I need help

[todd_nano]

Alright, all in the past 3 days the following has happened. I got aipasta anenomes, flatworms, and an horrendous outbreak of red cyan algae. Literally everything in the tank is being covered by this stuff. All the macro algae, all the rock, the entrie substrate, the glass, its horrible. I have a 12G tank thats reef/seahorse, all the parameteres are fine. I have about 15 strombus snails, and 2 queen conchs. None of them touch the stuff. What can I get that will eat this stuff, an algae blenny? I know i need a peppermint for the anenomes, and so far for the worms i've just been squishing them all everytime i see um.

Thanks for your help,
Todd

[srgtkoons]

Well id suggest a couple water changes, reduce feeding, and for the cyano one thing iv found out that works rather well with no ill side effects is to use hydrogen peroxide in a syringe. take a small section of cyano and inject hydrogen peroxide bellow the red sheet stuff. The h202 will kill the cyano and then decompose into harmless water and oxygen. I cant help you with the flatworms perhaps during water changes try to siphon as many of them out as you can. Then combined with the reduced feeding and the water changes the available nutrient level will stabilize and the population will decline. I have flatworms in my tank but the population stays small and you have to really hunt to look for one.

[Atkins]

Hi,

"all in the past 3 days the following has happened"

It's not happened over the course of the last few days IMO,more like a build up of organics over time causing the problem to just show its head.

Try to determine the cause/root of the problem,as srgtkoons said do some changes with good quality water. Also look for at your nutrient export ,the cyno could be caused by lack of skimming for one.
Another possibility could be poor lighting, or old lamps/tubes. Over time they lose effectiveness and the spectrum becomes less favourable

[srgtkoons]

One question for you todd, what are you feeding your seahorses. I know next to nothing about sea horses and their care. But if your feeding brine shrimp then I could pretty much bet on that as being part of your problem brine shrimp are extremely high in phosphate.

[fishguy_8]

i agree.....and i do recall seahorses need to be fed like 3 or 4 times a daily. but then again you may not be feeding the horses and are just letting them feed off of pods. water changes are always good......personally im leary of using any chemical in a reef tank....but if its been proven to work without any ill affects i'd say i'd try it if i were desperate. phosphates probibly are one of your problems check them out and try to decrease feeding if you think that its not all being gobbled up.
good luck
Jon

[srgtkoons]

I was leary of trying it as well, but then i was told by a chemist that h202 would degrade or decompose into water and oxygen almost instantly it has enough time to have an enzymatic reaction with an emzyme called catalase that is present in almost all forms of life. Thats what causes peroxide to bubble when you pour it in a wound, its reaction with the catalase in your blood and the reaction causes it to turn into oxygen and water which is where the bubbles come from and how it works at cleaning wounds. Anyway i guess it reacts with the catalase in cyano and causes the cell to break apart. I asure you as long as you dont go nuts and dump a large amount in it wont cause any harm.

[RudeBoy]

I had this problem (Cyno-Algae) about 2 months ago and I cured it in 48 hours! Go to your LFS and buy a product called "Red Slime Remover" by Ultra Life Reef Products. It cost about 12 bucks and will solve your problem quickly without harming anything in your tank. After this, you'll have red slime in your skimmer and you'll have to clean it and do a water change. This process works faster than just a water change cuz I tried it! Good Luck!

[todd_nano]

I will give the H202 a try. Its not the lighting or the skimming because I've got 64W over a 12, CSL, and a prizm. I dont think im overfeeding, im feeding mysis once a day, and the horses gobblem them right um and within seconds the bristle worms are out in full force picking up anything the horses cant grab quick enough. I'll also try a big water change.

Thanks for the help,
Todd

[fishguy_8]

not telling you how to raise your ponies or nothing but...like i said i recall that horses need to be feed several times a day to remain at 100% health. i think its got something to do w/ their intestinal tract not having the greatest surface area which basicly would be compared to rabbits.....rabbits are coprophagists*sp?* which means they eat their own feces because when they eat their food only a certain amount of the nutrients are absorbed the first time through. i dont think sea horses are coprophagists which is why it is recommended to feed at least twice a day. i'm sure by now you've stopped in at seahorse.org i'm sure the people there will back me up on the fact you should feed a little more frequently. give it some thought just curious how long have you had your horses? what kind are they? tell me all about them they are great creatures arent they! some day when i'm loaded i'll set up a species tank for some ocean riders
good luck to you with your algae problem.
Jon

[todd_nano]

They are OR mustangs, had them for ~2 months. They seem to be doing just fine. Ocean rider said to feed them once a day with vibrance 6 days a week, then 1 day no food.

-Todd

[fishguy_8]

well if they are doing good and thats what ocean rider said to do i'd do that too then becaues they obviously got something going on right. thats just what i was told about ponies....but like everyone says there is always more than one way to skin a cat. have u done anything about the algae yet?

[todd_nano]

i tried the h202 --- that didnt work so well, it just provided a short term fix for a small area of algae, and it couldnt do anything for the algae on rocks. So I physically removed all the algae with a turkey baster and did a 30% water change. I've also reduced feeding even more, hopefully the horses will be ok. The algae is back, but not growing quite as quickly, i may do another water change this weekend.

-Todd

[srgtkoons]

With such a small tank and having to feed brine, which i dont like as a food source. You might want to consider adding some additional sources of filtration. Perhaps a refugium or a sump with additional LR.