Cyanobacteria turning brown? Is it over now?

[jbholasingh]

So my tank is fairly new and I've been having some cyano on the rocks and on the substrate. Now, the cyano is all turning brown and some of it is even braking up and floating up to the surface. The skimmer is going absolutely mad the last few days as well. I'm of the opinion that it's finally dying off and all by woes are over. But what do I know anyway.

 

[lapin]

You can help by sucking as much of it up when doing a water change. Cross fingers maybe the uglies are over.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Are you using Red Slime Remover or Chemi Clean to get rid of it? Great products.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Monitor and see if it goes away.

If your tank is trying to establish let it run its course while checking your parameters

 

[jbholasingh]

Just to update I took a toothbrush to the rocks and got rid of most of the cyano. If it doesn't grow back I guess I'm in the clear!

Also, I noticed some green patches that were impossible to remove as hard as I scrubbed. Possibly green Coralline?? Hopefully not the start of some new thing

No chemicals or dosing, just water changes and toothbrushes.

 

[ScottB]

Just to update I took a toothbrush to the rocks and got rid of most of the cyano. If it doesn't grow back I guess I'm in the clear!

Also, I noticed some green patches that were impossible to remove as hard as I scrubbed. Possibly green Coralline?? Hopefully not the start of some new thing

No chemicals or dosing, just water changes and toothbrushes.

If the system is really new, you have many more little phases in your future. Red things, brown things, green things, fuzzy things, hairy things.

Water changes and toothbrushes are ideal husbandry tools.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Chemi Clean is a great little product. No one seems to know what’s in it? Shh we just don’t talk about it. It will clear up your Cyano in 24-48 hours.

 

[ScottB]

Chemi Clean is a great little product. No one seems to know what’s in it? Shh we just don’t talk about it. It will clear up your Cyano in 24-48 hours.

Erythromycin. It is a fairly indiscriminate antibiotic. While it does not impact nitrifying bacteria, it kills a broad range of other bacteria. Some of those bacteria compete with dinoflagellates. Half of the posts in the "are you tired" thread start with "I had cyano, killed it with Chemi, now I have dinos".

Take care not to dose it if your system is short on nutrients.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Erythromycin. It is a fairly indiscriminate antibiotic. While it does not impact nitrifying bacteria, it kills a broad range of other bacteria. Some of those bacteria compete with dinoflagellates. Half of the posts in the "are you tired" thread start with "I had cyano, killed it with Chemi, now I have dinos".

Take care not to dose it if your system is short on nutrients.

I think “Half the posts” might be a bit high. Although good caution on your part Scott really. I’ve never had dinos. I also help service hundreds of tanks. We use Chemi Clean or red Slime Remover when needed, no dinos so far. Good luck.

 

[ScottB]

I think “Half the posts” might be a bit high. Although good caution on your part Scott really. I’ve never had dinos. I also help service hundreds of tanks. We use Chemi Clean or red Slime Remover when needed, no dinos so far. Good luck.

I am prone to some hyperbole

Actually the majority of new cases are GFO OD related, but Chemi isn't far behind.

 

[jarviz]

Erythromycin. It is a fairly indiscriminate antibiotic. While it does not impact nitrifying bacteria, it kills a broad range of other bacteria. Some of those bacteria compete with dinoflagellates. Half of the posts in the "are you tired" thread start with "I had cyano, killed it with Chemi, now I have dinos".

Take care not to dose it if your system is short on nutrients.

I just finished running chemiclean to battle cyano.. did a 20% water change. Now my nitrates are about 5ppm and phosphates .07ppm.... is there any other bacteria i should add back to prevent dinos?

 

[ScottB]

I just finished running chemiclean to battle cyano.. did a 20% water change. Now my nitrates are about 5ppm and phosphates .07ppm.... is there any other bacteria i should add back to prevent dinos?

Those are pretty good numbers; just don't let either one bottom out. Avoid dosing aminos for a few weeks at least.

Most of the bottled bacterias are nitrifying, so I would have some concern about it reducing nitrates, so go lightly and feed the fish more.

 

[jbholasingh]

Update

Since removing the cyano it seems none is growing back. I genuinely believe that cyano turning brown/yellow is the final phase in the wave. Whatever red pigment is in cyano must degrade as the conditions in the water become unfavorable, leading to a collapse in the population. Nearing the end of the wave my nitrates were nearly undetectable and phosphates 0.25ppm. Perhaps the low nitrate shut down the cyano? If anyone has more info on the proportions of nutrients that cyano thrives in feel free to chime in.

