Red Slime Bacteria Info

[Tank2379]

So I have been researching red slime and tying to gather up as much info as possible. I understand having great Husbandry will keep things in check, but when Red Slime (Cyano Bacteria) does occur we are told to

1. Use lots of flow,
2. dim lights down,
3. do more water changes
4. feed less.

Some of these are common things that we need to do to keep them in check. About 6 months ago I had a huge Red Slime out break in my 60G SPS dominated Tank. I was constantly doing water changes and doing steps 1 thru 4 in the above line. It eventually subsided but it was still present. During this time over a period of a month I ended up losing a few colonies of SPS not because of water changes or just changes in my husbandry because stuff was growing like crazy. No Cyano was covering my SPS in some spots yes but not all. I went on not realizing that maybe they were dying or STN because of the red slime since there was no source but just small patches here and there.

About 2 moths ago I was talking with a friend who had some knowledge of Cayno Bacteria and it was plaguing one of my 40G Frag systems which was a separate fight from my 60G. He told me to use ChemiClean because Cayno was a true Toxin and will eventually kill corals and fish over time. After that I though to myself maybe that was the reason I was loosing SPS and they just STN on me because of the bad algea that was in my tank. I tried the Chemi Clean and it worked and I was skeptical of using it and any type of Checmicals to treat. Since using I have not seen an ounce of Red Slime come back yet. I am no way backing up Chemi Clean or trying to promote as I am trying to find a better way to attack this stuff and make people aware of the dangers that I have experience and if you are wondering why maybe some of your SPS are STN and you are fighting Cyano it very well could be Cayno killing your SPS and attacking the Zooxanthellae that is living in your SPS.

Now back to step one

Blowing off the Cyano IMO is a bad idea reason is it's a bacteria, if it's on your sand of rocks then it's in your water column. Where do you think it's going to go? If it ends up in your Refuge it's just adding fuel to the fire. Dimming lights might work and feeding less, plus siphoning, if you continue to do water changes and siphon out will eventually go away which I believe this but it will take some elbow grease to make it happen. If you are losing the battle and have no choice I believe Chemi-Clean or other Red Slime remover would be the final choice to use.

I would like to know if there is any info proving that Cayno can kill coral over time or if any valid info of this?

 

[ptreef]

it will kill if it covers the coral, other than that it seems harmless

 

[ptreef]

i seem to get it every now and then. Tank is "ideal" and should not grow it based on what im told. Seems WC only feed it.
I have lots of flow. ~ 50x's
New lights MH & T-5.
Clean blasted LR
stirred and siphoned gravel
moderate feed.
skim medium oversized skimmer too.
tons of extra water volume.
PO4 is .021 or less on hanna ULR
Nitrate is o
ALk is 8.5
CAL is 4540
MG is 1400
SG is 35ppt

But still randomly pops up.

If or when it gets bad and manual removal gets too much. I dose the chemi clean w/o issues. clears it up, and corals all look fine. SPS dominate too

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I personally would add reducing phosphate and organics to the list, and would do them before some of the other ideas, like diming lights.

Cyano is primarily a concern, IMO, from an aesthetic standpoint, or if it smothers something. It can do the latter if there is enough.

Does it release toxins that are problematic? Possibly, but most likely only if you kill a lot of cyano at once.

FWIW, high flow isn't just blowing off a big clump of cyano, it is preventing it from growing there in the first place.

Water changes with cyano may be a bit controversial, since some people think that, at least in some tanks, cyano can become limited by trace metals such as iron, and reducing water changes may reduce the limiting metals still further.

FWIW, I have patches of cyano in my tank and I don't really care about it.