Red Slime
- Thread starter the dewd
- Start date
Dude that is commonly known as cyano bacteria. It is commonly caused by excess nutriants and or low flow area's. Do you use R/O water for your water changes and how much water have you been changing?
Got some specs of your tank? This would also help.
Got some specs of your tank? This would also help.
Hey, is that an elegance coral???
Check out the thread in the "General Discussion" if it is.
The red slime.... Here's what has worked for me in the past.
Make sure you are using at LEAST RO water.. if not RODI. Change %25 of the water weekly untill it clears up. You can also decrease your photoperiod down to about 5 hrs a day for 2 or 3 days...sometimes that does it too. Check your fish load. It looks like you have an aweful lot of fish for an aquarium that size... is it a 30 or 50 Gallon? This stuff also likes higher water temps. If you can slowly lower your temp over a few days (not goin below 75 IMO) it may help curb it.
B.
Check out the thread in the "General Discussion" if it is.
The red slime.... Here's what has worked for me in the past.
Make sure you are using at LEAST RO water.. if not RODI. Change %25 of the water weekly untill it clears up. You can also decrease your photoperiod down to about 5 hrs a day for 2 or 3 days...sometimes that does it too. Check your fish load. It looks like you have an aweful lot of fish for an aquarium that size... is it a 30 or 50 Gallon? This stuff also likes higher water temps. If you can slowly lower your temp over a few days (not goin below 75 IMO) it may help curb it.
B.
The system has been running for 2 months now. Specs are as follows: 55 gallon acrylic tank with a 20 gallon sump (sock, protein skimmer, and 150 watt heater). 50 pounds of LR and 40 pounds of LS. The lighting is a coralife 150 watt MH and 2 65 watt actinic compact fluorescents w/ 2 moon lights. The light régime is 14 hours of Actinic 12 hours of MH and the rest moon light. I am cutting back on the actinic and MH light Tomorrow (der).
There is an angler in the tank. I also have a zebrasoma scopaz, Odonus triggerfish, Magenta Psudochromis. There are 9 assorted damsels (friends for the angler to play with). And that’s all the fish.
There is a scarlet cleaner shrimp, arrow crab, and couple of Harlequin shrimp. I did have a sand sifting sea star but the harlequin's took care of him about three weeks ago. I found him cut in half and still half alive (creepy) today. Took him out. There are a few hermits and a couple of turbo snails.
I am using 2 Seio 620 powerheads for water movement. Bionics for calcium and alk. Kent reef supplements (Strontuim, Liquid calcium, iodine, phytoplex, magnesium weekly and zoomax dailey). I feed 1 cube of Ocean Nutrition Formula One in the morning. Brine Shrimp flakes in the afternoon or sometimes 1 cube of Formula 2 and in the evening I feed 1 cube of Prime reef and a couple little freeze dried Krill for the trigger.
I lowered the temp from 82 to 78 and took out 2 damsels when I noticed the nitrates and the red bacteria. My nitrates are in the 40s and Phosphates are 0. All other test seem normal. I only use RO salt and fresh for topoff.
Thats everything...
EN
There is an angler in the tank. I also have a zebrasoma scopaz, Odonus triggerfish, Magenta Psudochromis. There are 9 assorted damsels (friends for the angler to play with). And that’s all the fish.
There is a scarlet cleaner shrimp, arrow crab, and couple of Harlequin shrimp. I did have a sand sifting sea star but the harlequin's took care of him about three weeks ago. I found him cut in half and still half alive (creepy) today. Took him out. There are a few hermits and a couple of turbo snails.
I am using 2 Seio 620 powerheads for water movement. Bionics for calcium and alk. Kent reef supplements (Strontuim, Liquid calcium, iodine, phytoplex, magnesium weekly and zoomax dailey). I feed 1 cube of Ocean Nutrition Formula One in the morning. Brine Shrimp flakes in the afternoon or sometimes 1 cube of Formula 2 and in the evening I feed 1 cube of Prime reef and a couple little freeze dried Krill for the trigger.
I lowered the temp from 82 to 78 and took out 2 damsels when I noticed the nitrates and the red bacteria. My nitrates are in the 40s and Phosphates are 0. All other test seem normal. I only use RO salt and fresh for topoff.
