fed up with cyano!!!!

mcarroll

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Yes it does. But its a little like getting rid of cockroaches in your kitchen by spraying DDT over the entire state. Its an antibiotic - Erythromycin - and is not at all specific to cyano - potentially killing the good with the bad. Our tanks don't work without bacteria.

While I don't disagree with the sentiment that this should be a last resort type of treatment, the reasoning is a little myth-based. While there may be exceptions I'm not aware of or products may have been diffent in the distant past, these red slime treatments all seem to be clones of Boyd's Chemi Clean, which is an oxidizer (as in Lugol's solution or household Hydrogen Peroxide) rather than an antibiotic like Erythromycin. Any products that are the same form (white powder in a little jar) and carry the same instruction to discontinue skimming during treatment are most likely clones of the same thing.

If you choose to try one of these treatments - read and follow the directions!!

The only negative side effects I've personally heard about from using one of these oxidizers were from someone who didn't read the instructions all the way through. In their case their pods and a few of their clean up crew inverts got zapped...nothing more.

Having said all that, I'll repeat that this should be a last resort. Red slime can get completely out of hand to the point it literally forms a blanket over all your rocks and corals. If your bloom is not this bad, then siphoning would be my first tool of choice against cyano, but there is a point where it can be bad enough that you really can't get enough of it in the amount of water you'll be able to remove practically. Using a product like Chemi Clean in this scenario can put a "reset" on the cyano and give you a chance to eliminate its roots. I would not advocate the ongoing use of a treatment like this.

-Matt
 
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mcarroll

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This is a fun one...

Robert:

Awesome post - I love seeing this sort of thing! :)

Very interesting and correlates well with some theories I've held about causes of cyano blooms! More to think about!

-Matt
 

robert

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I thought BlueVet contained Erythomycin which is also used to control/eradicate cyano. I would strongly discourage any systemic antibiotic use - but while I'm not keen on using anything without knowing whats in it, I've used chemi-clean many times with pretty good results. Sorry for giving out bad info regarding the BlueVet product and thanks for the correction.

Matt, I'm glad you enjoyed the post. Here's something to really scare you! The ultimate nitrogen limited symbiotic nightmare: Aquarium Invertebrates: Aiptasia, dinoflagellate algae and cyanobacteria - a three-way symbiosis? — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
Makes you never want to do water changes again - lol.
 
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turok

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it's been a 3 months...
I get a little cyano once in a while now.
I have only changed 20gal of water once in 3 months.
I had 2 skimmers, only 1 now.
I took off the GFO, I cleaned it and never put it back on.
I only have 2 tangs, 2 clowns, and 3 sapphires. I have 2 barebottom frag tanks connected to the same sump, 120gal of water.
I have the EVO dimmable 150 and 200w leds. Blues are 100%, whites are... not.
I need a clean up crew to get rid of the red stringy algae now... seems like the blue crabs like to fight to the death, after they kill my snails.
I like to over feed, the polyps do like it dirty. I think I need more fish.

thx



I can try.

Its not only nutrient levels that lead to cyano, but perhaps more importantly, nutrient balance.
Water changes take out more nitrogen than phosphorous.
Cyano/dino has a competitive edge when nitrogen becomes the limiting nutrient in your system.
Even when both nitrate and phosphate "read 0" - The presence of cyano is a strong indicator that nitrogen has become the limiting nutrient in your system.
Even if both nitrate and phosphate are elevated above "ideal", the presence of cyano, particularly in high flow, indicates a nutrient imbalance.
In both cases, correcting the imbalance between nitrogen and phosphorous helps eliminate cyano by removing its competitive advantage.

Keep the GFO.
Either let you nitrate rise by being less aggressive with water changes, or through the addition of nitrogen to the system.
 
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