Quick question - Cyanobacteria

[RoOfDiVr]

Have a 75 gallon saltwater, it's been up for about 5 weeks. I have 3 damsels, and one trigger. Everything was going smooth till I left for a week. My son said her aunt was feeding them to much. Well the problem is I have Cynobacteria rocking me! I was told not to put anything else in the tank till it cycles. Should I wait or should I get some clean up crew?

 

[Marco V]

You shouldn't add anything while the tank is cycling , after the cycle is done them add the CUC. But at the end you could what you want it's your tank . I couldn't wait and added them towards the end of my cycle.

 

[RoOfDiVr]

Have a 75 gallon saltwater, it's been up for about 5 weeks. I have 3 damsels, and one trigger. Everything was going smooth till I left for a week. My son said her aunt was feeding them to much. Well the problem is I have Cynobacteria rocking me! I was told not to put anything else in the tank till it cycles. Should I wait or should I get some clean up crew?

I am having a hard time waiting to put the CUC in, I just don't want a nightmare of a time trying to clean up. Will that Cynobacteria kill off anything in the tank?

 

[Marco V]

As far as I know cyano just looks bad , then again I've only had since may with my tank . But already won a battle with cyano.

 

[DWilliams]

It's only bad for corals not fish I'm pretty sure.

 

[RoOfDiVr]

How did ya get rid of it? I heard bumble bees are the only ones that will eat em, by the way thanks for responding folks appreciate it

 

[Marco V]

i used "ultra life red slime remover" it will drive your skimmer crazy till you do a couple of water changes. but the red slime was gone the next day.

 

[Ingy]

Shut the lights off during the cycle.

 

[danbstrong]

Shut the lights off during the cycle.

Sound like your overloaded for cycling i personally run skimmer and fugi during cycle with no lights on dt

 

[RoOfDiVr]

I've had the lights off now for about 4 days, I think it's driving the fish nuts but they will deal. I added about 20 crabs and there working overtime. I haven't put any kind of remover in there yet. I added a blower on either side, and I have to say, the Cyanobacteria is not a fan. It's slowly going away, but I'm afraid if I turn those lights on its gonna b a mess. But we shall see. Thanks everyone for there input. Oh yeah I have the skimmer but no refuge... Have to ask Santa for that lol

 

[crister13]

Lights off will do nothing. Your fog will go insane and you will achieve nothing. Cyano is a bacteria, not an algae, and isn't photosynthetic. Also, lights off will not solve the nutrient problem. Sorry to be the bearer of had news.

 

[crister13]

I would run lights on a normal time schedule for the fish. They need some lights to stay sane.

 

[Madcrazyroyboy]

Cyno appears after a cycle, insufficient lighting or when the spectrum changes from older bulbs. It's not photosynthetic it just happens in not 100% sure. But it usually goes away within 2 weeks when the problem is corrected

 

[Ingy]

Actually cyano is photosynthetic. Prefers light in the 6500K range. But, yes, it eats too. But I did forget this tank had fish during the cycle.

 

[Madcrazyroyboy]

That would make sense from the spectrum change from year old bulbs. High lights will get rid of it but then a new problem. Green hair algae if your nitrates and phos are high lol

 

[danbstrong]

That would make sense from the spectrum change from year old bulbs. High lights will get rid of it but then a new problem. Green hair algae if your nitrates and phos are high lol

Cyano is photosynthetic and also aquatic it feeds both ways cut back lil on light cut lil on feeding up waterflow aggressive skimming

 

[Engineer Brian]

I had a bad Cyano problem a few months ago. Im always afraid to use any of the red slime removers so I go with the manual process (50% water change then scrub every single rock with a tooth brush in the waste water). I then change my PC bulbs and as expected I get an outbreak of hair algae. I staffed up my CUC and added a one spot fox face. The hair algae is receding and so far no new cyano. Doing 30% water changes until everything is back to normal.

Every couple of years I get complacent on my water changes and end up right back where I am now. I think color changes in my PC bulbs are the trigger. It takes 2-3 months of hard work but you can overcome this problem.

I've been keeping a SW tank for about 10 years now... I am anything adding anything that doesn't naturally occur in the ocean.

 

[RoOfDiVr]

I've cut back on the feeding, and been on a regular schedule with the lights and it seems to calm down. Also changed up the food for the fish. Thanks for all the help once again

 

[RoOfDiVr]

Well just to update I ended up using Chemiclean. And I have to say I was very hesitant to do it but no matter what I did it just wouldn't go away. But now that I did I'm very happy with the result. The fish were breathing a little hard for about 14 hours, they ate fine and weren't acting out of the ordinary. The corals just went on there merry day like nothing was going on. And the cyno... Peace out! That stuff worked it. Had to do a 20% change after 48 hours, then another 20% two days later and poof! The skimmer went nuts for a day but calmed down about day 4 (didn't turn skimmer on till after the first 48 hours). Thanks again for giving me some tips and tricks. Also changed my t5 bulbs. Clean tank!

 

[Minkota]

Have you checked your phosphate levels? It has been my experience, high phosphates are usually what get it started.