Cyano treatment/GFO/Bleaching

Connie · Dec 29, 2012

Please tell me what is causing the bleaching of my SPS. I'm sure it is one of the following,but I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I dose KZ products, but not the whole program. (Coral Vitilizer, Sponge Power, Pohl's Extra, LPS, Coral Snow and also use KZ carbon. I have been battling a cyano breakout for about a month, but all my corals were happy. I manually removed as much as possible on a daily basis. I am always afraid to dose any kind of medicine , but I was at my wits end. I have a 180g mixed tank. I dosed Cyano Solution by PrecisionSolutions. I dosed only for 150 gallons to be on the safe side. The skimmer was left off during this treatment. I waited about 48 hours and did a 25% water change. At that same time, I also changed out the filter and added Chemipure Elite(a small bag for 100g). Within 24 hours, my 5" blue acropora had totally bleached along with my 4" ORA German Blue Digita. Total loss on both. My Green birdsnest was starting to bleach. I took the Chemipure out and am now running no carbon of any kind. Everytime I turn the skimmer on, it goes nuts. Today has been a week since I added the Cyano Solution.

Which product do you think is causing this? Cyano Solution, Chemipure Elite or is it just the reaction between the KZ products and the Chemipure?
Do you think I should add the KZ carbon? Should I add a poly filter for a few days?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Downbeach · Dec 29, 2012

I usually take a more holistic approach to these type of problems. There are many factors that can contribute to this problem. Although one may be the overriding factor, you should address each one of them to insure that you have solved this problem. The use of "red slime removers" can work, although I have no knowledge/experience with Cyano Solution, but if you don't resolve whatever caused it in the first place, it will simply keep reoccurring. Here is a good article that will help explain the cause and some of the remedies:
BlueGrAlgae

Your skimmer will continue to go nuts until most of that medication has been removed. I'd do some more WC's so you can start using the skimmer again. What filter did you change out? I don't know what might have caused the bleaching, it may have been a combination of things, but if I had to pick one, I'd start with the Cyano Solutions. I would continue to use carbon, you could try the poly filter too.

Connie · Dec 30, 2012

Thank you DownBeach. Very good info!

Zack · Dec 30, 2012

I dont consider myself knowledgeable enough to give advice on this yet(only been in the hobby 8 or 9 months....) i was wondering though, are they actually bleaching or is it RTN? caus from what I understand- if it is bleaching and not RTN then the corals may still be alive and may not be a total loss. Ive had a few bleach and then color back up later on....
I just wanted to wish you luck, hope everything turns around for you soon. ive had a few sps issues myself and it definitley does stink!
hang in there :bigsmile:

EcoFrags · Dec 30, 2012

i've had a bit of cyano in my tank for a while and its really fine as long as its kept in check...its even a half way descent indicator of the health of my water depending on its growth from week to week or day to day and it recedes when the water is at optimal parameters. as far as RTN STN and bleaching goes, the tissue necrosis are pretty bad and is basically just how fast is the coral dying. bleaching is the release of the zooxanthale or however you spell that which is the symbiotic algae that corals have within their "skin" and while is not death like tissue necrosis is it can lead to death if the tissue is subsequently burned and tissue necrosis begins. I typically try to do nothing other than just water changes when i run into tank issues because adding chemicals to a tank where i can't really easily know the true water chemistry is really an educated guess IMO. Well that's my 2 bucks worth of cents lol =P may have missed something but its only what works for me =)

JonnyJ · Dec 30, 2012

Hey,

When you run red slime removers, shut off gfo/carbon & your skimmer you will undoubtedly have an increase in oxygen consumption and some parameter swings.

Many removers if not all state that you should add an airstone for this time and I would never do it without one.

Couple that with a large water change which untested could have easily caused a large swing.

= possible problem.

Best advice, get back to a stable environment for your corals/livestock and just move forward. Frag anything you can that needs saving.

Good luck.
-Jonny

Connie · Dec 31, 2012

One was RTN the other just bleached overnight. I still have the one that bleached in the tank because it has a little color where the polyps are/were. I am hoping it will come back. It hasn't turned green yet, so maybe it is still alive. I have a lot of flow (if not too much) which would have kept the oxygen levels safe. To avoid the PH/ALK swing, I added 8.3 buffer while the lights were still off and then added the cyano solution a couple of hours after lights on. Everything else in the tank looks fine, but I will not be treating cyano with any more dosing. I finally got my skimmer to stop overflowing every 30 minutes. I now have to change it everyday. I went ahead and put the KZ carbon in and my guess is it is absorbing the rest of the cyano solution.

AZDesertRat · Dec 31, 2012

How much GFO do you use and what is the flow rate through the media? For some unknown reason BRS mistakenly recommends twice as much media as EVERY other vendor of GFO products and it has been shown to cause bleaching in SPS numerous times.
The maximum recommended dose should be 10 grams per 10 gallons or about one level spoon full. It is better to run half that amount 24/7 and change it more frequently though. BRS recommends twice the 10 grams and I wish they would pop up and tell all of us why other than it puts $$ in their pockets.

Connie · Jan 1, 2013

To start with the process of getting the cyano solution out, I added one bag of Chemipur that was meant for 100g. I have 180g. That's when things started going south rapidly. After one day, I took it out and I then added KZ carbon in a bag and used about 1 cup. I don't know the rate of flow, but it is on top of a filter where the overflow dumps into the sump to recirculates the water. All RTN and bleaching have stopped now. Note - I have been using the KZ carbon for over a year. I put the Chemipur in just because it had GFO in it. It was in the sump for no more than 24 hours. I saw the condition of the two sps (which were both at the very top of the tank) and immediately took the Chemipur out. It's supposed to be good stuff, but not when you are using KZ products....I think. Thanks for everyone's input and help.

MBG75 · Jan 1, 2013

Cyano Solution is an anti bacterial. Not an oxidizer like other cyano removers. I have used it with absolutely no issues.

Sounds more like the buffer you added or the carbon caused issues with the corals.

Did you check your ALK before and after the buffer? The symptoms sound more like and ALK swing.

beaslbob · Jan 2, 2013

Can't help on sps

But for cyano I would kill your lights and stop feeding for a few days until it clears. Then resume with less lights and feeding and adjust until macro/corraline algae thrive but cyano stays away.