many times, great water, great flow, still comes backs. This chemical seems to get rid of it in one treatment, and it doesn't come back for most people. completely reef safe. worked great on my tank, same situation you have. just wondering, what is your turn over?

[-Pixie-]

well its a 220 lt tank, 2 x jvp 3000lph power heads and also the input flow from the sump is set at about 2500 lph, not sure on how to calculate turnover?

Also anyone else that has an opinion on the red slime remover and any detramental effects it has possibly caused?

BC reefmaker, who manufactures the red slime remover you used? so i can read into it a little more, thanks for your help.

[Flipper62]

The problem with the Red Slime Remover is that its just a band-aid to the real fix. If the problem isn't fixed....it will just come back.


You need to find the cause for the Cyano.

I know you said that you added a powerhead. But if the water movement isn't to the areas that the Cyano is starting....its just going to come back.

I dont know if you have read this article......but I will post it again.

http://netclub.athiel.com/cyano/cyanos2.htm.

Also, can you post some pictures ? Are you sure its CyanoBacteria....and not Dinoflagellates

[BCreefmaker]

I know many people including myself, that band-aid worked for years. But I do know it does sometimes come back.

[Michael]

i think cyano is very difficult to shift personally, even with pristine water and movement it is hard to remove if it ever becomes evident in the tank, i keep hearing about this slime removing stuff as well, perhaps if you cant beat cyano it may be worth a shot, although ive heard it can be potentially bad for some tanks, a lot of reefers swear by it, but a few have had their tanks destroyed using it, my suggestion is a google of the actual chemical and more reading first.

[-Pixie-]

Thanks Flipper that article gave me alot more insight as to why this is happening, i will start by less feeding and less additives and more frequent water changes and siphoning, if all fails ill try the redox +, thanks again.

[BongoSolo3]

I just used the Red Slime Remover on Monday evening... So far, no major changes in the cyano.

However, it looks like it did a number on my RBTA. It was a small, bleached one that I've been nursing back to health and was doing great. That is, until I added the red slime remover. Yesterday when I came home, it was shriveled up like a prune, wrinkled and looked to be in really bad shape. Amphipods were all over it too, so I don't know if parts of it are starting to die off and they were having a meal.


The directions on the remover said to repeat after 48 hours, which would be this evening, but I'm thinking about doing a major water change for sake of the BTA....

[Sk8r]

Yes, it will come back. You have to do the lights-out for a number of months, and trust your skimmer to remove the waste. Eventually you win. But you also need to be using ro/di, if you aren't, and with a tds of 0, and keeping sunbeams from windows from hitting your tank (the sun's position in the sky varies seasonally).

[hazmat319]

Also, can you post some pictures ? Are you sure its CyanoBacteria....and not Dinoflagellates

This is what I was going to say.....

[DC_40gallon]

Take a look at this pic on this thread. This thread was started today and is two down from this thread.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1783923

[ChuckG]

I'd find the food source if possible and get it out of the water. Increase flow and maybe dose some beneficial bacteria (microbacter7) to compete with the cyano for the remaing food source. No light for a few days and maybe slime remover if it needs a knock out punch. You have to get the food source out first though otherwise it's a losing battle.

[fishstick3]

Hi I don't really know your situation, but I had a real battle with cyano about 4 months ago. I had tried everything, literally, increase water changes ,changed my water, reduced feedings down to nothing, micro bacter, got another powerhead, I tried everything. In the end someone told me to change my lights, I didnt really think it would work but i gave it a shot and it was gone within the week and has not come back.
Hope that helps
:)

[Sk8r]

Cyano is as ancient as life on Earth. It gave us our oxygen atmosphere, as in the stromatalites off Australia, and in fossil record. It eats: light, especially odd-spectrum light, as in indirect sunlight, stray sunbeams, it also eats phosphates, carbon, water, and anything else loose in the water, and if deprived of one chemical food source, it can adapt and use another. You can't starve it; but you can deprive it of all light, shroud your tank if necessary, and it will die. You then have to skim to get the dieoff out. You have to do this month after month if its a bad water condition, and eventually you win.

[Zebodog]

How long has the tank been in operation for?

[-Pixie-]

The tank is About 4-5 months old , is definately cyano not dino.

If i completely starve my tank of all light sources for a prolonged period of time wont everything die: plants, corals and fish?

And my water parameters are as perfect as they could be, is there anything that can kill excess nutrients or remove them other than just skimming, such as carbon or purigen?

[Zebodog]

4-5 months is still relatively new - it can take upwards of 12 months for a tank to really begin to mature and stabilize.

Patience will be key, as frustrating as it is to see slime all over your tank, you must maintain your patience. Even though your testing of water parameters are "perfect," you are seeing a false reading. The cyano is utilizing all available nitrate/phospate and thus you see a zero reading. Most hobbyist test kits for phosphates are woefully inaccurate and a complete waste of money.

Here's what I would do:

1. Get some chaeto growing in a fuge/sump and prune it weekly. This will export the excess nutrients.
2. Cut back feeding to every other day and use high quality feed only. Try to stay away from flake food for now.
3. Cut your lights for 3 days and only use actinic on the fourth. Yes, everything should be fine with just ambient light - it's no different than storms on the ocean. Prior to doing lights out syphon as much of the cyano out as possible with a water change. On the fourth day do another LARGE water change. The cyano will die off during the "dark" period and release the bound up nutrients back into the water column. The water change will help to remove those nutrients.
4. Cut back your photo-period.
5. Weekly water changes of 10%
5. Prepare to rinse and repeat as needed. (probably at least twice more)

You didn't mention your substrate? When setting up a new tank, there can be substantial die-off from live rock. If you use sand/gravel and put the sand in immediately with the live rock its very possible you have a large amount of detritus from the live rock die off trapped in the sand. Since the sand bed is relatively new, it cannot process it efficiently and in jumps the cyano to help out.

Chemicals such as red slime remover can work, but if you don't solve the root cause (excess nutrients) it will simply return stronger than ever. Patience and diligence will serve you well - you can and will win the battle!