Stupid red slime

[specialk]

Hey All ..

So I have read up on red slime, experienced it in small small amounts before, but I can;t seem to crack it right now.

I have a 6 ft long 125, Adequate rock, 2 jaebo power heads in there and NEVER had a previous problem with red slime in this tank for the 2 years it has been up. All of a sudden, I have it and it is wreaking havoc on my sps coral. I have no changed anything on the power heads and nothing has changed. Still do water changes every 3 weeks. So not sure what is going on ..

Wondering if anyone could help me diagnose this problem and as to why this is happening.

THANKS!!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

When it gets really bad, an antibiotic treatment may be in order.

Before that, reducing organics (skimming, GAC, Purigen, etc.) and phosphate (GFO, aluminum oxide, lanthanum, etc.) can be helpful.

 

[specialk]

Right now I am running a skimmer and have been ... I am not over feeding or anything like that . What brings this on btw?

Will consistent water changes take care of this or will I have to run some media in the sump to get this to go away?

 

[Cory]

Id suspect your top off water. Happened to me when my ro/di malfunctioned.

 

[beaslbob]

Kill your lights and suspend feeding (or one a week or so) until it dies off. then resume with less lighting and feeding.

FWIW It's very common for a tank to be doing fine, nitrates finally drop down then all the sudded here comes the cyano. Killing the lights allows the cyano to die off rebalancing the tank and feeding algae (corraline, macros) and corals. then continuing insures the tank stays that way.


my .02

 

[specialk]

Id suspect your top off water. Happened to me when my ro/di malfunctioned.

I tested my RO water .. and it is still good.

 

[specialk]

Kill your lights and suspend feeding (or one a week or so) until it dies off. then resume with less lighting and feeding.

FWIW It's very common for a tank to be doing fine, nitrates finally drop down then all the sudded here comes the cyano. Killing the lights allows the cyano to die off rebalancing the tank and feeding algae (corraline, macros) and corals. then continuing insures the tank stays that way.


my .02

How long should I kill the lights for? It is somewhat difficult I would think to see when it is not growing OR if it is growing slowly and I just don't see it.

Also, not sure if this would have caused the problem .. but I have 3 ocean revive LED lights hanging over my 6 ft long tank... then one of them went down (now have 2 hanging over the tank) and it has been about 4 weeks for the light to get fixed .. it is on its way back to me now. Would that have caused this issue to come along... losing one of the lights?

 

[beaslbob]

Most cases of cyano will be corrected with a few days of lights out. Especially if it is a small area. But I did once have what was basically a purple "carpet" which I manually removed.

Changes in lighting affect cyano and algaes but usually increases in lighting kick off algae/cayno blooms. Even cloudy tanks.

Come to think of it a little cyano that appears in the day they dies off at night I would think would be fine. To me the problem is when it doesn't die off at night and start spreading.

my .02

 

[specialk]

Most cases of cyano will be corrected with a few days of lights out. Especially if it is a small area. But I did once have what was basically a purple "carpet" which I manually removed.

Changes in lighting affect cyano and algaes but usually increases in lighting kick off algae/cayno blooms. Even cloudy tanks.

Come to think of it a little cyano that appears in the day they dies off at night I would think would be fine. To me the problem is when it doesn't die off at night and start spreading.

my .02

Yah mine is that nasty red slime that is spreading, and spreads pretty quickly , usually noticeably more within a week. I have been taking a turkey baster and of course just blowing it off of everything, but it keeps coming back.

So simply killing the lights for about 2-3 days should do the trick? Should I do my normal scheduled water change after that as well?

 

[beaslbob]

yes basically.
Kill the lights and suspend feedings (well down to once per week anyway) until it dies off.

then resume with 1/2 lighting and feeding and adjust higher (no slime) or lower (slime returns) until the tank stays clear.

Don't just kill for 2-3 days unless it has all dies off.

It does sometime take longer but 2-3 days is pretty normal for it to die off.

my .02

 

[specialk]

It does sometime take longer but 2-3 days is pretty normal for it to die off.

my .02

And this is probably a dumb question .. but I will know it is all gone simply by watching the red slime that is on the rocks now .. it simply will go away?

 

[beaslbob]

And this is probably a dumb question .. but I will know it is all gone simply by watching the red slime that is on the rocks now .. it simply will go away?

the only dumb question is the one not answered.

This is based on my experience which also includes cloudy tanks as well. Cyano, green algae, and cloudiness (phyto including bacteria blooms) all die off without lights. Which returns nutrients to the system which feed the plants life (on marine systems algae) present.

Once that happens you have a data of two points. One with cyano and lights, the other with no cyano and no lights. At that point you can find some middle point where you have lights and no cyano and a clear tank.

More nerdy analysis is that cyano had the ability to fix nitrogen gas in the water column for it nitrogen vrs ammonia, nitrates.

Additionally, nitrates are reduced by low oxygen bacteria to nitrogen gas.

So after a while (a few months to years) what can happen is the tank has less nitrates and more phosphates than the plant life (corals as well) can consume. So cyano steps up and consumes those phosphates and nitrogen gas. Which further reduces the phosphates for the plant life. So it is possible the tank becomes cyano dominated as the cyano blooms. and it can bloom extremely quickly also.

You kill the lights, the cyano dies off, ammonia and nitrates are returned to the system feeding the corals and algae.

Then you experiment until you find a balanced stable point there the tank again takes care of itself.

at least I think so.

my .02

 

[specialk]

You kill the lights, the cyano dies off, ammonia and nitrates are returned to the system feeding the corals and algae.

Then you experiment until you find a balanced stable point there the tank again takes care of itself.

at least I think so.

my .02

Thanks my friend ... killed the lights for 3 days and appears that all of it has died off. My corals (sps especially) took a bit of a hit it seems so hoping that those will bounce back in time. I started the lights back up, and they are at about 50% of what I had them before ... should I gradually increase them every week and see how it goes?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The concern with lights out (and why I don't generally advise it as a permanent solution) is that it may just come back unless you remove the released nutrients.

 

[specialk]

The concern with lights out (and why I don't generally advise it as a permanent solution) is that it may just come back unless you remove the released nutrients.

Is there an "easy" way to do this? I was planning on doing a water change tomm; not sure if this will help or not.

Should I start running some media in my sump?

 

[twilliard]

Also most all the cells would have to be killed which in reality hard to do with just lights out

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria

Here is a good read in understanding cyanobacteria

 

[twilliard]

Is there an "easy" way to do this? I was planning on doing a water change tomm; not sure if this will help or not.

Should I start running some media in my sump?

There is no easy way or silver bullet to rid this in just a few days.
It takes time and patience

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I agree, no easy bullet.

What nutrient export methods are you currently using?

 

[specialk]

I agree, no easy bullet.

What nutrient export methods are you currently using?

I am just doing water changes every 2 weeks, and using a skimmer. That WAS working GREAT for me and my sps were thriving. Then all of a sudden I lost an LED, had to send it away to get fixed and around that time is when these issues seemed to start. Although I will say, I can't quite remember if it started after the light went down or right before it.

 

[beaslbob]

Thanks my friend ... killed the lights for 3 days and appears that all of it has died off. My corals (sps especially) took a bit of a hit it seems so hoping that those will bounce back in time. I started the lights back up, and they are at about 50% of what I had them before ... should I gradually increase them every week and see how it goes?

yeppers.