I Sure need help

[mwithy]

Hi everyone, have a 75 gal bowfront reef tank, things were cooking along great for a long time. Water levels were often checked and everything within range. . until. . .

I started noticing a light dusting of brown stuff on my sand. I would stir the sand up, only to find it come back again later. Then I noticed I started seeing this stuff on my live rock, and then one day, I noticed a couple of my corals had a bit of this yellow/brown stuff on them. I then got real nervous.

Went to my LFS, explained the problem. Was told it sounds like Red slime, got some redslime treatment stuff by chemiclean and followed the recommendations. Figured I was all set after this was in. Well, next day, my nice corals were looking HORRIBLE, and a 3-4 of them just died overnight. Killed me. I then saw a couple of my fish die in the next few hours. I went to my LFS and was told something was going on in my tank, but it wasn't the stuff I added that he recommended (strange coincidence). The Ammonia level in the water was super high, which apparently is what killed things off. I brought my remaining pieces of coral and a couple of fish that did make it back to the LFS for holding while I got this under control. We added in an ammonia pad into the wet/dry, and used BA's good bacteria stuff. After about 10 days, the ammonia is gone. I talked to my LFS about the stuff on the rocks and sand, and he said now would be the time to scrub the rocks in SW with a brush. I spent the afternoon doing that, and the tank looks great. Guess what. . . now the exact same stuff that I originally wanted to get rid of his back in my tank, but this time, just not as many corals/fish. I don't know what to do, how to treat, or what it is. I am at a loss. Any help would be appreciated. I can send pics to show you what I am talking about if it will help. Thank you--thank you!

[papaya]

i think that some pictures would definitely help to understand exactly whats going on

[mwithy]

Hi there, thanks. Here's a couple of pics I snapped.

[reeferguru]

I definitely feel your frustration as I can relate to what you are going through! First of all in your top picture, it looks like an Aiptasia Anemone is growing on the live rock that your Xenia is growing on...you should try to eradicate it before you end up with a population explosion of them and they injure your corals.
Now as for your dilemma, it does look like cyanobacteria, which isn't an algae but a bacteria. Cyanobacteria forms as a result of elevated dissolved organics/nitrates/phosphates in your water. It will also only grow in areas of reduced water flow. I would perform a water change, since your ammonia levels are negligable again, add a carbon/phosphate remove and try adding another powerhead or adjust the powerhead/s you have now to ensure more adequate water movement. The other thing that is important is when removing cyanobacteria, it is best to remove it completely! Remove the rock/coral etc. from the tank and give it a strong rinse in either fresh or saltwater, then place back in your tank, or use a vaccuum/syphon and remove it that way into a bucket...it should come off rather easily. What this does is lessens the likelihood of reemergence as you are experiencing now.
If you just swish it with your hand or powerhead, unfortunately, you end up having it settle again in the same place.
Good luck, hope I helped!
Tom

[mwithy]

Thanks Tom, I appreciate it. I have the wet/dry pump going, along with 3 other power heads, I think the flow is strong enough. I just don't get it. I saw that aptasia when I took the pictures, defintely get that one very soon.

I did a 20 gal of 75 gal tank water change when the ammonia was high, and I also scrubbed the rocks a few days ago with a brush. I thought that would clear it up, but it appears not. Is there a safe chemical treatment to knock this out? I am about to give up, but won't.

Thank you!

[papaya]

i think i found a site that should do the trick.....see if this helps
www.fishlore.com/aquariummagazine/apr08/cyanobacteria.htm
i think its the same problem you have and should include a way to get rid of it

good luck!

[mwithy]

Thanks Tom, that dog will hunt!! Appreciate the info. I will let you know how it goes!

[papaya]

Hi there, thanks. Here's a couple of pics I snapped.

are the large ones the aipista's......or am i missing something?
sam

[reeferguru]

I want to explain something that is very imformative and something you should know regarding ammonia!
Their are two forms of ammonia NH3(un-ionized) and NH4(ionized) with NH3 being the toxic form of the two.
Ammonia is a byproduct of protein matabolism and a nitrogen waste that is formed when something dies or decays and it is also excreted through the gills of fish. NH3 and NH4 closely react with varying pH levels of aquarium water. NH3 increases when the pH of water increases, hence the more detrimental it can pan out for ALL living animals. As pH levels drop below 7.5 or so, the toxicity of ammonia tends to drop as hydrogen gains another atom converting it to NH4 a much less toxic form of ammonia(ammonium).

Ok to finalize this, since you now know that the toxic form of ammonia becomes even more so as pH levels escalate, when you did a water change, you ultimately raised the pH of your water due to the buffers in the synthetic salts. Hence you didn't reduce the ammonia through the water change but caused it to spike, maybe not initially, but in a short period of time.

This is the key reason why water changes should NEVER be done during a tanks cycling process, either during the infancy stage of a tank or as a result of an unfortunate death of a living animal or animals.

As for chemical treatments, I highly advise adding any medication to your main tank as the delicate balance and plethora of diverse living animals residing in a closed system environment are bound to show some adverse reactions. The thing you want to do is find the underlying reason for the cyanobacteria taking stronghold and fix it rather than masking the problem with a band-aid, so to speak. The thing about medications also is their ability to wipe out what its supposeto treat or cure?...9 times out of 10 reappears in time, thus the importance to find the solution to the problem. Moreover, the human error aspect of medicating a tank can pan out negatively if done wrong as the loss of life normally doesn't outweigh the effort of trying to rectify a problem through medication. If you are medicating in a quarantine tank or hospital tank, then the tide changes, but their is still a degree of uncertainty regarding successful treatment, or not...

[gregr]

Yep- gotta figure out why the stuff showed up in the first place. Could be many different things. How much of a bioload do you have? How much, how often and what do you feed? What is your water source (ro/di water?)? If it's ro/di, how long since you changed the filters? Have you tested for total dissolved solids (TDS)? How old are the lightbulbs? How long do you keep them on? Got a good protein skimmer?
That's all I can think of now