Red slime on argonite

[the josey wales]

I just got home from vacation to discover a patch of red slime on the bottem of my tank. I also found some bubble algee.
I was going to do a small water change today, but I need to know if the "red slime" is benificial or needs to be vacumed out.
Thanks...

 

[shanev]

Its not really a algae its called cyano bacteria. DO a search you'll find a lot.
Usually caused by old lighting, high phosphates, or low flow. I would recommend removal.

 

[saltyj]

I just shot my red slime with a turkey baster full of SW and the filter cleaned it up. The Bubble Algae can be removed by hand as long as you don't pop it. Also you can remove it while changing water, hold the tube close to it and remove it, if it pops most of the spores are sucked out. Also emerald crabs are supposed to eat it, but mine did not then died.

 

[the josey wales]

I have 3 good size emeralds in a 30 g so I'm not to concerned about the bubble algee.
I will, however, do a search on the cyano.
Too bad, it looked kinda pretty!

 

[steelchromis]

If you take your time, this cyano can become a major problem in the next few weeks. If fit does become really bad search for JustinX's thread on how to get rid of it.