Life after Dino algae.....do I nuke the cyano?

[Leadfooted]

Well thank you but being in he hobby so many years I am well aware! HA! I have had cyano MANY times. This case was different because it was after a year battle with Dino algae. I didn't want to set it off again. I am still having some cyano issues but I am taking it one step at a time!

Great to hear and total 180 from where you were going.

 

[scardall]

So I’ve been having a major cyano outbreak since getting rid of Dino algae. Last week I siphoned out as much as I could, changed out my GAC and bolstered my cleanup crew.

I’m so tempted to nuke the cyano but what do you advise me to do?

Thanks!

Funny I have the similar issue and I have plenty of water movement overall. I just don't understand either. Tried std. treatment, Helps but always comes back. I'm guessing their is more than one strain of cyno(purplish and orange colors) and or it has become resistant to today's std. treatments. PS: Almost forgot, I also have a Fowlr with a much stronger flow and cyno still hangs on after a couple of weeks so far of high flow. (185+ gph from 2' away)- grape calapera loves the flow too. grrrr-hmmmm.

 

[CDavmd]

Just thought I would add a data point of experience. I too have been fighting Amphidinium since last fall. I followed the advice on the thread and ramped up my nitrate and phosphates. I ended up pulling my sand bed and finally they disappeared. I re-introduced some sand and all looked good for about 2 weeks and then I noted some cyano in a few spots. It never really got out of control but clearly there was some brewing in well lit places and on coral skeletons ( thank you dinoX).

Then I saw a little on the sand bed and just a hint of what I feared most....DINO's. I looked under the microscope and what I saw was cyano and a few scattered Dino's swimming around. NO where near the level previously noted during their plague.

I really did not want to pull all the sand again- so I siphoned out all the bad areas, then gave the sand a rinse in RO water and Peroxide for a few minutes. Rinsed again with just RO and put the sand back in.

Here is the one thing- I had one area I could not siphon out. I decided to try and just aspirate this sand into a turkey baster that had some peroxide in it and then let it gently fall back out without dosing too much of the peroxide (yeah really dumb idea). Well all was going well but a bunch of the peroxide got dumped into the tank. I would say it was about 50cc into my 4o gallon tank.

So......I saw a lot of sliming for a few hours, my anemone closed up over night, and a few LPS did not look happy. The next day the tank looked amazingly clear. All the corals except my scrolls looked fine, the anemone was back with big bubble tips. I decided to dose Dr. Tims, ecobalance for two days, followed by refresh for 1 day and waste away for 1 day.

Guess what- all that cyano disappeared and has not return, going on 1 month now. Some hair algae on my SPS disappeared too and the corals are thriving. Some Goni's that I thought were goners all these months ( again courtesy of Dino X) have started showing polyps on the dead skeleton. Things are coloring up beautifully.

oh yeah....but again I see just a hint of Dino's......very very little. I started dosing Sponge excel and now I have a very minor diatom bloom but my snails and crabs and pods are quite happy and thriving on it. It's just the slightest brown dusting and seems to be dissipating despite daily dosing of Sponge excel. My Tomini tang is actually feeding on it too.

I looked under the scope this weekend at some sand grains. Lots and lots of diatoms, all sorts of varieties! Still a few Dino's swimming around but nowhere near a big population.

....and the Cyano has not returned!

Cheers all

 

[40B Knasty]

Good to hear the dinos are gone. I just went through a good 3 month spell of cyanobacteria. I tried one chemical. Worst thing I ever did to my tank. So I will recommend staying away from that. It just depleted the O² badly. I pulled it out as fast as possible with BRS ROX.08 the next day. After cleaning my sand bed daily. It was just getting to much to deal with. I was also using a turkey baster kicking the cyanobacteria up 2-3 x a day and collecting it with a mysis net swishing it back forth. Cleaning out 4 sponges 2x a day. So I just said to myself. Let it work itself out of the system. Don't do a water change, because someone mentioned some cyanobacterias have an issue with holding on when nitrates are at 5ppm. My nitrates were at 0ppm. I never tested to see what they were at when it finally went away 2 weeks ago. It is just an ugly phase that is a headache and will most likely take a coral or 2 down, but it is better than the chemical I used that took 3 corals down and almost killed my fish.
If you want to be active about it. Start a siphon in your tank running a hose to your filter sock in your sump. You can sit there for hours siphoning if you want. This is genius, but yet so simple. Unfortunately I do not have a sump.

 

[Brew12]

Well thank you but being in he hobby so many years I am well aware! HA! I have had cyano MANY times. This case was different because it was after a year battle with Dino algae. I didn't want to set it off again. I am still having some cyano issues but I am taking it one step at a time!

Good luck Rev!

I am a big believer in every tank containing cyano and dino's. We can't hope to get them out and keep them out. I feel that using a harsher chemical like Chemiclean is effective but can set back creating the biodiversity I feel our tanks need.
Since you have already taken that step, I would make sure I have copepods and amphipods in the system. I would dose live phytoplankton and try to find some live Rotifers you can add. And do your best to keep PO4 at 0.02 to 0.04 and NO3 around 5ppm. Lets get the bugs growing so they can eat the cyano and dino's before they become a visible problem.

