Narideth
Fishaholic
Ok, so, prepare for an info dump and long story.
I have a 15 gallon cube stocked with two clowns, royal gramma, bubbletip anemone and a handful of corals and CUC that's 2 years old. It got a severe case of bryopsis that I could not get rid of. I even took all of the rockwork apart and scrubbed it out of the tank with a peroxide bath - and within two weeks saw it coming in again. So I turned to fluconazole and blasted the tank.
Whether or not this was a good idea is moot - I learned from this tank how to do the same in my pico while supporting the growing biological filters so the tank didn't experience a biological crash so.. some good came from this experience. The problem is of course that the tank has become the home of not only dinos, but also cyano. This doesn't make sense to me, as they are polar opposites in the spectrum - the tank can't be simultaneously bereft of nutrients and also flooded with them. Still, I started the normal and mostly natural means that people generally recommend. I've been siphoning daily, scrubbing the rocks, dosing MB7 and phyto as well as tisbee pods, and seemingly making no progress. It's nearing two months now and not only am I running through salt but also my RODI filters.
I bought a microscope early on to identify the dino type - Amphidinium. I tested UV just to see if my identification was wrong, but there was no difference so I pulled the UV out. Now I had been replacing siphoned water with freshly mixed water, which was at once removing the dinos and cyano, but also drawing out the nutrients that would allow a healthy biome to out-compete both of these nuisances. I happened to come across a brilliant suggestion - run the water through a filter sock and return the same water to the tank, preserving the nutrients and whatever might be growing. Brilliant! I purchased a single 10 micron filter sock to begin that effort - that was only a week ago - and the first time, it worked beautifully. I pulled out a full five gallons, and it was SO clean, it even persisted partially into the night and next day.
Having read about how most people use filter socks for 3-5 days before changing them, I went to use the sock again the next day - in the condition it was in, thinking I would clean it every couple of days. It filtered fine but when I put that water back into my tank, my anemone was NOT pleased. It shriveled. I assumed some die off from the dinos/cyano had leached something bad into the water, so I cleaned the sock - turned it inside out, blasted it with a hose and let it air dry. I did a regular water change siphon while it was drying and the anemone improved.
The next day the sock was used - it was dry, it seemed clean, but the anemone once more shriveled and was very unhappy. I can only assume that I didn't get it clean enough, I'll have to run it through the wash with bleach etc or however people fully clean them, but I only have the one so far.
So now I'm indecisive about how to proceed. I'm beginning to think I should nuke one problem before tackling the other - use something like coral snow or chemiclean to kill the cyano and then focus on the dinos alone with the regular methods. Do I get more socks and hope that cleaning them in hot water + bleach will clear out whatever is irritating my anemone? Up until this point none of my livestock have been effected by this in a negative way. I feed the tank, the corals, the anemone and everyone puffs up happy to respond.
Fresh testing this morning puts the tank light on nutrients, which I assumed would be the case with the constant water changes. The fact that there's any nitrates at all is a miracle and likely due to the few changes with the filter sock. It's done nothing to stop the cyano from spreading of course.
Salinity: 1.026
PH: 8
Alk 8.6
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 10
Phos: 0
Calcium 400
Here's a tank pic, today, before I've done any cleaning or siphoning. This is about average and it gets worse as the day goes on. The anemone is feeling better but not great, and I'm soaking my mixing bucket to clean it, and getting another water change ready. Filtration/flow is a HOB, a surface skimmer (not protien skimmer) and a powerhead. I have the powerhead aimed at the surface for decent agitation, the skimmer adds more oxygen, flow in the tank is a random medium.
I'm not fully against breaking the tank down, but I'm 100% concerned about my anemone going back into a 'new' tank. I don't have room for it in my coral-stocked evo, especially not for the months it would take to mature again, and getting it off the rock without stressing it the heck out is doubtful. I'm looking for help on where to go next, if I should turn to more filter socks, do they need to be cleaned in bleach in a washing machine. Should I nuke one threat and then focus on the other. I have Neophos on hand but am hesitant to start dosing without knowledgable/experienced opinions.