Since the disappearance of cyano there has been a wave of GHA which has come and gone leaving my nitrates completely undetectable and phosphates quickly approaching 0 on my test kit. The GHA seems to have thrived in the post-cyano (low NO3 high PO4) environment. It mopped up the remaining nitrate and phosphate and now starting to subside as both nitrate and phosphate approach extremely low levels.

Bragging rights goes to whoever can guess what type of algae will strike me now in this low nitrate/phosphate environment. My money is on bubble algae.

 

[ScottB]

Update

Since removing the cyano it seems none is growing back. I genuinely believe that cyano turning brown/yellow is the final phase in the wave. Whatever red pigment is in cyano must degrade as the conditions in the water become unfavorable, leading to a collapse in the population. Nearing the end of the wave my nitrates were nearly undetectable and phosphates 0.25ppm. Perhaps the low nitrate shut down the cyano? If anyone has more info on the proportions of nutrients that cyano thrives in feel free to chime in.

Since the disappearance of cyano there has been a wave of GHA which has come and gone leaving my nitrates completely undetectable and phosphates quickly approaching 0 on my test kit. The GHA seems to have thrived in the post-cyano (low NO3 high PO4) environment. It mopped up the remaining nitrate and phosphate and now starting to subside as both nitrate and phosphate approach extremely low levels.

Bragging rights goes to whoever can guess what type of algae will strike me now in this low nitrate/phosphate environment. My money is on bubble algae.

Valonia can be happy in low nutrient systems for sure. But I will take dinoflagellates for 200.

 

[reefiniteasy]

Update

Since removing the cyano it seems none is growing back. I genuinely believe that cyano turning brown/yellow is the final phase in the wave. Whatever red pigment is in cyano must degrade as the conditions in the water become unfavorable, leading to a collapse in the population. Nearing the end of the wave my nitrates were nearly undetectable and phosphates 0.25ppm. Perhaps the low nitrate shut down the cyano? If anyone has more info on the proportions of nutrients that cyano thrives in feel free to chime in.

Since the disappearance of cyano there has been a wave of GHA which has come and gone leaving my nitrates completely undetectable and phosphates quickly approaching 0 on my test kit. The GHA seems to have thrived in the post-cyano (low NO3 high PO4) environment. It mopped up the remaining nitrate and phosphate and now starting to subside as both nitrate and phosphate approach extremely low levels.

Bragging rights goes to whoever can guess what type of algae will strike me now in this low nitrate/phosphate environment. My money is on bubble algae.

Edit: misread your post. Comment was irrelevant.

 

[jbholasingh]

Update

There does seem to be a new nuisance algae on the scene. It forms a film on the top of the water and look basically like an oil slick or dust that just closes up if you blow a hole in it. At first I thought it was just the Sahara dust we get here but after looking at it under the microscope it seems to be some sort of round/unicellular algae. I can't find any reference to this type of film anywhere on the internet either.

I'm seeing some small patches of coralline popping up. No more cyano either. Nitrates and phosphates are still extremely low.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Coralline algae is good. Congrats! Nitrates and Phosphates low good too!
Your film on the top surface of water are proteins that should be eliminated by your overflow chamber and trapped in a prefilter sponge and finished off by your skimmer. That’s just a solid guess? What else can you show or tell me?

 

[MabuyaQ]

Update

Since removing the cyano it seems none is growing back. I genuinely believe that cyano turning brown/yellow is the final phase in the wave. Whatever red pigment is in cyano must degrade as the conditions in the water become unfavorable, leading to a collapse in the population. Nearing the end of the wave my nitrates were nearly undetectable and phosphates 0.25ppm. Perhaps the low nitrate shut down the cyano? If anyone has more info on the proportions of nutrients that cyano thrives in feel free to chime in.

Since the disappearance of cyano there has been a wave of GHA which has come and gone leaving my nitrates completely undetectable and phosphates quickly approaching 0 on my test kit. The GHA seems to have thrived in the post-cyano (low NO3 high PO4) environment. It mopped up the remaining nitrate and phosphate and now starting to subside as both nitrate and phosphate approach extremely low levels.

Bragging rights goes to whoever can guess what type of algae will strike me now in this low nitrate/phosphate environment. My money is on bubble algae.

Dino's

 

[jbholasingh]

Coralline algae is good. Congrats! Nitrates and Phosphates low good too!
Your film on the top surface of water are proteins that should be eliminated by your overflow chamber and trapped in a prefilter sponge and finished off by your skimmer. That’s just a solid guess? What else can you show or tell me?

I thought along these same lines until I put some of the film on a slide. See below the low (image1) and high(image2) magnification shots. I also stained some slides (image2,3) to reveal plentiful bacteria in the background and some internal details of the algae.