I have cyanobacteria

[donniea1800]

Chemiclean will work, but think of it only as a tool. You can use it to regain control but you must make changes to reduce nutrients. If your tank just cycled; however, I would not use any type of red slime remover as this is normal for your tank to go through various ugly stages as it matures.

1. Do a large (50%) water change, then follow weekly (10%-20%) water changes
2. If using filter pads, must change them weekly. Don't try to clean them, change them.
3. A phosphate reactor did wonders for my tank
4. Use RODI water, distilled can be used, but RODI is best. What water are you using BTW?
5. Are you running a skimmer?

 

[dcutl002]

Dosing the tank with an antibiotic will kill off the infestation pretty quickly. This has several downsides that offset its ease and speed. The first is that every use of antibiotics has the potential to create a strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. You may get rid of the cyanobacteria only to find that your tank has been infested with a strain of fish TB that doesn't respond to the antibiotics. The second is that some fish and inverts don't deal well with certain antibiotics. The third is that dosing a tank with antibiotics is a good way to completely un-cycle the tank. A good way to at least partially bypass the loss of your tank's cycle is to pull the media out of your filter and store it in another tank. If you don't have another tank, you can seal it in a bag with some tank water and keep it in the refrigerator. After you have set aside the filter media, treat the tank. Once treatment is done, run fresh carbon n the tank for an hour, then replace the filter media. This should leave your tank with a significant portion of its nitrifying bacteria intact.

 

[Ga1981]

I'm having the same issue with a 2 months old tank, is a 70 g, if I do a 30 g WC I get rid of the cyano? Do you siphon the cyano or just blow on it?
I been doing weekly WC but keep coming back, I already cut the feeding ...

 

[dcutl002]

API Erythromycin will kill Cyanobacteria



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[bribo12]

API Erythromycin will kill Cyanobacteria



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Don't dose your sw tank with erythromycin.

 

[Ga1981]

What about if I don't want to use chemicals?

 

[bribo12]

What about if I don't want to use chemicals?

Keep up on wc and sucking it out. Aggressive skimming and shorter photoperiod will help as well. I've battle cyano twice an beat it twice. Less feeding, RO/DI, shorter photoperiod will help. But it's a matter of time. Using chemicals is a band aid and it will just come back eventually if you don't get rid of the underlying nutrient issue.

 

[Ga1981]

So on a 70 g
How much and how often is reccomanded?

 

[bribo12]

I'd be doing 10% twice weekly.

 

[Ga1981]

Ok tank you bribo12

 

[Ga1981]

Thank you lol

 

[bribo12]

No problem. Cyano sucks and it's a battle. But it's definitely beatable and many people go through it. Your tank is also super young and probably just going through a phase. Cutting nutrients and more aggressive wc will help though. But as your tank matures it should start to die out on its own as well.

 

[dcutl002]

Apologies, I now see that this is saltwater. Bummer. Chemi-Clean maybe? It appears to not be going away.


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[melosu58]

API Erythromycin will kill Cyanobacteria

This will not only kill the bad bacteria from the cyano but it will kill your good bacteria that is on the surfaces in your tank needed for getting rid of ammonia and nitrites. I personally would not put that in your tank.

I see now where you did not know it was SW.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Cyano is caused by the same things in FW and SW. Excess nitrogen and long photo periods can set it off. Dieback of some corals can set it off. So can some types of carbon used to create large bacterial colonies, like bio pellets and vodka can also set it off IME.

 

[Animal-Chin]

I had some cyano on some rock that was bugging me last week. So, i used red slime remover. Within 24 hours my 2 oldest fish were dead. In about 12 hours they had glazed over eyes and were breathing heavy. I quickly did a water change but it was too late. I think it poisoned my tank, has anyone ever heard of this before? I followed the directions perfectly...

I traded in cyano for 2 of my favorite fish this week, I'm NOT happy about this. I'd never use this product again.

 

[Gregcoyote]

That's terrible. I have heard of it crashing tanks as it killed off all bacteria in some cases. But many claim great success with it. I tend to go for natural cures as much as possible as I don't like adding things like antibiotics that I cannot test for. Dosing even seems pretty arbitrary.

 

[Animal-Chin]

Ya I was shocked. My coral and inverts were totally fine, my fish freaked out! I got home from work, looked at my tank and could not see a single fish. I was totally confused at first but then I looked behind my rock work and every fish in the tank was hiding. After a huge water change they came out and thats when I saw how rough a couple looked. They were turning white, like loosing all their color and like I said had a white film on their eyes. Sucks...

 

[jeffaquarius]

Did someone missed mentioning that all bacteria in your tank also thrive when you have so much oxygen in your tank? Applying all the suggestions would definitely be more effective. Reduce feeding, shorten light duration like 6 hrs and only blue, large water change, manual removal and turn off skimmer or minimize surface agitation.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I agree with the majority but why minimize surface agitation and turn the skimmer off?