Cyano Questions and Answers

[Mya]

I was reading the RO/DI thread and thought I would open a discussion for Cyano treatments.

If you have Cyano, I know it is best to figure out what is causing but...
What causes it?
What causes Cyano to thrive?
What harmful affects does Cyano have on your system if any? (Aside from it being ugly in there)
How do you know you got Cyano and not red Coraline?
What treatments are there for Cyano?
Who has tried the treatments? And what kind of affects can it have on your tank? (Harmful to inverts? Nems? Corals? Water perms?)

Thanks for answering and thanks for discussing these things.

 

[phil_pl]

I have had Cyano issuse a few time in my tank both red and green. I didn't notice any ill effects but it is a huge eye sore. I treated mine with Ultra Life Red Slime Remover, I also ran no lights and fed only flake food for about a week to starve it out. I also did a large water change before I added the treatment to suck out all the cyano I could

 

[Mya]

No one else has answers or experiences they would like to share?

 

[flapjack]

I was fighting cyno, red slime, as well as an algae problem for a while. After trying a number of things I started running a phosphate reactor. The difference was like night and day. The cyno has disappeared and the algae is nonexistant.

Running a phosphate reactor gets my vote.

 

[Mya]

Thanks for the input.
Im looking forward to more ppls experiences and answers as well.

 

[stunreefer]

What causes it?

All nuisance algae is fueled by excess nutrients.

What causes Cyano to thrive?

Excess nutrients and light.

What harmful affects does Cyano have on your system if any? (Aside from it being ugly in there)

Potentially can choke out coral causing death.

How do you know you got Cyano and not red Coraline?

Coraline is a calcareous deposit where cyano is generally loosley attached to rocks and/or substrate. Blow water towards it with a turkey baster... if it moves and blows off the rock it's cyanobacteria.

What treatments are there for Cyano?

To eradictae cyanobacteria one must identify where/how the excess nutrients are being introduced. With any "quick fix/treatment" the problem will re-occur unless the underlying factors are addressed.

You can treat with Erythromycin to kill it off in a pinch, but again unless the underlying factors are addressed it will re-appear.

Who has tried the treatments? And what kind of affects can it have on your tank? (Harmful to inverts? Nems? Corals? Water perms?)

On mainenance tanks I have used the Erythromycin "quick-fix before" with no issues, but immediately after doing so do a 25% water change, along with fresh carbon introduction, then figuire out where the excess nutrients are coming from.

 

[FaviaFreak]

I've dealt with it a few times, the best course of action and the one that always has worked for me is pull out as much as you can doing water changes and add an army and I mean army of red legged hermits, they will destroy the stuff in no time

 

[Mya]

Rly? Red legs huh? I heard nothing eats Cyano? This is all very interesting.
Thanks Stun for breaking down all my questions and answering them.

I can't honestly figure out if I have Cyano or if I have red Coraline. I don't have any red stuff on my sand bed but I do have it on the glass and rocks. Glass Im pretty sure is coraline but rocks Im not so sure of.

I have been debating on if I should medicate the tank. I dont want anything to die but at the same time, I seem to be having some issues with my corals as well.

I should post up some pics along with some questions I suppose.

Edit*
Here are some pics.
This is on the glass and you can see where I have tried to get it off.

Here is some rocks.

Here is more rocks.

And lastly, slightly off topic... which isn't new for me when I post but what is all over my GSP? It hasnt opened in 2 days and this stuff is all over it. Im about to try and blow it off but would like to know if anyone knows what it is. Thanks

 

[laskopyre]

if it can be blown off with a turkey baster, or power head it's cyano. If it has to be scraped, it's not cyano. Cyano is almost like a film that forms over the sand/rock, etc... No scraping necessary that I've seen.

the thing on your GSP looks like calcium build-up. I just gently blow it off with a pipette or baster.

 

[Mya]

I blew a good portion of it off but not all of it is coming off. Also its in a place where I really cant get a direct flow on it.

Calcium build up honestly sound right. I recently got a bad bucket of salt and my calcium went THREW THE ROOF... Like so high, I couldnt even get a reading on it. I have been doing small water changes to hopefully bring it down and balance it out. Still doing those water changes tho. Ugh.

Any other suggestions as to how I can get that stuff off there? I am worried about it not opening up and possibly dying off. Ugh.
As for the Cyano, it doesnt come off. It doesnt come off the rocks even if I rub them with my hand or something. Nothing on the sandbed either....

Im kinda stumped.

 

[Yellowtang]

Does this look like what you have going on? This guy cured his with snails. I cured mine that I had a long time ago by ugrading the protien skimmer and in three weeks
it was all gone..
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-12/nftt/index.php

JR,

 

[laskopyre]

It doesn't sound like cyano if you can't get it off with your hand. Cyano is like a slime. How long has the tank been up and running, and what are your readings...PH, CAL, MAG, Ammonia, nitrates, phosphate, etc... Could be a different type of real algae, or coralline.

 

[Mya]

Well honestly, my tank was doing great and then took a solid turn south which I have been trying to climb back out of.
It has been a combination honestly of many bad things. I know I need to overhaul the 90 and get some serious upgrades. 1 being a better skimmer. 2 better lights.

