Red Slime

[TADemet]

I am having a problem controlling the red slime in my tank.
Current params are
SG: 1.023
Alk: 150 ppm
Amonia:0
PH: 8.0
Nitrate: < 10 mg/l
Nitrite: < .2

Did a water change last night plan another tonight. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Reef_Angel]

When you say "red slime", do you mean crappy 'ol Cyano?

[TADemet]

When you say "red slime", do you mean crappy 'ol Cyano?

Yes, I believe it is cyano.

[Grandmaster_Toad]

Red slime.....ick.
WHen I first set up my tank i had a little problem with that.
The easiest way to take care of it is to make sure your skimmer is working at optimal proformance, keep water changes on regular schedual, make sure you have good water flow (ie:power heads), and dont over feed.

It that doesnt help in a few weeks you can introduce the product "slimeaway". Now please understand that I DISLIKE putting chemicals in my reef, however I realize sometimes its unavoidable. This chemical will fix the immediate problem with in 2 days, but will not nessicarily fix the cuase of the problem.
I am not at home right now, but as sson as I return I'll PM you the full name and distributer of the product. Should be later on monday.

Good luck
GT

[Reef_Angel]

We just went through quite the battle of cyano, and when I say battle... I mean that I felt like we lost the war. We don't believe in using any chemicals other than the natural ways to rid ourselves of the problem. Overfeeding is a big cause, lack of good water flow, and I admit that it partially was my fault because I hand feed my corals. I cut back my feedings quite a bit from the advice of all our members! We did water change on top of water change. We sucked out the stuff with some tubing attached to a wider piece of plastic tubing. Dave was doing that daily. When I knew he was going to do a water change, I'd blow all the cyano off the rocks and such and get it moving in the water in hopes that we could get as much out as possible while we were removing water. I also like the idea of having lots of cool gaps and crevises all through my scaping so there's no dead spots that don't get good current. We still have a bit of the red goo there, but I'm not letting my gaurd down until it's gone! I'm realistic enough to know that it won't be the last time we get a breakout though. There just plain needs to be a critter called a "super cyano slurper" that we can all have in our tanks, now wouldn't that be grand? :D
With time, this shall to pass!! :D ......Angel :)

[dakar]

I have to side against the chemical treatment as well, we were frustrated with the cyano in our 55g, so we used Chemi-Clean, did it work, yes (wiped out 99% of the stuff overnight), did it do other harm.... we believe so. There have been a few good write ups about it around here somewhere. Basically the chemical approach, is to dose your tank with an antibotic, namely Eurethramyacin (sp?) aka Emyacin, IMO it has to kill the good bacteria with the bad. Followed by a 50% water change I think after 24 hours.

No thanks....never again, I'd rather suck cyano through a straw before going that route again... patience and persistance... it's a battle that can be won.

[TADemet]

Did a water change last night and notice that it looks like the cleaner crew has been putting a dent in it. Will do another water change tomorrow. Also ordering new bulbs today.

[Reptoreef]

Have you tested for phosphates??? And how old is your current lighting???

[TADemet]

Have you tested for phosphates??? And how old is your current lighting???

I have don't have a phosphate test kit. I bought the lights used and I have had them for about 4-5 months. Pretty sure they were well used befor I got them.

[FEEDERFISH]

Bring up your alk. and drip kalkwasser...that should be a little help to clean up the slime

[Reptoreef]

Phosphates and older lighting can aide the cyano so I also recommend NEW lighting and testing asap.

[davejnz]

I agree,after noticing a little red-slime in one of my tanks over the past 2 wks(first time in a yr),I started testing params.Seems i let my alk slip down to 5dKH and the tank has never looked worse.One thing that has worked for me in the past when i was dealing with a bad cyano problem in a friends large tank was simply adding 3 MJ-1200's.Within a wk it was almost all gone.Cyano usually doesn't thrive with more current.

[TADemet]

Well things seem to be improving after the water changes, adding cleaners, tweakeing my skimmer, decreaseing the light period and feeding. Will continue and hopefully get new bulbs this week.

[Reptoreef]

Good luck... glad to hear about the improvements.

[reefdude007]

Hi all,#ed_op#br#ed_cl##ed_op#br#ed_cl#This is just a general "thanks a bunch" to all who posted to this original question. #ed_op#br#ed_cl##ed_op#br#ed_cl#About
10 weeks ago my tank developed a nasty case of cyano. I had no
clue what it was until I saw it discussed here. The first place I
started to troubleshoot was the skimmer...and I found that the one I
had was undersized for my tank. So I replaced my skimmer with a
Proaquatics 150, and while I noticed a huge difference in "scum"
production, the cyano was still well in control of my tank. I
placed an additional powerhead in the tank for additional
waterflow....still bupkus. I then started to feed them every
other day...and that seemed to help some, but by then I was thinking
that maybe I was just imagining progress. I then added 6 more
astrea and 6 more turbo snails (total of 20 each)...and that seemed to
help alot...but every day the stuff came back! Finally the
lightbulb went on in my head (literally) and while feeding one day I
realized there was no "install date" written on my blue actinic
lights. I've gotten in the habit of writing the date on the base
of the light so I know when it's due for replacement. Anyway...2
blue actinic lights later...viola! After 2 days the tank was
clear! Woo Hoo!#ed_op#br#ed_cl##ed_op#br#ed_cl#That was about 2 weeks ago, and the only
problems since then is that I've found 3 turbo snail remnants dead in
the bottom of the tank.I'm not sure if they no longer have a food
source or if maybe the hermits are looking for bigger homes.
Either way, it's a small problem compared to the dreaded cyano.#ed_op#br#ed_cl##ed_op#br#ed_cl#Thanks again to all!#ed_op#br#ed_cl#

[jerryc]

reefdude most of the time in my experience theirs usually a combination of things
[not always ] but most times that we do to get red of problems with bad algae
or cyano.
I believe everything you did probable contributed because Thea all will improve your water quality and the better the water the less problems