Best way to combat red slime cyanobacteria, need tips and product recommendations, thanks!
- Thread starter happyreefer
- Start date
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2014
- Messages
- 1,686
- Likes
- 870
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Oak Park/ Westlake Village
- My Tank Build
-
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2014
- Messages
- 1,686
- Likes
- 870
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Oak Park/ Westlake Village
- My Tank Build
-
Red slime remover and chemi-clean are what most people use, but I don’t like to use them unless it’s a last resort. Dissolved organics, low flow and usually high (unbalanced) nutrients will usually fuel outbreaks. I think doing smaller frequent water changes (manually siphoning it out) and safely lowering and balancing nutrients goes a long way with solving the problem.
I’m experiencing some right now and I’m going to gravel vac the areas in the sand it’s growing, dose live phyto to help boost the pod population and slowly lower and balance my nutrients.
Unless it’s covering every surface, I would take this route, as the chemical treatment is only temporary and has a negative impact on your bacterial population, as the underlying issues that gave it fuel to grow and still need to be addressed or it will be back. But if coral health has been impacted, it’s better to do the chemical treatment, then address the things I mentioned.
Also, cyano exists on healthy reefs too, so it’s nothing to panic about, unless corals are suffering?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I’m experiencing some right now and I’m going to gravel vac the areas in the sand it’s growing, dose live phyto to help boost the pod population and slowly lower and balance my nutrients.
Unless it’s covering every surface, I would take this route, as the chemical treatment is only temporary and has a negative impact on your bacterial population, as the underlying issues that gave it fuel to grow and still need to be addressed or it will be back. But if coral health has been impacted, it’s better to do the chemical treatment, then address the things I mentioned.
Also, cyano exists on healthy reefs too, so it’s nothing to panic about, unless corals are suffering?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The above information is well worth following. The less chemical compounds you put into the tank the better. Most of the “reactions “ in the tank will usually burn themselves out, unfortunately some take longer and are more unsightly than others. Here is an example my tank developed hair algae that nearly caused me to tear the tank apart. I tried literally everything. Took probably about a year and then just melted away. I changed absolutely nothing to cause its disappearance. Patience is the name of the game………very difficult for us instant gratification types.
If you want it gone fast and don't mind using chemicals, then chemi-clean works very very well. Follow the directions. Very safe, and doesn't hurt any corals or fish/inverts/clams. I think it takes about 3-5 days, and it's gone. It will also kill some of your biome, but sometimes you have to do what you gotta do when you don't have the time/energy to wait it out/manually remove....and if it is choking out your corals. The biome will return.
Most pro tank maintenance crews use chemiclean as no client wants to see a tank full of red slime.
Most pro tank maintenance crews use chemiclean as no client wants to see a tank full of red slime.
Thank you for the write up! Everything you said makes sense to me. I definitely want to try avoiding using any antibiotics or antibacterial pharma in my tank, as safe as some of them are, I would rather take the time to keep chipping at it, slowly but surely. Thankfully, my corals seems to be doing good overall, although I've seen some bad days. I think if I just stay on top of it more than I have then I should be able to manage this outbreak in time. Sometimes, it's tough because I have to do it multiple times a week lol but I guess that's just a part of reefing. I hope that this doesn't happen forever haha! Yeah, I've been having some big swings in both my nitrite and Phosphates as I'm either aggressively dosing the Neonitro and Neophos, and then doing semi large water changes to correct over dosing which really sucks lol. In the last few weeks, I've been much more careful about how much I dose while testing more frequently and limit the amount of water changes which has made a huge difference in condition of the tank. It's funny because I've been reefing for a while and I'm just learning about these fine touches I need to make on my tank to keep it looking good 
I guess that's just another part of reefing lol. Thanks again for the info! Thank you so much!!
I guess that's just another part of reefing lol. Thanks again for the info! Thank you so much!!
I'm currently using Rowaphos and being careful about how much I use as that thing is pretty darn strong lol. I'll have to try Vodka dosing one day to see how it works. Thanks for the feedback!
I'll definitely keep that in mind and will try it if needed. Thankfully, my corals seems to be doing good for now. It's seems like a pretty safe pharma to use since it doesn't hurt inverts which are typically very sensitive to any kind of parameter changes, that's good to know! You're right, the biomes will repopulate in time so it might not be such a serious concern if the cyanobacteria is as aggressive as it can be sometimes. Thanks for the feedback! I definitely feel more comfortable trying it one day, appreciate it!!
