cyano outbreak?

[scottayy]

I was growing some nice coralline algae on my rocks and it was spreading beautifully.

Then, I guess I thought it was still coralline (since I had never had it before).. so I let it grow and grow on the rocks.

Well.. it started to take over and now i'm not liking it so much. Is cyano algae bad for the tank? Because I have lots of it.

It is purple, and it can get stringy. I can pull it off in small sheet or mat like pieces.

Some of it has bubbles in it.

I guess what I'm asking is.. should I try to get rid of it all? Is it desirable to have? Negative effects? Is this just a phase my aquarium is going through (like diatoms)?

I read that it feeds off of high phosphates and low alk. I do have low alk (about 8 or 9 dKH). But I don't have anything to test for phosphates.

And finally, can it kill fish? I'm looking for a reason my royal gramma died on me the other day.

 

[melosu58]

Yes try to get rid of all of it. When you do your PWC`s try to siphon out as much of that cyano as you can. It`s being fueled by something. Either tap water, feeding too much or some other reason. We have an excellent article about it in our SW articles section. Hope you can get the upper hand on it.

 

[mr_X]

cyano can't kill fish, but whatever is fueling it was most likely the cause. i don't think low alkalinity causes cyanobacteria.
what are your parameters? feeding habits? water change schedule?

 

[puffballurchin]

One thing that will munch on the cyano are sea urchins. They have a MASSIVE appetite so I would only recommend 1. They will eat everything from red slime to algae. With one it won't eat all the algae that your other fishies like to graze on.

 

[mr_X]

i disagree that an urchin will eat cyano. while they do eat many types of algae, they won't go after bacteria. besides that, even if you had something that would eat the cyano, you would still have the same problem- it would be a constant problem because you never remove the source. adding more eating, pooping creatures is not a solution to excessive nutrients.

 

[scottayy]

I suppose it will help when I get my skimmer.

Right now I'm using "quick cure" because my fish appear to have marine ich or velvet. I left the rocks in because the guy at the LFS said it will kill the cyano and it has after one day. Now it looks like cobwebs on the rocks. I also cranked my temperature up to 82.

I just have to watch my parameters, since I don't know if it will kill my biological filter bacteria?

After that, I don't know how to stop the cyano short of the skimmer.

I feed twice a day. Pellets in the morning and brine shrimp at night. I have cut down on the amount I feed. I try to make sure all of it is consumed.. but I'm sure some isn't.

I do a 20-30% water change weekly.

My parameters as of this morning are:
amm 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20, salinity 1.024, ph 8.0, dkH 9-10

 

[hackteck]

make sure you have good flow in your tank too with few dead spots usually the cyano will grow where the flow is the weakest

 

[Sarcothelia]

It's not going to be a reef tank, right? Because quick cure has copper in it and the rocks will absorb it.

 

[scottayy]

It's not going to be a reef tank, right? Because quick cure has copper in it and the rocks will absorb it.

>.<
are you serious

all of my planning has been to make this a reef tank

 

[Sarcothelia]

Then don't use quick cure with live rock :O. Exposing live rock to copper essentially makes it a dud for future reef use.

 

[hackteck]

actually quick cure has malachite green and formalin dont think it has copper but i dont know if these will prevent you from having a reef in the future

 

[Maya]

Don't ever treat anything in your display tank. Meds that kill bacteria and parasites on fish... Kill bacteria and critters on rocks and filters. Malachite green has been described as "chemo for fish", super harsh and fairly toxic. Not good for your live rock, sand, or inverts. This is why you need quarantine tanks/ hospital tanks.

 

[Sarcothelia]

Ah well. In that case it is still bad regardless of whether or not it has copper.

 

[hackteck]

Don't ever treat anything in your display tank. Meds that kill bacteria and parasites on fish... Kill bacteria and critters on rocks and filters. Malachite green has been described as "chemo for fish", super harsh and fairly toxic. Not good for your live rock, sand, or inverts. This is why you need quarantine tanks/ hospital tanks.

yea but ive always read that copper will soak into your lr and prevent future reef use is the same to be said for malachite green?

 

[scottayy]

Well, I did not know all of this.

Gladly though the white spots are completely off of my fish and the clownfish have a lot less velvet looking stuff on them. Tomorrow is the last day of treatment. I did not know this stuff was this harsh.

By "live rock" I mean that it is base rock but is live because it has beneficial bacteria on it.

So if I go reef down the road should I replace the rocks and sand or give them a good boil or...

What if I just do a bunch of PWC's and run a lot of activated carbon before then?

 

[mr_X]

do you have any inverts in the tank at all? if so, and they lived through the treatment, you should be ok to keep the rock and sand.

 

[Maya]

Like mr x said... If your inverts survived you should be fine. If you don't have inverts, watch for an ammonia spike or a cycle and see if that indicates a bunch of die off.
In the future I would use a hospital tank to
Treat my fish. If you had coral or inverts in that tank already you would/could have poisoned all of it. Be super cautious when you do add inverts if you don't already have them. If you add something to your tank and it dies, I would get rid of the rock. At this point it really boils down to what strength you used the QuickCure at as to how toxic it is. Any med that says reef safe, doesn't work IMO. All of your effective meds like copper, formalin, malachite green are toxic for your reef. A qt doesn't have to be fancy. A rubbermaid tote will work. But 20 or 30 dollars can end up saving you thousands in the end. Before you go out and buy a suggested meds or treatments, research it and it possible side effects.

 

[scottayy]

Thanks for the replies. Nope, didn't have any corals or inverts in there. I removed the snails and crabs and put them in a rubbermaid tote before i started treatment.

Can a 10g with hang on back filter and a heater be used as a hospital/quarantine tank?

 

[scottayy]

Massive ammonia spike. Bout 2.0. I see lots of pwcs in my future. I am using tap water cuz it takes me forever to make rodi water. I will use prime. I wonder if they would be better off in a 10 g till I get the dt under control

 

[scottayy]

Should I remove the rocks and clean them? Looks like I'm going to cycle again and might as well get the dead bacteria and quick cure off