I had a bad batch of salt which totally made my cal threw the roof and then right behind it I had my salinity jump up really high all of a sudden. I think it might have been a delayed reaction from the bad salt.

It might be turf algae. Im honestly not sure. My phosophates were high and I am trying to get them under control as well.

Before I go doing anything to crazy Im trying to get the frag tank up and move some stuff over there if need be. Things like that.

 

[MSU Fan]

More flow always helps with Cyano, but it really is a nutrient issue. When I feed less, my cyano dies back. It little sucking during a water change helps as well.

 

[Mya]

When I do water changes and such there is nothing to suck up. Fish poo I can suck up off the rocks and such. Or calcium, which ever it is but never the red stuff.

Right now, I think I best focus on getting the frag tank up. What frags I got left out and into the new tank, and then work on fighting with that stuff.
Btw, I only feed my fish about once a week now a days. =/ I can't cut back much more.

 

[revo]

I was having a bad case (not as bad as your though) and was doing 10gal wc every other day with no luck. I was running ozone; bought a PO4 rx and tried to skim wet. I wanted to do this without adding any antibiotics. what worked for me was an increase in magnesium. the problem went away in a week.

Its hard for me to tell but in the first photo it looks like you tried to scape it and the other photos look like turf algae. Cyano is very slimy and comes off easily and in my case, have a lot of air bubbles. does your have this?

As for the GSP, could you have gotten so far out of balance the the calcium precipitated out of solution? I would test your Ca, Alk, Mg and Salinity and see if you can bring this back into balance with the some of the Seachem products. don't try and use a balance product such as Kalk or a Ca Rx as it will not work. Learned this the hard way....good luck

 

[beaslbob]

cyano can get it's nitrogen from the dissolved nitrogen gas vrs amonia/nitrated that algae uses.

As nutrient levels lower there can be left over phosphates which the cyano can consume because it gets the nitrogen from the gas.

Fortunately cyano dies off very fast.

So the first thing you should do IMHO is just kill the lights. A few days later the cyano is usually gone with no bad effects to corals, corraline, and macros.

The cyano dying will return nitrates to the system encouraging the corals and algae.

Some even have a monthly 2 day blackout as standard procedure.

h@rry reported at a local meeting he did the black out twice and after the second time it did not come back.

my .02

oh yea he was amazed. it just couldn't be that simple. But it was.

 

[Mya]

Okay, today I am going wrap the tank in paper and leave it lightless for the next 2 days. Im worried about doing that even but figure hey, its worth a shot. The tank will still get some light because of the open top. After that I plan on doing a water change and take some solid good readings on tests.

I hate testing. Its always like a punch in the stomach or face but ya, I know it has to be done.
Im gonna borrow the vacuum thingy from the LFS to use on my tank too. See what I can get for lose stuff that is on my rocks and such. Its not lose stuff like Cyano but lose stuff like what is in that pic on my GSP.

Lastly I am going to order a new cleaner crew for the tank. I had a salinity spike in my tank last week and most of my snails offed because of it. They should be here by Friday too... Hopefully. I didnt order a bunch of crabs because I have had problems with crabs ripping frags off of plugs or setting them a drift by pulling up the glue that was holding them on.

I'm open to suggestions still and I'll be here off and on all day. Wrapping the tank now in brown paper... Feel free to say whatcha think please.

Edit* I went and read a post and it said something about phosophates leaking from plastics. That might be part of my problem you know. My Phosophates were really high before and I think they still are. Yes, I said it above. I been putting off the water testing... And maybe my water barrel has something to do with it. I should check that. Good thinking guys. Thanks.

Edit* If this is red turf algae and not Cyano, will the 2 days without light do anything to it?

Isn't that sad looking?

Even the moonlights are off in the tank. As you can see from the fixture tho, the tank will get some natural light still.And Ill have to open the bottom to add water this evening but still. Its closed up tight for the next 2 days. =/

 

[MSU Fan]

I really don't think that its turf algae. It looks like cyano from your description and every picture you took.

Frankly, don't worry about 2 days without light. Remember, it gets cloudy over the ocean too. 2 days may not be enough, but it's a start. Do a solid water change after the 2 day blackout and suck as much of the cyano out at that time. I would wait a week of 2 after that and probably do it again.

As an FYI, I do know people that regularly do 3 day blackouts with no negative impact to their tanks, so 2 days shouldn't be a big deal.

 

[Mya]

Thanks MSU..
I think it will all be okay. My maroon loves to pick up frag plugs and throw them around so Im sure I will have to try and find all my frags once I take the paper down.

Im gonna pull any and all things I can out of there when I do the water change. The LFS guy told me I can come use his vacuum thingy whenever I was ready to do it. Im gonna do like a 30-40g water change if I can. I gotta be careful not to get the water lower then the rocks...

Im sure more then one black out is going to be needed for what I got going on in there. You know the other LFS guy told me it can't be Cyano because Cyano doesnt go on your rocks only your sand. Sometimes this hobby can be SO confusing because depending on where you go, you get a different answer for the same question!