red slime?

[armywife1314]

ok i still havent come across everything this hobby has to offer and i was reading about red slime. i think i may be getting some how do i know if i am, how do you treat it, and is it good or bad. any other info would be great. thanks

 

[renogaw]

are you talking about cyano (cyanobacteria)?
if so, there's TONS of threads on it, and it isn't a disease.

 

[armywife1314]

i thought it may work under "treatment".

 

[renogaw]

well, it's mainly a tank and not a disease thing.
basically there's three ways to get rid of cyano:
1) stop feeding so much, and feed better foods. you're probably loading up your tank with phosphates/nitrates
2) have more circulation
3) stop having your lights on for so long.
if you fix all these problems, then using chemiclean is a VERY effective way to get rid of cyano. unfortunately, if you don't fix the above three, it will just keep coming back.

 

[armywife1314]

i feed what the fish eat in about 2 minutes, i have a spray head and power heads and i keep the lights on for 10 hours, i thought that is what i was supposed to do.

 

[spanko]

Here is my take on getting rid of Cyano.
Red Slime (Cyano Bacteria)
Cyano grows on top of nutrient rich areas of low flow. There are a number of things that need to be correct or possibly corrected to combat this without the use of chemical additives. The biggest thing is to get rid of the extra nutrients.
1. Evaluate your feeding. If you are feeding more than can be eaten in about 1-2 minutes it is too much and the remainder of it is falling to the rock and sand and becoming nutrient.
2. Evaluate your flow. If you have areas in the tank where there is little to no flow this can be corrected by adding power heads or repositioning the ones you already have. You don’t need to create sand storms just have water moving over the area to keep detritus suspended in the water column for removal by your filter – skimmer.
3. Evaluate your water changes. The solution to pollution is dilution! You want to continually remove unneeded nutrients as well as replace those things that are used by the system. 10% weekly is a good change schedule. Some do 20% every other week and some vary the schedule from there, but a good start is 10% per week.
4. Evaluate your lighting schedule. About 10 hours of daylight is all that is needed.
5. If you have a cyano outbreak do the above 4 items andh:
a. At water change time siphon off the cyano first. It will come up easily almost like a blanker.
b. After siphoning stir the affected areas a little to suspend any detritus for the water change and filtering - skimming removal.
c. Use a turkey baster now and at every water change in the future to again suspend the detritus for removal by the water change and your filtering – skimming.
Keeping nutrient levels low to non-existent will help to avoid cyano outbreaks and any algae outbreaks as well as keep your tank and you happy happy.
Hope that helps.

[hr]
Henry