Cyno outbreak help

[Suncastle1]

Maroon colored outbreak with strings all over the tank and sand for about three weeks.
Turned off lights for 3 days which helped some but now its back with a vengance.
Using ro/di water.
Feed fish once a day.
Lost two sps when lights were off.
Have done partial water changes too.
Tempted to use chemical treatment but don't want to lose anymore sps or other livestock.
Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

[Deanos]

:idea: Try a search on Manhattan Reefs for cyano or cyanobacteria.

or

Tell us about your system:

• Tank size
• Inhabitants
• Skimmer
• Nutrient levels
• etc.

 

[Suncastle1]

75 aga rr with sps, clam, 5 fish (2 lyretail anthias); ruby wrasse; 2 false percula; and powder brown tang
euro reef rs80 skimmer
running carbon (change every 2 weeks)
phosban reactor
dual 250 mh and actinic running approximately 10 hours/day
Supplement with esv bionic
I had diatom outbreak which went away - now this.
What's strange is that everything is basically thriving.

 

[daisy]

How often and what do you feed? How do you feed it?

What is your photoperiodicity specifically? How long on each light?

search to see what cyano needs in order to thrive, figure out how you're supplying that thing (those things) and then figure out how to cut back on them so that everything else still does okay, but the cyano does not.

don't add chemicals yet! trim by hand if you can to keep it from choking off other things. add animals that eat it (search for what animals do that...)

good luck!

-daisy

 

[fritz]

Powder brown tangs drop serious turds. Monsterous turds as a matter of fact. If yours is anything like mine you need to get those turds out asap. It doesn't matter how deep your SB, how large your skimmer or how hungry your clean up crew. Those things are huge and they are just fermenting in your tank. Phosban should be changed every four weeks IMO and IME. Changing the carbon every two weeks is spot on good husbandry.

How often are you doing water changes?
As Daisy mentioned, what are you feeding and how often? Frozen food is super high in phosphates so make sure you rinse it VERY well before feeding it.

 

[Suncastle1]

I never considered the tang's turds. I've seen them but didn't think they could be responsible for the outbreak. Also, rinsing the frozen food? I've never done that. I simply take the cube and put in a cup of tank water and wait for it to "melt" - then throw it in the tank. Thanks for the two possibilities.

 

[fritz]

Two possibilities nothing, that's the cause of your high PO4 level.

 

[Suncastle1]

Fritz - how do you specifically rinse the food and how on earth do I monitor the tang?

 

[fritz]

For the food I drop a cube into a jar of cold water and leave it there for 5 minutes or so. I then swish it around and pour the contents into a "brine shrimp net", available for $3 at any LFS. I then pour cold water through the net a few times or even put it under the faucet. I then empty the contents back into the freshly rinsed out jar so that just the food and very little if any water is in the jar. I then add some tank water to the jar and slowly, little by little, pour it in.


As to monitoring the Tang, no matter what you do he will poop. There's no stopping that. In my tank it's bare bottom so that makes it a little easier. All of my detritus accumulates in one spot and each week when I change the water I siphon out all the waste.

 

[Suncastle1]

Thanks - I'll rinse the food and see if it helps. Pretty funny - I guess I can't prevent the tang from going - but I will scoop the poop when I see it.

 

[Vic8361]

sunsastle1 just curiuos as to how long has the tank been up and running?
In the early stages of a system you tend to go through these out breaks that fall off later down the road. Reducing PO4 would be of great help either way. I started using GFO media a while back and won't run my tank with out it. It does a great job in my opinon.

Vic

 

[Suncastle1]

Tank has been running for about 4 or 5 months - I'm using RowaPhos. What do you use?

 

[Vic8361]

I belive the tank is still young and it's just going through its cycle.
I wouldn't treat unless it totaly takes over the tank other wise just keep up what your doing and wait also rinsing the food will surely help.

Vic

 

[Bob 1000]

Sell it on frags...

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

How is your flo? I think you need to up the water flow on the cyano areas, also run some carbon and phosphate remover if you can.

 

[Suncastle1]

Thanks Brendan - already doing both - I think I'll do a massive water change this weekend (50%) and start rinsing the food - I'm also thinking about removing the powder brown, although it's a beautiful fish and is always active.

 

[fritz]

While cyano often comes with "new tank syndrome" it doesn't always. Your tank has been setup long enough to be through "new tank syndrome." Unless you've just added sand or done something to trigger a mini cycle your cyano is the result of high nutrients.

Cyano is present in the air we breath so there is no way to ever have a tank free of cyanobacteria. They need light and phosphates to thrive. While it is true that it grows less in areas of high flow, it still grows. I'd also like to mention that on many forums I see "more flow" posted as the cure to cyano. Cyano is not caused by lack of flow and thus cannot be cured by adding more flow. Removing it's food is the only way to prevent it's growth.

That being said, any of the antibiotic of "red slime remover" type products are band-aids for that exact reason. If your tank has a high phosphate level you will have cyano. If you kill all the cyano in your tank via one of these products you've done nothing to change your phosphate level. In three or four days the cyano in the air will fall into your tank and begin their feast. Once again your tank will be overrun with cyano and you'll have to dose again. It's a never ending cycle because you've only treated the symptom NOT the problem.

The easiest way to maintain low nutrient levels is to recognize their source and do your best to limit their introduction to your tank. The second step is to effectively get them out, via good skimming and weekly 10-20% water changes.