I have a 15 gallon cube stocked with two clowns, royal gramma, bubbletip anemone and a handful of corals and CUC that's 2 years old. It got a severe case of bryopsis that I could not get rid of. I even took all of the rockwork apart and scrubbed it out of the tank with a peroxide bath - and within two weeks saw it coming in again. So I turned to fluconazole and blasted the tank.
Whether or not this was a good idea is moot - I learned from this tank how to do the same in my pico while supporting the growing biological filters so the tank didn't experience a biological crash so.. some good came from this experience. The problem is of course that the tank has become the home of not only dinos, but also cyano. This doesn't make sense to me, as they are polar opposites in the spectrum - the tank can't be simultaneously bereft of nutrients and also flooded with them. Still, I started the normal and mostly natural means that people generally recommend. I've been siphoning daily, scrubbing the rocks, dosing MB7 and phyto as well as tisbee pods, and seemingly making no progress. It's nearing two months now and not only am I running through salt but also my RODI filters.
I bought a microscope early on to identify the dino type - Amphidinium. I tested UV just to see if my identification was wrong, but there was no difference so I pulled the UV out. Now I had been replacing siphoned water with freshly mixed water, which was at once removing the dinos and cyano, but also drawing out the nutrients that would allow a healthy biome to out-compete both of these nuisances. I happened to come across a brilliant suggestion - run the water through a filter sock and return the same water to the tank, preserving the nutrients and whatever might be growing. Brilliant! I purchased a single 10 micron filter sock to begin that effort - that was only a week ago - and the first time, it worked beautifully. I pulled out a full five gallons, and it was SO clean, it even persisted partially into the night and next day.
Having read about how most people use filter socks for 3-5 days before changing them, I went to use the sock again the next day - in the condition it was in, thinking I would clean it every couple of days. It filtered fine but when I put that water back into my tank, my anemone was NOT pleased. It shriveled. I assumed some die off from the dinos/cyano had leached something bad into the water, so I cleaned the sock - turned it inside out, blasted it with a hose and let it air dry. I did a regular water change siphon while it was drying and the anemone improved.
The next day the sock was used - it was dry, it seemed clean, but the anemone once more shriveled and was very unhappy. I can only assume that I didn't get it clean enough, I'll have to run it through the wash with bleach etc or however people fully clean them, but I only have the one so far.
So now I'm indecisive about how to proceed. I'm beginning to think I should nuke one problem before tackling the other - use something like coral snow or chemiclean to kill the cyano and then focus on the dinos alone with the regular methods. Do I get more socks and hope that cleaning them in hot water + bleach will clear out whatever is irritating my anemone? Up until this point none of my livestock have been effected by this in a negative way. I feed the tank, the corals, the anemone and everyone puffs up happy to respond.
Fresh testing this morning puts the tank light on nutrients, which I assumed would be the case with the constant water changes. The fact that there's any nitrates at all is a miracle and likely due to the few changes with the filter sock. It's done nothing to stop the cyano from spreading of course.
Salinity: 1.026
PH: 8
Alk 8.6
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 10
Phos: 0
Calcium 400
Here's a tank pic, today, before I've done any cleaning or siphoning. This is about average and it gets worse as the day goes on. The anemone is feeling better but not great, and I'm soaking my mixing bucket to clean it, and getting another water change ready. Filtration/flow is a HOB, a surface skimmer (not protien skimmer) and a powerhead. I have the powerhead aimed at the surface for decent agitation, the skimmer adds more oxygen, flow in the tank is a random medium.
I'm not fully against breaking the tank down, but I'm 100% concerned about my anemone going back into a 'new' tank. I don't have room for it in my coral-stocked evo, especially not for the months it would take to mature again, and getting it off the rock without stressing it the heck out is doubtful. I'm looking for help on where to go next, if I should turn to more filter socks, do they need to be cleaned in bleach in a washing machine. Should I nuke one threat and then focus on the other. I have Neophos on hand but am hesitant to start dosing without knowledgable/experienced opinions.
