Cyano

[Beaux]

I did a search through our forms first, but the only refrence I found was Farmer Ty's attempt, which resulted to an even bigger problem.

My tank about 1 and 1/2 years now, 20 long. I bought much better lighting the fluval 2.0, after using it with a set schedule, lowest setting moonlight from 8pm to 8am. Then switching to the lowest setting light, graduating over 15 minutes to roughly 50 % now, until 8pm when I reverse it back down to the lowest setting over 15 minutes, then back to the moonlight setting.

Ph 8.2

Nh4 0

Ca 360

Kh 8

No3 .8

No2 0

Sal 1.026

RCA said its cynao. It looks like cynao. But it is spreading rapidly.

I would only resort to a chemical cure as a last resort.

I have added a sandshifter goby, and doubled my niaso (sp) snail population. But the stuff is still rapidly spreading.

Should I reduce lighting, go the chemical route and pray? What are my options here.

I have a few hard corals in my tank, 2 torches and something else. So I am going to self educate myself on dosing. 

But right now this cyano has me pretty freaked out!

[Vernon Saunders]

Chemiclean is honestly the most effective way to rid your tank of cyano since not many (if any) creatures eat it. 

[ShawnM]

I have heard 48 hr no lights, increase flow, sand sifter to help turn the sand over, Chemi clean, pick your poison as long as it is not smothering corals keep up with maintenance and cleaning the tank should resolve itself.


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[+Dogfish]

I have a thought. Not that this is correct or will work for you. Every tank I have started has been cyno - less until the addition of GFO. Soon as the iron hits the fan the cyno takes off.  This just maybe a timing factor as to when I start running GFO and the time the cyno decides to grow.I duno. To rid myself of it, no GFO, higher flow, less light, manual extraction. I should prob get this book and read chapter 11.

Iron Uptake and Homeostasis in Microorganisms

Publisher: Caister Academic Press
Edited by: Pierre Cornelis and Simon C. Andrews

 

[Beaux]

Thanks everyone.

I honestly try and research this stuff on my own. But its a little hard to trust the opnions of the many youtube vloggers that may or may not have a hidden agenda ie getting paid by sponsors to push thier products.

I went ahead and just pulled out 2 of the smaller live rock pieces and put them in tap water, should kill every thing off. I also did the turkey baster option to mix it up a bit. It was like a thick slime cake and took a while to break up.

Maybe I will try some other options before going the nuke route with chemicals.

Again thanks for all your input and advice!

[Timfish]

Besides rinsing off rocks like you've already done (I use a bucket of aquarium water to minimize killing anything) I would siphon it out, with small weekly water changes if needed.  It's one of the cycles tanks go through and it may reoccur from time to time.  I would not use any chemical means to control it.  Beside the risk of creating a super strain from multiple treatments (and if the strain you have came from another aquarists tank you don't know what it's history may be), using chemical means is most likely killing benificial stuff.  Your system is old enough I would consider it a mature system but chemical means of control may slow down the maturing processes in a young system.

[jolt]

I agree with Tim that siphoning is better than just blowing it apart. 

[Beaux]

Ok, I am totally confused about this.

Ever since I posted about this, i have been siphoning off the cyano, except the one day I turkey blasted it.

Today first thing this morning I did a thorough siphoning of the cyano. Literally within hours it it back, same spot and even further out.

My water parameters are in check.

Is this normal for it to reinfest the same spots i just removed it from within hours???

[jolt]

In my experience it's going to keep  coming back as long as (a) the conditions that support it are favorable, and (b) there is no other serious competition. Corals, pods, worms, clean up crew are all competition.  Biodiversity is really important to compete with the nuisance algaes etc.  At least by by siphoning it out you are removing the nutrients that it has consumed and that is a good thing.  It is a real battle and you have to be persistent.

[JasReef]

In my experience it comes back in the same spot because it likes the conditions, probably low flow where food and fish poop settle. I have little tiny spots where it shows up every once in a while so now I just proactively blow those spots off and I hardly ever see it.

