Losing fish after battling Cyno bacteria

[JAG_aquatics]

Hello all, relatively new to saltwater tanks- I’ve been keeping freshwater for about a year with pretty good success, my first saltwater reef tank is a Coralife Biocube 32 gallon, using the coralife protein skimmer, 265gph pump, and 265 gph powerhead, working on a UV skimmer. Started off with an aquaculture clown and cleanup crew, added a Royal Gamma, a Coral Banded Shrimo and a few damsels after another 2 weeks... started to get Cyanobacteria, did water changes/siphoned off the cyno after breaking it off the sand, still got out of control, researched and used Chemiclean according to the instructions, with about a 75% dose... added a large air pump and air stone- lost all fish except the Clown within 12 hours. Removed dead fish and performed a 40 percent water change, clownfish died after 2 days, performed another 40% water change and added a large bag of activated carbon. After a week, 10% water change, added another aquaculture clownfish, died after 3 days.

Green powder algae takes over the glass completely in about 10 hours.

All inverts appear to be fine throughout this issue.

Water test results all optimal, PH is slightly low but within acceptable range, phosphates under .1 ppm per API master test kit and API phosphate test kit. Do I need a more accurate phosphate test kit?

All corals are thriving and growing.

 

[Super Fly]

Hello all, relatively new to saltwater tanks- I’ve been keeping freshwater for about a year with pretty good success, my first saltwater reef tank is a Coralife Biocube 32 gallon, using the coralife protein skimmer, 265gph pump, and 265 gph powerhead, working on a UV skimmer. Started off with an aquaculture clown and cleanup crew, added a Royal Gamma, a Coral Banded Shrimo and a few damsels after another 2 weeks... started to get Cyanobacteria, did water changes/siphoned off the cyno after breaking it off the sand, still got out of control, researched and used Chemiclean according to the instructions, with about a 75% dose... added a large air pump and air stone- lost all fish except the Clown within 12 hours. Removed dead fish and performed a 40 percent water change, clownfish died after 2 days, performed another 40% water change and added a large bag of activated carbon. After a week, 10% water change, added another aquaculture clownfish, died after 3 days.

Green powder algae takes over the glass completely in about 10 hours.

All inverts appear to be fine throughout this issue.

Water test results all optimal, PH is slightly low but within acceptable range, phosphates under .1 ppm per API master test kit and API phosphate test kit. Do I need a more accurate phosphate test kit?

All corals are thriving and growing.

can u pls clarify "75% dose", i.e. exactly how much chemiclean did u use and for how long?
Yes, I'd recommend more precise PO4 test kit.

 

[lapin]

Another Chemiclean horror story.
I wonder the ratio of good / bad using this product
Sorry for your loss.

 

[vetteguy53081]

What is your phosphate and nitrate levels?
I always recommend lowering those two if warranted and reducing white light as a method of getting rid of cyano.
Siphoning and cleaning filters daily is also part of reduction.
I like chemiclean zbut as a Last resort and treated at 80% of recommended

 

[JAG_aquatics]

can u pls clarify "75% dose", i.e. exactly how much chemiclean did u use and for how long?
Yes, I'd recommend more precise PO4 test kit.

Sure, Chemiclean instructions say to use "one leveled scoop per 10 gallons of water". I've no idea what actual measurement the included scoop is, so I used about 75% of a scoop per ten gallons of water, thinking that less chemicals would be less likely to have a negative effect than too much

 

[SMSREEF]

Did you happen to test ammonia?
Erythromycin in the product may have hindered nitrifying bacteria.

with that said, I used it on a 10 gallon tank at full dose and didn’t have any issue. I did suction out all the cyano I could prior to using it. My fish and inverts at the time were fine. I guess I got lucky.

Another thought is that the cyano or another microbe may have released a toxin when it died.

 

[JAG_aquatics]

Did you happen to test ammonia?
Erythromycin in the product may have hindered nitrifying bacteria.

with that said, I used it on a 10 gallon tank at full dose and didn’t have any issue. I did suction out all the cyano I could prior to using it. My fish and inverts at the time were fine. I guess I got lucky.

Another thought is that the cyano or another microbe may have released a toxin when it died.

Yep, I did tests before and after treatment- both showed no ammonia, no nitrates or nitrites, phosphates under .2 and PH around 8.1

 

[jpbeen]

What is your phosphate and nitrate levels?
I always recommend lowering those two if warranted and reducing white light as a method of getting rid of cyano.
Siphoning and cleaning filters daily is also part of reduction.
I like chemiclean zbut as a Last resort and treated at 80% of recommended

Be careful when reducing light when treating cyno. Cyno will not die from lack of light and will actually consume oxygen from the tank to survive. This consumption of oxygen is a common killer of fish. This would explain why your tests look good and still had a bad fish kill.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Be careful when reducing light when treating cyno. Cyno will not die from lack of light and will actually consume oxygen from the tank to survive. This consumption of oxygen is a common killer of fish. This would explain why your tests look good and still had a bad fish kill.

Cyano feeds off of light. When I had it , it was all gone after 3 days of no light and phosphate reduction and siphoning,
Most everyone I recommended to got rid of it also and noticed it was clean in the morning and after lights on, returned.
Cyano blooms are caused by:

Overfeeding

Poor skimming - dirty or plain ole ineffective units

Not using an RO water filter or you have an ineffective RO water filter, i.e., any brand not using a Filmtec membrane

RO membrane not fully "seated" into it's housing allowing the water to bypass the membrane

Infrequent water changes

Improper filtration, i.e., sand bed not deep enough &/or too little rock

Nutrients dumped from die-off on rocks during a cycle

Liquid invertebrate and gelatin based foods - HIGH sources of DOC

Old style bulbs (flo, halides etc.) giving off a lower color temperature - Most of these bulbs need changing every 12 months

LED lights in the wrong color temp (like freshwater systems used for saltwater is a no, no) or you have your reef lighting channels more in the red spectrum.

Poor water circulation, not enough water flow inside the tank & low oxygen saturation from your overflow system operating under the 10x per hour rate.

Nutrients unlocked from disturbing a sand bed in moving a tank or re-sanding.

Siphoning multiple times daily if needed and light reduction is successful in removal

 

[gentlefish]

Thanks Vetteguy, that’s the best list I’ve ever come across.

 

[Uncle99]

LOL
So true