 

[Nick30G]

Good to hear the dinos are gone. I just went through a good 3 month spell of cyanobacteria. I tried one chemical. Worst thing I ever did to my tank. So I will recommend staying away from that. It just depleted the O² badly. I pulled it out as fast as possible with BRS ROX.08 the next day. After cleaning my sand bed daily. It was just getting to much to deal with. I was also using a turkey baster kicking the cyanobacteria up 2-3 x a day and collecting it with a mysis net swishing it back forth. Cleaning out 4 sponges 2x a day. So I just said to myself. Let it work itself out of the system. Don't do a water change, because someone mentioned some cyanobacterias have an issue with holding on when nitrates are at 5ppm. My nitrates were at 0ppm. I never tested to see what they were at when it finally went away 2 weeks ago. It is just an ugly phase that is a headache and will most likely take a coral or 2 down, but it is better than the chemical I used that took 3 corals down and almost killed my fish.
If you want to be active about it. Start a siphon in your tank running a hose to your filter sock in your sump. You can sit there for hours siphoning if you want. This is genius, but yet so simple. Unfortunately I do not have a sump.

I assume your talking about ChemiClean? You do realize that you need to add massive aeration to your tank while using it right? If you take the cup off your skimmer and let it overflow into your sump, it will provide more then enough aeriaton during the treatment. If you dont have a skimmer you can just buy a big airstone for it. I have used it twice in my tank with no ill effects. And then after the treatment you do a water change afterward.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

I had a cyano outbreak a while back...purple and brown sandbed for days. Chemicals make things worse IMO, just be patient and siphon it all you can and eventually it will just go away. I siphoned and got a diamond goby. The goby keeps my sandbed in check and now my sand looks white as can be and brand new. I can't believe my little diamond goby can keep my entire 96" wide tank spotless

Even when I vacuum my sandbed these days I notice it's not cloudy brown anymore. I will never go without a goby, even if he is messy sometimes.

 

[40B Knasty]

I assume your talking about ChemiClean? You do realize that you need to add massive aeration to your tank while using it right? If you take the cup off your skimmer and let it overflow into your sump, it will provide more then enough aeriaton during the treatment. If you dont have a skimmer you can just buy a big airstone for it. I have used it twice in my tank with no ill effects. And then after the treatment you do a water change afterward.

I took all the precautions. If not over did it. Worst thing I ever did to my tank. You probably had a spirulina bacteria that looks very similar to cyanobacteria. The only way to know the difference as to which one you have is to take some out with some tank water and put a little hydrogen peroxide in it. Spirulina bacteria will turn green and the water will turn red tint. Cyanobacteria will have no change. The product I am told works great for spirulina bacteria. For me the product is garbage.

 

[Brew12]

Spirulina bacteria will turn green and the water will turn red tint. Cyanobacteria will have no change. The product I am told works great for spirulina bacteria.

Just for some clarification.... Spirulina is a type of cyanobacteria.

Cyanobacteria, like dinoflagellates, cover a very wide range of organisms. Any treatment that works on one strain isn't guaranteed to work on another.

 

[40B Knasty]

Just for some clarification.... Spirulina is a type of cyanobacteria.

Cyanobacteria, like dinoflagellates, cover a very wide range of organisms. Any treatment that works on one strain isn't guaranteed to work on another.

Exactly and yes I know it is a type of cyanobacteria. I am just not trying to get into the technicals to jack the thread. Either way. Product is garbage.

 

[shred5]

Well thank you but being in he hobby so many years I am well aware! HA! I have had cyano MANY times. This case was different because it was after a year battle with Dino algae. I didn't want to set it off again. I am still having some cyano issues but I am taking it one step at a time!

I am well aware of your dino problems.



Well here is the thing. We know lack of diversity is possibly one cause of Dinos. The cyano could be what is holding back the dinos. We do not know what is in Chemiclean I have asked several times. About the only thing we can guess is it is not Erythromycin used in some other red slime removers. It could kill other strains of bacteria too we do not know what it is and there goes your diversity.

Edit:
Also you may know about how common Cyano is but my posts are also for others that may read that do not know. I also did not mean just in the reef hobby either.

I look at algae in a reef and it is telling you something, it is there for a reason. Algae is a part of reefs both in our tank and in the wild and sometimes it serves a purpose or tell us what we need to do. Some people panic at a little algae and they should not. We should have some in a reef.

Also Dinos are different and they are the scorn of the reef hobby. They do not necessarily follow the rules of other algae. I know how hard they can be to control.

 

[shred5]

Good luck Rev!

I am a big believer in every tank containing cyano and dino's. We can't hope to get them out and keep them out. I feel that using a harsher chemical like Chemiclean is effective but can set back creating the biodiversity I feel our tanks need.
Since you have already taken that step, I would make sure I have copepods and amphipods in the system. I would dose live phytoplankton and try to find some live Rotifers you can add. And do your best to keep PO4 at 0.02 to 0.04 and NO3 around 5ppm. Lets get the bugs growing so they can eat the cyano and dino's before they become a visible problem.

Exactly I do not think you can either.
Allot of algae will also leave behind spores so when conditions are favorable.

 

[LisaC]

Thanks guys. I can beat Cyano no problem. I have done it many times. I'm just asking those who might have dealt with dinos and then cyano. I don't want to trigger the devil algae again!

Following...dealing with same problem. SO FRUSTRATING, has been ongoing for months...UGGGGG!! ‍