anyone with a magic cure or answer?

jslaney · #1 11-09-2007, 01:22 AM

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 · #2 11-09-2007, 01:28 AM

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 · #3 11-09-2007, 02:27 AM

Quote:

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 · #4 11-09-2007, 02:50 AM

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 · #5 11-09-2007, 02:54 AM

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.

fkshiu · #6 11-09-2007, 04:19 AM

It does sound like dinos rather than cyano. One way to be sure is to try a does of the Chemi-Clean (be sure to follow the directions to a "T"!). If it does nothing then you know its dinos.

Not sure if it's the magic bullet you're looking for but a tactic I came across on RC is an extended blackout period for several days.

This is of course in addition to the standard recommendations of feeding/stocking less, employing macro algae/phosphate removers and water changes.

niloc16 · #7 11-09-2007, 05:56 AM

i thought about making a blackout but how long could the corals go without light before they died. i dont mind them browning but there is some pieces i really dont want to lose

skylord · #8 11-09-2007, 06:59 AM

Here is an article worth reading....

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php

Scott

SuperFudge · #9 11-09-2007, 01:47 PM

Colin,

Get some Calcium chloride, and shut down your reactor for two weeks.

At the very least, we can write off one potential culprit.

Mine has been a source of problems in the past, everytime i shut it down for a few weeks.....the problems go away, i just couldnt say wether it was the media, the Mg granules, or the c02 fueling the problem.

Marc.

michika · #10 11-09-2007, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by niloc16

i thought about making a blackout but how long could the corals go without light before they died. i dont mind them browning but there is some pieces i really dont want to lose

I have done up to 4.5 days with no issues. I think the trick is to really black it out. I covered mine with towels so no light got in. I would assume the fish, corals, and clams, all thought it was just a really long evening.