Thats everything...
EN
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It sounds like you have a heavy fish load in there (including some messy eaters) + you're feeding heavily + the tank is new. The appearance of cyano is generally a sign of excess nutrients in the water and all of those situations are likely contributing to that. Your excess nitrates are also a result of those situations IMO. You didn't mention what kind of skimmer you have, but IMO that is one of the best tools in keeping nutrient levels down in a system like this.
The cyano may settle down in time, but if it doesn't, I would try upgrading your skimmer and/or lightening-up on the feedings. Decreasing your fish load by letting the damsel population dwindle down (I'm sure the angler will help with that) would help with nutrient levels too (and therefore with cyano and nitrate problems).
JMO...
IMO you don't need any of the additives you're dosing beyond the B-ionic. B-ionic should keep your Ca/Alk/Mg levels in line which is all I would be adding/testing for personally. Dosing liquid foods like the phytoplex and zoomax will contribute to the excess nutrient levels and therefore the cyano as well, and personally, I've never seen a benefit to adding that sort of stuff.the dewd":1shh66zb said:
The cyano may settle down in time, but if it doesn't, I would try upgrading your skimmer and/or lightening-up on the feedings. Decreasing your fish load by letting the damsel population dwindle down (I'm sure the angler will help with that) would help with nutrient levels too (and therefore with cyano and nitrate problems).
JMO...
FWIW, I got a nasty case of cyano when I switched from tap water to RO/DI. Somehow it was triggered. But I got it under control by continuing with the RODI, and by running phosban in a high flow area in my sump. Since I've been doing that, it went away, and I've got no issues. IMO, expensive, but worth it.
I found this link to be excellent:
http://www.netpets.org/fish/reference/r ... teria.html
All the best,
~wings~
I found this link to be excellent:
http://www.netpets.org/fish/reference/r ... teria.html
All the best,
~wings~
Multiple small feedings a day is OK, but I find it too easy to overfeed that way. IME one feeding a day is fine for the types of fish you have. I generally stick to feeding a quantity that can be quickly consumed (no more than a few minutes). Personally, I would offer the tang some seaweed (ie. nori, dulse, etc.) on a clip in addition to regular feedings.
As for your corals, with the amount of food and fish waste you've got going-on in there, IMO they'll get all they need from that (as well as light, bacteria, detritus, etc.). IMO certain corals and anemones should be target fed, but IMO most of the corals we keep in our tanks have plenty of nutrients available to them without such feedings and are probably better-off without them in the resulting cleaner water. That's JMO/JME of course...
As for your corals, with the amount of food and fish waste you've got going-on in there, IMO they'll get all they need from that (as well as light, bacteria, detritus, etc.). IMO certain corals and anemones should be target fed, but IMO most of the corals we keep in our tanks have plenty of nutrients available to them without such feedings and are probably better-off without them in the resulting cleaner water. That's JMO/JME of course...
I only feed my fish once a day... twice when they look hungry hehe.. but mostly only once.
Your corals will get the vast majority they need from excess stuff in the water and photosynthesis. I rarely feed any of my corals, and when I do I spot feed them. I have monitipora SPS, birdsnest SPS, zoos, torch, frogspawn, a plate coral (which I do occasionally feed a silverside just to watch him eat), a nice green tooth coral, galaxia, leather, and a few others I cant remember the name of. I've seen great growth, especially with the sps's with only feeding occasionally... just making sure everything has adequate flow and lighting.
I'm with the rest... if you are dosing B-Ionic you should be fine. Just read on the back of that bottle and see what all is in that stuff haha.
B.
Your corals will get the vast majority they need from excess stuff in the water and photosynthesis. I rarely feed any of my corals, and when I do I spot feed them. I have monitipora SPS, birdsnest SPS, zoos, torch, frogspawn, a plate coral (which I do occasionally feed a silverside just to watch him eat), a nice green tooth coral, galaxia, leather, and a few others I cant remember the name of. I've seen great growth, especially with the sps's with only feeding occasionally... just making sure everything has adequate flow and lighting.
I'm with the rest... if you are dosing B-Ionic you should be fine. Just read on the back of that bottle and see what all is in that stuff haha.
B.
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