anyone with a magic cure or answer?

[niloc16]

ok so some of you may know i have been battling a wicked case of brown cyano and i took some readings today for the 100th time here they are

po4 .05 (always been this the entire time the tank is running)
ca 400
dkh 8
nitrate undetectable
mg 1140 ( i know this is really low but cant get it up, i have an entire jar of zeomag in the reactor too)

i have recently cleaned all 3 tunzes and they are blowing like crazy. almost a week ago i guess i put 3 new mh bulbs in. i cleaned the skimmer recirc pump and it is hauling as usual. i have replaced all 3 filters in the ro unit twice in the past 2 months. i have not changed the ro membrane

i have lost about $250 in ricordia, $150 in blastos, frogspawns are retracted qutie a bit, a few sps tips are stripped out. i have lost a branching cyphastrea that i got off marc and it was rockin in the tank. i have lost 1 sps colony and i think 2 little frags. the snails are flipping over everyday i guess because the cyano is poisoinous to them. cant count how many have died

i dont know what else. i syphon it off every week and by the next week its back on the rocks. when i syphon the sand the next day its back with a vengeance. i was thinking lately that the bulbs were prematurely expired and causing it, but i dont know how long after the new ones are in would the cyano disappear

so i guess i'm asking what else is there to do? thanks in advance

[Delphinus]

Once it gains a foothold it's really hard to get rid of it, by relying on water parameters alone. One dirty little secret I think most reefers won't admit to, but do secretly use, is the use of Red Slime Remover or Chemi-Clean or similar anti-cyano product. They make your tank go bright yellow and even smell like a banana, you'll think, OMG what have I done, but ride it out. It doesn't stay yellow forever. Turn your skimmer off because it will go NUTS (or better yet, just have it empty back into your tank, because it does depress your O2 levels), and after a couple days do a water change and run carbon to clear it out. In a really bad case you might have to run a second course a week or two later.

Assuming your parameters are good (and what you've posted, they are), the cyano shouldn't come back. If it does come back quickly, it means there's a reason, be it parameters or light or whatever.

However, one "food for thought" item, cyano is very often the result of elevated nitrates. You posted that your nitrates are undetectable. What are you using for testing nitrates, because I don't always believe a zero reading for nitrate.

[marie]

Not that I think it would make that much of a difference in treatment but are you sure it's cyano? If it's getting your snails it sounds more like dinoflagellates (aka "brown snot")

[niloc16]

it is like brown snot but really resemble cyano in form. i am using elos test kits.

[Aquattro]

dying snails? Yup, I'd agree dinos.

[jslaney]

A freshwater trick when battling green cyano is to use antibiotics.

The antibiotic I used was called Erythromycin, it is generally sold to cure ick and other bacterial infections in you LFS.

From what I understand of it, cyano is actually more of a bacteria then algea. The antibiotic is not supposed to affect your benificial bacteria because they are generally a different type. Something about being gram positive while cyano is gram negative.

I have no idea if it a good idea in SW but it works like a mirical in FW. You could easily find lots of info on using it in fresh water with a quick google search. here is a link to a site I like.

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/

Klick on Blue green algea (Cyanobacteria)

I would strongly recomend talking to some of the more experianced reefers before using it. Its a pretty common fix in FW so the fact that its not being used in SW kinda tells me that there is probably a reason.

Sorry about all the losses.

Jon

[marie]

I hate being the bearer of bad news but if it is dinoflagellates, it is really hard to get rid of (ask christy). cyano is a walk in the park in comparison

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by jslaney

The antibiotic I used was called Erythromycin, it is generally sold to cure ick and other bacterial infections in you LFS.

This is what the Red Slime remover product is

[Joe Reefer]

I had a dino outbreak in my last tank. Its a real pain in the rear. I always had a feeling it was from the sandbed, it just wasn't "live" enough if you know what I mean. It was full of worms and snails but i think it was lacking in other beneficial bacteria and such. It seemed to just become a detritus trap and fueled the fire more. In retrospect and reading a few recent articles published I had the sandbed idea all wrong.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Be careful with Erithromycin. If you decide to use it, I would dose half the recommended amount. I did an awesome job wiping out half my livestock with the stuff at one point.