Cyano (red) outbreak... what will eat it? Seahares?

[rockster]

well, we have not only used chemi-clean, but performed several experiments.

yes, there are multiple causes for cyano, but if you get it, the best way to eliminate is CHEMI-CLEAN..

fact: chemi clean does more than eliminate the cyano, it will eliminate the organica that are causng it

chemi-clean oxidizes organics as well as eliminating cyano without harming corals et al..

after using the chemi clean, you then follow instructions for maintaining good water parameters.. period.

because the system is only 5 months young has zip to do with cyano..

cyano can attack a 3 year old reef just as easy..

please, read this:


commercial link removed-wizardgus

and then be sure that you are not feeding in excess...

read about phosphorus as in phosphates and flake and frozen foods.

commercial link removed-wizardgus
now, i do not desire to argue, but one person/s snails are not another person/s snails..

we tried every animal we could, gets expensive.. so does water changes and other fixes.. I agree, good water husbandry is the ultimate answer.. but , get rid of it FIRST

it is hit or miss at best otherwise. I am not a chemical person at all, but when someone asks me about cyano, i must say, the fix involves discovering WHY one gets it.. and all the measures to eliminate like water changes and lights out are not as good or efficent as Chemi Clean for the initial attack..

also, CC worked fine with hard, soft invertebrates and everthing.. JUST FOLLOW instructions, after, 20% water change.. then just be sure you follow a pattern of checking your water QUALITY PARAMETERS...keep alk and ph where it should be and skim and SLOW DOWN FEEDING if you are feeding fish...

rock

 

[jdieck]

Hair algae usually gives you more time and lots of early signals as it starts in small patches but Cyano just pops up out of no were and you are invaded in just a couple of days.
In reality I might be exagerating a bit as for Cyano we have some good chemicals to get rid off (My issue is that I was very reluctant to use them and no mater how much work, time and money I spent trying to get rid of it it was so frustrating.

In the case of Hair Algae there is no such a thing as a chemical that can really make it go as fast. Here you need long term patience and reducing Nitrates might be more difficult than getting rid of organics although many actions will work for both. So yes you may be right so what about....

"You will never be a real reefer until you have battled a good algae bloom and won!"

Having said that you know which one I am scare the most?
Bubble Algae. Needs little to no light and very low nutrients on the undetectable levels!

 

[rockster]

i forgot something..


"Livestock: Regal and Yellow Tangs, Flame and Coral Beauty angels, 4 sharknose gobies, 2 percula clowns, 3 cleaner shrimps, snails and hermite crabs.
Corals: green star polyps, flexible leather, purple tip acropora frag, blue mushrooms, hammer coral."

your fish population is quiet large for a 5 month old system,,,

BUT!!!!

do not siphon the sand bed after a year, that is NOT necessary..

the bed must remain undisturbed below the top inch at leasts.. it needs TIME to mature..


CYANO STARTING ON THE SAND BED does not mean it is caused from a "polluted" sand bed...

heck no...

I must say, if one simply follows a pattern and develops a habit of WATER QUALITY, meaning good flow, turkey-basting rocks (as explained above) evey few days, PH and ALK levels at correct AND STABLE parameters, and feeds in several small feedings rather than one large, rinses FROZEN FOODS LIKE BRINE SHRIMP, watches there addition of FLAKE FOODS, and skims, they will eliminate Cyano..


I will bet that the load of fish X feeding verses the maturity of the system is the cause

look, a 125 gallons with sand bed, live rock, skimmer 9 fish, 80 corals, 100 inverts and more.. had the first cyano out break ever and it was two years after setup...tryed EVERYTHING.. until Chemi-clean,,,


then we set up four 20 gallons and duplicated the outbreak.. my answers are in the article that is linked in the post i placed before this one.

 

[jdieck]

do not siphon the sand bed after a year, that is NOT necessary..

