[Jeff Haupert]

Last week we had a battle with red slime. Our advise before you treat is two fold:
1) Why? What is causing the outbreak?
2) Treatment plan.

Our Tank is a 65 Gallon with 12 gallons in the sump (Reef), 4.5 watts VHO 50% atinic and 50% 12,000k daylight. Water topoff was R/O from a local super market.

By the process of elimination we detirmined that the cause was from the R/O supply, basically the source was using a less effective membraine that tended to leave larger amoumts of trace elements and silicates in the water.

Note: The red slime broke out shortly after starting to use this water supply.

CURE: We now purchase our supply of R/O from our Marine aquarium store which is a certified higher quality and then dosed our tank with "Ultralife" Red slime remover. This required us to turn off the protien skimmer for 48hrs. After three days with NO additional treatments our red slime is 100% gone with no further groth in the past two weeks.

When you turn the protien skimmer back on you will get a large amount of clears watery foam for a day. this must be a reaction caused by the teatment.

No harm came to any of our "Soft corals" or fish, we do not have any stoney corals in our tank.
The coast of the product locally was $13.99.

[Jeff Haupert]

Last week should have been last month

[BubbaWPB]

Did it effect your ammonia, nitrite or nitrate? I had an ammonia spike after using the Red Slime Remover....

Good to hear your tank cleared up.

[Jeff Haupert]

No spikes at all. For me it was like a miracle cure.

The one additional thought is "how much water do you really have" in the tank. If you have a 65 gal tank with 60 to 70 lbs of "Live Rock" you need to treat based on the actual amount of water in the tank, not the tank size.

The product states that it is not harmful to the Boi-load in the tank.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Jeff Haupert

The product states that it is not harmful to the Boi-load in the tank.

The warnings on this product are carefully worded. Pay particular attention to what the warnings do NOT say. And notice that nowhere on the label does the manufacturer tell you exactly what the product is or how it works.

What is commonly called "red slime algae" is actually cyanobacteria. If you want to kill Cyanobacter, you would use an antibiotic. Personally, I prefer to avoid the use of antibiotics in a reef aquarium for obvious reasons.

From the ad for Red Slime Remover on a vendor's website:

Fast-acting Red Slime Remover works without harm

Notice that they are deliberately vague and non-specific here. Without harm to what? They don't say.

Red Slime Algae Remover

*Revolutionary powdered formula effectively removes red slime algae

*Works quickly without harming fish, invertebrates, or corals

*Great solution for aggressive nuisance slime algae growth

Now they tell you what it won't harm: fish, invertebrates, or corals. Notice that they say nothing about beneficial bacteria.

What exactly is "revolutionary" about this product? They don't say. To tell you the truth, I doubt that there is anything "revolutionary" about the product or the "powdered formula." This is nothing new.

They continue to call it an "algae remover," which is extremely misleading and untruthful. They call it a great solution for "aggressive nuisance slime algae growth," perpetuating misinformation.

Only when you click on the "more information" icon will you learn additional facts about this product provided by Drs. Foster & Smith, not the manufacturer. For instance, it "may affect pH and oxygen levels in aquarium." That tells you something right there about how it works.

Finally the vendor (not the manufacturer) tells you that "slime algae are a Cyanobacter species of bacteria and not true algae." Then I wonder why they don't call it that in the first place instead of continuing to confuse the issue in their ads? At the very end they tell you that "There are 'slime' treatments that will 'kill' the Cyanobacter (active ingredient is erythromycin), and in some cases, they will eliminate the slime. Remove the excess slime before treatment, and make sure the nitrate and phosphate levels are as low as possible." The reason they tell you this is because the antibiotic "treatment" does nothing for the underlying cause of the problem, it simply eliminates the "symptom" of the underlying problem temporarily.

P.S. -- Erythromycin prevents bacteria from growing, by interfering with their protein synthesis. Erythromycin binds to the subunit 50S of the bacterial ribosome, and thus inhibits the translation of peptides.

[romunov]

Problem for "red slime" is buildup of nutrients. Water change, water change, water change!

Well, it works for me anyway.

Ninong, to be more precise, the erythromycin molecules plugs the tunnel where the protein is suppose to be coming out.

[Jeff Haupert]

That's a lot of information to consider. It's amazing what they don't say about a product. In my case I did consider the cause, do regular water changes and have had NO adverse reactions. All my weekly tests remain ok.

I guess that's why I like this site, we can all share our experiences and learn from each other. Thanks for posting a reply.

jeff-

[Mini_Reef]

Could someone point me towards a good website that has pictures of red slime algae? I've been having some reb hair algae in my little 30 gallon tank.
But there are some darker spots, and I want to be sure to treat it as soon as I can. I've heard nasty stories about the dreaded red slime....

[charlie]

Try to siphon it out when you do a water change, it is a great way of nutrient export. I am still fighting cyano, although there is alot less than there was a month ago. I try to give it a good siphon very 4th water change, which would be 2 weeks.

[Frag Hag]

I obsessively practice the zen of water change, was confident in my tank's nutrient export, and circulation. Cyano was NOT going to happen on my watch...

Spotted it last week on my sand bed - Nano-Cyano, or what I like to call red slime from hell. Disgusting stuff. Turkey baster, siphoning, water changes, reducing lights, all proved to be very helpful... to the cyano. It is flourishing with a vengeance.

I will continue to attempt to fight the red slime battle naturally (Translated this means: first thing in the morning I'm buying chemicals, naturally.).

[BubbaWPB]

If you're using chemicals, I highly recommend Chemi-Pure! Skip the erythromycin based ones.... Make sure the package says it is not only reef safe, but SAFE FOR NITRIFYING BACTERIA. If it doesn't specifically say it, it probably isn't.

[optical]

ive tried chemi-clean and it worked perfectly, in a couple of days it was totally gone! i couldnt get rid of it before with just water changes so i had to use chemicals. this product is made by boyd enterprises from miami. not sure exactly whats in it but it says theres no phosphates, algacides, or erythromycin succinate, and it is safe for reef tanks.

[BubbaWPB]

yeah... that's what I meant! I knew it was chemi-sumthin. Good stuff. It makes the water real clear, too!

[TankU]

Is the red slime that is mentioned here look live red velvet? I have this occasionaly. I do water changes but still have this problem. It seems to lay on my rocks but is easily removed. Just curious if this is what we are talking about. It seems when it starts it easily spreads.

[BubbaWPB]

Originally Posted by TankU

Is the red slime that is mentioned here look live red velvet? I have this occasionaly. I do water changes but still have this problem. It seems to lay on my rocks but is easily removed. Just curious if this is what we are talking about. It seems when it starts it easily spreads.

Yup. That's the stuff.