What a mess!

Hi rtk,
Are you aware that there are at least three different forms
of Maracyn, two for fresh water, one is Erythromysin and the other is
Minocycline, one treats gram negative bacteria the other treats gram
positive. Then there is a third type for salt water use. I would visit
:- http://www.mardel-labs.com for more info. they are the
manufacturers. As far as I know Maracyn will only treat fish problems
if you use the correct type, It will not get rid of cyno bacteria.
regards,
unclenorm.

unclenorm wrote:

Hi rtk,
Are you aware that there are at least three different forms
of Maracyn, two for fresh water, one is Erythromysin and the other is
Minocycline, one treats gram negative bacteria the other treats gram
positive. Then there is a third type for salt water use. I would visit
:- http://www.mardel-labs.com for more info. they are the
manufacturers. As far as I know Maracyn will only treat fish problems
if you use the correct type, It will not get rid of cyno bacteria.
regards,
unclenorm.

Whew! As soon as I read your note I called ThatPetPlace where I had just
ordered more. I have been using the right stuff. So far, it isn't
really doing a great job, so I'm going to stop for a few days and plug
the skimmer back on. I'm siphoning it three times per day and hoping a lot.

Thank you so much for alerting me!

rtk

Does this cyano-b ever go away? I'm siphoning before and after meals,
my meals that is. I can't keep ahead of it and I wonder if it
eventually calms down. The tank is not a source of serene pleasure
these days.

rtk

Cyanobacteria is the result of nutrients....period! Whether those
nutrients happen to be ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, silicate
or what-have-you. Stop beating yourself up over this, take a deep
breath. OK, now then...stop with the erythromyacin and turn that
skimmer back on. In fact, make sure the skimmer is operating at it's
peak efficiency. Stop feeding the fish and inverts so much and do a
series of water changes using good quality water. Invest in an RO
filter if you don"t already own one. Keep the following in mind and
live by it...Decrease nutrient input, increase nutrient removal. That
slime WILL go away!

Regards,
Robert

Robert wrote:
Cyanobacteria is the result of nutrients....period! Whether those
nutrients happen to be ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, silicate
or what-have-you. Stop beating yourself up over this, take a deep
breath. OK, now then...stop with the erythromyacin and turn that
skimmer back on. In fact, make sure the skimmer is operating at it's
peak efficiency. Stop feeding the fish and inverts so much and do a
series of water changes using good quality water. Invest in an RO
filter if you don"t already own one. Keep the following in mind and
live by it...Decrease nutrient input, increase nutrient removal. That
slime WILL go away!

Regards,
Robert


The *nutrient* was apparently a blue linckea. I have stopped the
erythromycin and turned the skimmer back on. It's extracting so quickly
that I have to empty it every ten minutes. I'm also siphoning the
surface of the sand frequently, assuming that just shoving the brown
stuff underneath is not efficacious. I have an RO/DI, bought from Marc,
and I'm replacing much water just because of the skimmer and siphoning.
I am going to repeat your last sentence to myself to the tune of Judy
Garland's Follow the Yellow Brick Road in Oz, fingers crossed and all.
The work/pleasure ratio for the tank right now is not what anyone would
like.

Thank you very much, Robert

Ruth Kazez

My tank has been set-up for over 9 months, but for the first 6 months I
struggled with a bloom of cyano, and brown algae. My first step was to try
and remove all of the nutrients. I dump the bio balls from my wet/dry
filter and replaced it with live rock. That seemed to get my nitrates under
control. Since my sand bed was new, I thought the sand bed might be
leeching off nutrients as well. Added a phosphate bag . My water
parameters while not perfect, were pretty good. I adjusted my photo-period
from 12 hours to 10.

But the one thing that made the biggest impact and allowed my to turn the
corner -- was covering my tank with blankets and turning off my lights for
3 days. It was truly amazing all of the excessive algae and cyano was gone.
I then played with my photo period to determine the maximal light period
without causing a algae breakout.

Since then I have replaced the wet/dry with a fuge/sump with a good growth
of macro algae. Everything is good.

Hope this helps.

dwk