I think cyano is like ick, it is in every aquarium but doesn't show up if proper husbandry is applied regularly but it is always waiting for the right conditions to make a come back.

I have used chemiclean without issues a couple times, I don't know what is in it, some say antibiotics, but I am highly doubtful using it will create a super-cyano.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do with it.

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[Beaux]

Thanks again everyone for your advice. 

This is a true learning experience for me, that is for sure.

So after reading the last few posts, I am still doing a 5% water change just for the cyano.  I moved alot of corals and live rock as well as upped the flow. Going deeper into the substrate to remove anything I can find underneath mostly where the cyano is heaviest, but not really getting much.

I think for the most part it was the flow/dead spots. When I bumped up my jets after replacement I noticed a small amount of debris comming out.

My main concern now would be about some of the rock that is heavily covered with cyano and has coral attached to it.

Would it be ok to lift up the ones that are heavily coverd, keeping them below the water and using a brush to remove what I can, or just let it be for now until it passes on its own?

[Timfish]

If it's not an issue removing a rock with a coral you can do a 2 minute dip of 5 parts aquarium water to one part hydrogen peroxide (the 3% stuff from a pharmacy, not the high strength food grade stuff for sterilizing things).

 

@ JazReef, Chemiclean used to be euthromycin until Boyd's got in trouble with the German government.  I do not know exactly what the active ingredient is now however it isn't killing everything in a sytem.  Looking at how bacteria transfer plasmids (loops of genetic material) horizontally to impart immunity to chemicals and antibiotics using anything that doesn't outright kill everything risks the creation of superbugs.  Unfortunately one personal experience of an excellent example is one of the semiferal cats I take care of had problems and when the vet did bacterial cultures she had a resistant infection and the normal antibiotics could not be used.    It doesn't matter where you look in the life sciences, whether it's our own health or sustainable farming or pristine reefs, healthy microbial processes are essential.

[Beaux]

Update.

Every since I started this post, I have tried all methods to get the cyano under controll. It just felt like a loosing battle for me and with all the water changes from siphoning it was throwing all my numbers off, it was not worth all the extra effort of the battle and chemistry. 

I gave in and dosed it last night with chemiclean, because it had taken over 3/4th's of my tank. Within hours of a syphon off of the cyano it just seemed to come back faster and bigger.

This is just the overnight results, and yes I am know it can take up to 48 hours for the full cycle. 

I wanted to thank everyone for their insight and advice.

All my corals appear to be fine, snails and crabs as well.

90% improvement overnight!

[Neon Reefer]

More people than you think use this product although they may not suggest it or even acknowledge it

[Isaac]

57 minutes ago, Neon Reefer said:

More people than you think use this product although they may not suggest it or even acknowledge it

its been known to tank tanks if used improperly.  i dont like using it myself, but sometimes you just have to.

[+Dogfish]

I just found this info on the web.  Ohio State is selling this technology. I sent them an email requesting some more info

Control of toxic cyanobacteria bloom with lytic cyanophage and UV

Cynophage Ma-LEP and Ultraviolet light can be used in combination as a sustainable and economically friendly method of managing toxic cyanobacteria blooms.

[Timfish]

In the 30+ years I've been keeping reef systems I've used multiple products to get rid of cyano.  I've also seen the problems caused by using them and realized nuisance types of cyano are only a symptom and getting rid of an easthetic issue doesn't get rid of the fundamental problem that the equilibrium of a system is promoting cyano.  An example of how simple small water chagnes and manual removal shifts the equilibrium can be seen in my two threads on hair algae.  The second thread shows cyano showing up then disappearing on it's own with nothing more than siphoning it off with the weekly 5% water changes.   In chasing the research a major concern I have now and one reason I strongly discourage any treatment to remove cyano is there are species some corals use to fix a significant portion of their nitrogen demands by converting the nitrogen gas dissolved in  the water into nitrates the coral needs.   Doing anything that impacts a coral's holobiont, it's associated microbes and viruses, makes it harder and potentially impossible for it to thrive.