CYANO STARTING ON THE SAND BED does not mean it is caused from a "polluted" sand bed...

heck no...

I knew it.. I kenw it.. I knew it... :bounce3: :bounce2: :bounce1:

OK, do not vacuum the sand, test it instead. Just use a 1/4 plastic rigid pipe with a hose. Insert it to the bottom of the sand and siphon small amount of water. See what comes out and decide.

Happy reefing!

 

[kayakrob]

i thinki have a cyano bacteria problem! The lady at the fish store said i just needed to bring up my alkalinity with superbuffer, and it would go away. i have been adding it and it is still spreading. it is red/brown, thick looks like pudding on my sand, and i'm really worried about it!!! will it kill my fish and coral???? i'm going to go but chemi-clean as soon as i find a store around me that sells it. but wil it destroy my tank and if so how sooN sorry to add my problem into this thread, but i didnt want to start a new one on the same topic.

 

[jdieck]

I doubt you will find chemiclean on a store, I had to mail order it.
In any case most of the damage of the cyano long term will be done to the coraline, the sponges if you have and the poor snails that will have less and less area to feed on. In addition. covering the sand bed calls for some potential problems with die off sand critters, Try to vacuum as much cyano as you can until you find the source of the problem and trat with the chemiclean.
I tried to be as detailed as possible above as to covering all the bases for finding a solution to the source.
Keeping your alkalinity higher is only one of many.

Good Luck!

 

[kayakrob]

Thank you, so it wont immedietly destroy my corals (two leathers,polyps,button pollyps,metalic plate) or my fish. Whew! but is it as impossible to get rid of as it sounds?? thank you for the help!
Any suggestions on where to order it from??

 

[Saltz Creep]

Personally, I have never witnessed a turbo snail eat cyano. They tend to stay away from it like the plague...mostly because cyano is toxic. The pigment that the bacteria uses for photosynthesis is a form of cyanide (hence the name cyanobacteria) and is usuall toxic to just about everything.

I disgree. Turbos don't eat it because it's not algae.

Also, you are spreading some misinformation that may cause uneccesary worry among reefkeepers. Cyanobacteria is named for the photosynthetic pigment phycocyanin which DOES NOT contain cyanide. Cyan means "blue" as in the family of primative blue-green algaes of which cyanobacteria was originally classified. The toxic substance cyanide was named because a common form of it was a ferric-cyanide dye called Prussian Blue. Cyan simply means "blue", and there is no relation between cyanobacteria's blue pigment phycocyanin and cyanide (C=N) . Research it yourself.

 

[Reefmaniac1]

I disgree. Turbos don't eat it because it's not algae.

Also, you are spreading some misinformation that may cause uneccesary worry among reefkeepers. Cyanobacteria is named for the photosynthetic pigment phycocyanin which DOES NOT contain cyanide. Cyan means "blue" as in the family of primative blue-green algaes of which cyanobacteria was originally classified. The toxic substance cyanide was named because a common form of it was a ferric-cyanide dye called Prussian Blue. Cyan simply means "blue", and there is no relation between cyanobacteria's blue pigment phycocyanin and cyanide (C=N) . Research it yourself.

I am well aware of what "cyan" means. But, if "there is no relation between cyanobacteria's blue pigment phycocyanin and cyanide" is true, then what I was taught in zoology about the basic structure of the pigment is wrong. This could be the case as it wouldn't be the first time a text book had inaccuracies.

However, cyanobacteria are still toxic:

"Cyanobacterial toxins are the naturally produced poisons stored in the cells of certain species of cyanobacteria. These toxins fall into various categories. Some are known to attack the liver (hepatotoxins) or the nervous system (neurotoxins); others simply irritate the skin. These toxins are usually released into water when the cells rupture or die...Very few cyanobacterial toxins have actually been isolated and characterized to date. "

So, you should still be wary of cyano blooms in your tank.

