Cyanobacteria

[recycled oldy]

Can anyone tell me about cyanobac and what to do about it, are the spores in the water, the gravel, the filter or all of the above. Will moving fish to another unaffected tank, spread the problem to that tank?

Some months ago I broke down my AR980 freshwater tropical and replaced the substrate and gravel with new. The filter media was replaced with new but not the ceramic noodles. Badly affected plants were thrown out, others carefully hand cleaned in running tap water. The tank was refilled with 40 litre (20%) RO water, (donated), about 40% of the original water (to avoid having to re-cycle the tank from scratch) and 40% new tap water with Prime added. Fish and cleaned plants were returned to the tank and within two weeks, so was the cynobac. I am presently vac siphoning the gravel with a 25/30% water change, every third day but literally within hours the green/blue spots return. I even turned off the lights and covered the tank for 6 days which appeared to work but no, it was back within two weeks.

I don't know if its the cynobac or some other problem but I have also lost 39 of the total 52 fish put in that tank over the 15 months I have had it from new. Fish ranged from Neons to a Red-tailed Shark and several Corydorus. I am reluctant to pack it in altogether but this is a no longer a hobby and far from relaxing, it's become a nightmare. HELP!

[Ira]

Can anyone tell me about cyanobac and what to do about it, are the spores in the water, the gravel, the filter or all of the above. Will moving fish to another unaffected tank, spread the problem to that tank?

They're everywhere. Unlikely to "Spread" it to the other tank because they're probably already present. It's a matter of the water conditions being appropriate for it to overrun everything or not.

I don't know if its the cynobac or some other problem but I have also lost 39 of the total 52 fish put in that tank over the 15 months I have had it from new. Fish ranged from Neons to a Red-tailed Shark and several Corydorus. I am reluctant to pack it in altogether but this is a no longer a hobby and far from relaxing, it's become a nightmare. HELP!

Probably not the cyano, likely the cyano and the deaths are symptoms of poor water quality.

[Adrienne]

Cyanbacteria is a bacteria which causes a green or blue green algae outbreak, usually in areas of low current i.e. often forms between the glass and the edge of the substrate. It is like a fine sheet which can be syphoned out. You can also purchase a remedy from the lfs which will deal to it, or if you have it around erythromycin (the human antibiotic) will also work on it. If you get rid of the dead areas around the tank the cyano will reduce. It will kill plants by smothering them. I wouldnt have expected it to be killing off your fish. What are your tank readings, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH. Do you know what your phosphates are?

[recycled oldy]

Thank you Ira and Adrienne for your comments. I do not have a full set of test equipment but will ask my lfs to do the tests for me.

I did have major problems with Phosphate for a long time, Taupo water contains Phos. and I had also been using a PH stabiliser containing Phos. so when tested, the Phos. indicator was off the scale, almost black. Use of JBL's PhosEx ultra plus water changes has now dropped it to betwen 1 and 0.5. I am concerned about PH which is above the scale on my indicator, (ie 7.2) but a) the indicator may be out of date and b) the general opinion on the net appears to be, "better a stable PH than forcing it down". I currently use no chemicals except Prime de-chlorinator. The PhoEx ultra bags are still in the filter but may no longer be effective.

Could you give me the name of the Cynobac remover you mentioned and I will obtain some.

[SamH]

Could you give me the name of the Cynobac remover you mentioned and I will obtain some.

The only thing I use to keep Cyano away is good flow and CO2.

[F15hguy]

Go visit a good vet and get a prescription for "Ethromycin", it will fix your problem in a couple of days, unfortunately Cyano is one of the things that hangs round long after you have fixed the initial problem. just for interest what type of gravel did you initially have??? I find some substrates are more prone than others

[Caryl]

It is Erythromycin, aka E-Mycin. It too will only work temporarily unless you find a fix the cause, usually an imbalance of nutrients.

[Ira]

Though, I found in my case it never came back and I made no real changes.

[recycled oldy]

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated. I note the use of Erythromycin but need more info. Is it powder or liquid, how much to use in 210 litre tank, how often? I assume this med. is ok with plants and fish but with my history to date, simply cannot afford a trial and error approach!

In reply to Adriennes enquiry my lfs provided the following water test results: PH- 7.6; Nitrate- 5.0; Phosphate- 0.25, KH- 4; GH- 3. He expressed some concern at PH 7.6 being rather high for Neons, etc. I had returned a piece of bogwood to the tank recently and mentioned peat moss as being another natural PH reducer. Being a nice guy he gave me a 1kg box of Sera Super peat and I have just put about 1/3 of that in a filter bag, into one compartment of the AR's filter.

Not trying to hog the forum but further comments and advice will be most welcome.