Hairy Cyano like algae toxic?

[paddyob]

So I'm doing maintenance. I hsve what my research says is a type of Cyano. Thought it was hair algae, but it's bubbly and removes easily from the rocks.

Five minutes after cleaning most out, my tang starts going white and my orange back wrasse keels over. Moved her to a QT but she died.

Not having good luck.

So is this shït toxic? How the **** do I remove it? Will red slime remover work on all cyanos?

I did a 15g water change and all in the tank looks fine today. But the Cyano.

Help!

[Proteus]

Found this on RC

Anatoxin A(S) is a much more potent derivative of anatoxin A, which would be the form to worry about. There are still more toxic cyanobacterial toxins, such as saxitoxin, that are even more of a problem. Some species do release Aplysiatoxins, which would cause external complications. Once again, ingestion will play a large role, but can cause severe external inflammation. Most who produce this toxin are marine in origin, but I have no idea if/how they would affect corals.

[Myka]

Could you post a pic? What color is it? Cyano are toxic, so are dinoflagellates.

[paddyob]

Originally Posted by Myka

Could you post a pic? What color is it? Cyano are toxic, so are dinoflagellates.

It's dark greeny-brown. Looks like hair algae with bubbles in it. Easily removed by rubbing with a brush. Almost peels off.

I'll post a pic when I get a chance.

And it smells bad.

[daniella3d]

You should always syphon cyano out, not blow it everywhere in the aquarium. It's a perfect timing to do this while doing a water change.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by paddyob

It's dark greeny-brown. Looks like hair algae with bubbles in it. Easily removed by rubbing with a brush. Almost peels off.

I'll post a pic when I get a chance.

And it smells bad.

That is sounding a lot like dinoflagellates. That would not be fun.

Here is a good article: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog...sons-i-learned

And a couple pics of dinos:

[paddyob]

Best pic I can get with my phone.

[Myka]

Bummer. Yes those are dinoflagellates, and a bad case too. You will need to be diligent to get rid of them. Follow the advice of the above link I gave you. That's the best method I know. Transfer all your snails, conchs, and other gastropods to another tank. The dinos will kill them and add more fuel to the fire.

[paddyob]

So then did aggressively scrubbing them last night release toxin and kill my wrasse? It happened within minutes of scrubbing.

[Myka]

That's unusual, but not impossible. There seems to be different species of dinos that vary in toxicity, although I'm not sure if there actually is. Some people complain about extreme toxicity (like you're experiencing) while others have very mild toxicity. Maybe it is from inaccurate ID...who knows?

Anyway, that article I linked you to has a good step by step procedure for you although I think it doesn't put enough stress on the elevated pH. Elevating the pH has a significant effect, and is not to be overlooked. Kalkwasser is the easiest way to do this because it provides a steadier elevated pH than other methods. You will need to replace most or all of your calcium and alkalinity dosing with kalkwasser to achieve this. Make sure you have a calibrated digital pH meter to check pH rather than a drop test kit which is not accurate enough. Check pH in the morning just before lights on and in the evening just before lights out. Once you have achieved a steady elevated pH then move onto the next steps of siphoning, waterchanges, carbon, black out, more waterchanges. Keep the pH elevated for at least a week after.

Here is an article by Randy Holmes-Farley that is outdated, and I think not as good as the first article I linked. However, it does give good advice for using kalkwasser to raise pH as well as calculations for you to do so at the end of the article, so check that out too. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php

Good luck! This "algae" is no fun...