 

[jdieck]

Thank you, so it wont immedietly destroy my corals (two leathers,polyps,button pollyps,metalic plate) or my fish. Whew! but is it as impossible to get rid of as it sounds?? thank you for the help!
Any suggestions on where to order it from??

Try this ones, one might be able to ship to Canada.

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/5600/cid/1546

http://www.customaquatic.com/customaquatic/subsubcategorypage.asp?subcatindexid=fi-mbfm-cm

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...k=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&N=0&Nty=1

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=BE1115

 

[rockster]

"OK, do not vacuum the sand, test it instead. Just use a 1/4 plastic rigid pipe with a hose. Insert it to the bottom of the sand and siphon small amount of water. See what comes out and decide."

listen, I do not want to sound like the know-it-all, but, stop worrying about the sand bed. do not insert anything...

listen. if you simply use patience and watch what you are doing, all will work out fine.

CHEMI CLEAN

Chemi Clean does not just simply KILL the cyano, it EATS IT UP.. along with other organics.

the water change is more for diluting the left over chemi clean than anything else..

follow insructions

after treatment we do a 20% water change and run our carbon and skimmer

now, once that is done, then WATCH YOUR ADDITION OF FOODS!!

I STILL BELIEVE THIS IS THE CAUSE

your sand bed will build up the correct bacteria load to deal with extra input loads...

a stable ALK, PH and CALCIUM parameter is what you want...

remember, high alk also breaks phosphates down,,,

good water flow keeps dead zones from collecting organics..

as far as toxins, we have never lost any animals due to cyano, it is simple to remove with chemi clean , then one simply records the additions of ORGANICS.

the simply fllow what "jdieck" wrote above in these LETTERS:

c
d
e
g
h
j

and you will be fine.


oh, chemi clean is manufactured by
Boyd Enterprises Online

and the reason I like it is because not only does it work, and not harm animals, but you should read about Boyd Enterprises..

the man who started the company had a 3000 gallon reef for 19 years before almost EVERYONE on this form even knew about a reef.. and even before many of the professionals were out of collage or highschool!

in fact, he, along with three others, STARTED THE FIRST Aquarium Society in the US in 1955...

say YO...

 

[SaCe]

Very helpful information here! I recently started having trouble with this as well. I'm a bit hesitant to add a product (chemi-clean) to address the situation, but I'll do some research on it to see how safe I feel it is.

I'm thinking in my case it's been caused by lack of water movement towards the bottom of the tank (a good share of the problem seems to be the sand bed) and probably over feeding.

I feed only once a day, but have such a variety of critters that I probably feed to much.

 

[lakee911]

Good 'ole bump for the good info!

 

[Emo]

Wow! talk about back from the dead

On the earlier discussions of siphoning cyano off the sand: theres nothing wrong with this practice. I think some earlier posters were confusing vacuuming the sandbed with siphoning cyano off of the sandbed.

 

[Joe LoPresti]

For my cyano outbreak, I employed all three methods mentioned in the following order:
1) I tried siphoning off the sand bed, this was quite a battle and I never seemed to get ahead
2) Then I used Chemi-clean. I was REALLY hesitant about adding a chemical to my tank because of the corals, but I watched the tank closely, followed the directions completely and this seemed to work (for a while) I do have to admit, it took care of any other stray algae I had too
3) Finally I decided to re-design my reef for better overall flow and I also increased the water flow. I had 6 powerheads of all different types, I replaced these with two Tunze 6025's and a Hydor Koralia 3. No more cyano and the corals seem so much happier!!!!!

 

[grandPOOBAH]

Siphoning out most of the cyano and then using Maracyn-two is a great way to "nuke" the stuff. cutting down on all the promoting factors is a must as well, but we use the maracyn all the time at the store I work at and it works better than chemi-clean. water flow is a great help as well. That's the problem at our store: too many nutrients and poor flow

 

[m2434]

Just read this thread.... Why do I have this feeling that there are some Boyd enterprise reps in the house?