I just googled it, it sounds like good thing to have on hand. I'll have to give it try if my tank doesn't look better soon lol. I completely agree with the lighting intensity factor as I've recently increased the overall intensity by 5% and another 5% the next day which caused a hugh breakout all over the tank. I now have it lowered back by 10% haha! It's so funny
higher flow just means you are blowing it everywhere. this stuff is a lot of work to get rid of.
chemical works but there is an after affect like gha.
start with manual siphoning. and doing more smaller water changes. and figure out where the nutrients coming from. could be from not rinsing your mysis. not saying you feeding that but it could be un eaten food.
chemical works but there is an after affect like gha.
start with manual siphoning. and doing more smaller water changes. and figure out where the nutrients coming from. could be from not rinsing your mysis. not saying you feeding that but it could be un eaten food.
I do use mysis with Ocean Nutrition's prime reef flakes mixed in. I give the frozen mysis a real good rinse several times before I drain all the water and slightly drying with a paper towel before mixing. You're right, the uneaten food is one of the main source of some of these different problems I've been running into. As much as I try to feed the fishes on top of my anemones, I do know that sometimes the food flies around after the fishes go after them. This is why I try to time the feeding to where the food is still semi frozen so the left over particles don't fly everywhere. I did lower the flow a bit once I noticed the flow was a little on the high side which the corals appreciated and maybe there was less cyanobacteria flying everywhere. Things have gotten much better since then. I'll just keep at it, removing as much as I can with the smallest water changes needed to replenish the saltwater. I'm going to stay away from chemicals for as long as I can lol. Thanks for taking the time to comment!!
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2009
- Messages
- 727
- Likes
- 576
- Points
- 93
Manual removal is a futile effort against cyano. It has the ability to double itself every 20 minutes.
More flow is often recommended, but it is to short of a sentence. You need more flow in areas with low flow, not over the whole tank. Sometimes having 2 pumps alternating is better than having just one. 4 is better than 2.
Boosting pod populations and probiotics can help to compete with the cyano for nutrients, but it can only go so far.
To get over it you are going to need to balance out your nutrients, and adjust the watermovement so things are not decaying in the tank. A protein skimmer can help. Growing macro algaes can help.
If your tank does not have any acro's in it 3 days without light will kill cyano. It's no light though, not just tank lights off. If you do it part way, or turn the lights on to feed the fish or whatever other idea, the strongest cells of the bacteria will survive and proliferate and it will be worse.
Personally I would avoid chemical treatments.
Doing a 20% water change one day a week, adding a powerhead or two that oscillate, and a few days without light should do the whole trick. If it comes back after the lights out period you have not solved your nutrient issues.
Best of Luck.
More flow is often recommended, but it is to short of a sentence. You need more flow in areas with low flow, not over the whole tank. Sometimes having 2 pumps alternating is better than having just one. 4 is better than 2.
Boosting pod populations and probiotics can help to compete with the cyano for nutrients, but it can only go so far.
To get over it you are going to need to balance out your nutrients, and adjust the watermovement so things are not decaying in the tank. A protein skimmer can help. Growing macro algaes can help.
If your tank does not have any acro's in it 3 days without light will kill cyano. It's no light though, not just tank lights off. If you do it part way, or turn the lights on to feed the fish or whatever other idea, the strongest cells of the bacteria will survive and proliferate and it will be worse.
Personally I would avoid chemical treatments.
Doing a 20% water change one day a week, adding a powerhead or two that oscillate, and a few days without light should do the whole trick. If it comes back after the lights out period you have not solved your nutrient issues.
Best of Luck.
I had really good success with the Fauna Marin Red X a few years back. In the past I did some cyno treatments that did not work or killed fish. So this time I wanted to try the slow approach without using medications like eurthomycin. The Fauna Marin Red X is a ten day treatment where one adds x amount each day. after about 5 to 6 days I started to see improvements after day 10 some was still there but slowly going away. a few weeks later it was gone. It never came back and it seemed to be very safe on my fish and coral load. I did use some coral balance or marine snow to assist after the treatment. I would consider this one again if I needed to do it.
