DO ROTIFERS EAT CYANO? PART 2

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Back in August I posed this question here on Reef2Reef and we had a great conversation. I have a clown fish pair we have raised from fry in a 20 gallon grow out tank and Cyano had become a problem. In this thread

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/do-rotifers-eat-cyano.1069679/
I discussed cleaning the cyano out with a water change and then added rotifers to see what happened. In that experiment I found that regular addition of rotifers seemed to keep the cyano at bay but didn’t eradicate it entirely. Another community member questioned if the rotifers could clean the tank without already pulling a bunch of cyano out. I have wanted to try this but time has been the enemy. Today I wiped the front of the tank so we can watch and see what happens. I added 1 gallon of our rotifers, sieved and rinsed into the tank without already pulling any of the cyano. Going forward I will document the progression of the tank along with any other rotifers additions to see if rotifers can win the battle on their own, or if they need outside help. Learning and experimenting with our products is exhilarating and fun. I am excited to see what difference they make.

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[sixty_reefer]

Will be interesting to see the results of this, I’ve read of some species of copepods to eat bacteria, I wasn’t aware it would be possible for rotifers to do the same.

 

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I re

Will be interesting to see the results of this, I’ve read of some species of copepods to eat bacteria, I wasn’t aware it would be possible for rotifers to do the same.

I read tons of articles always trying to learn more. Some where I came across and article that mentioned a study where they found rotifers appeared to prefer the Cyanobacteria to other food sources. That was what spurred my first thread. I will be interested in seeing the results as well. I am skeptical that they will overtake the cyano without my doing some cleaning, but the first experiment they kept it from coming back for quite a while. Then I shifted focus and it came back.

I let it once it started to do this test, but got caught up in a number of other projects. Decided I just needed to carve out a few minutes to get it going.

 

[sixty_reefer]

I re

I read tons of articles always trying to learn more. Some where I came across and article that mentioned a study where they found rotifers appeared to prefer the Cyanobacteria to other food sources. That was what spurred my first thread. I will be interested in seeing the results as well. I am skeptical that they will overtake the cyano without my doing some cleaning, but the first experiment they kept it from coming back for quite a while. Then I shifted focus and it came back.

I let it once it started to do this test, but got caught up in a number of other projects. Decided I just needed to carve out a few minutes to get it going.

Being a fish only I can’t stop but wonder if you test for nutrients.
If they keep them at bay for a while you may be onto something.

 

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Being a fish only I can’t stop but wonder if you test for nutrients.
If they keep them at bay for a while you may be onto something.

I need to test. Probably should today. Yes the tank is not set up great. Was only supposed to be a short term holding tank, but we haven’t figured out what @Ocean_Queenie wants to do for a tank, and these will be her little guys. Was going to move them into our multi tank QT observation but wanted to get this done first. Once I am done they will be relocated and I’ll strip this tank and await a new hatch to see if we can raise more than two next time.

 

[sixty_reefer]

I need to test. Probably should today. Yes the tank is not set up great. Was only supposed to be a short term holding tank, but we haven’t figured out what @Ocean_Queenie wants to do for a tank, and these will be her little guys. Was going to move them into our multi tank QT observation but wanted to get this done first. Once I am done they will be relocated and I’ll strip this tank and await a new hatch to see if we can raise more than two next time.

It looks right for a breeding tank.

 

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It looks right for a breeding tank.

Might be an idea. I would want better filtration.

 

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I’ll start with the apologies. With Black Friday, our remodel and Christmas prep I never did anything. So after the first addition, I don’t see tons of improvement, but doesn’t look any worse so maybe they are holding it at bay.

Added another gallon of Rotifers after taking this picture and will update Friday or Saturday.