Sudden thought

[hhughes]

I've had some issues with my tank recently, mostly with cyano. I've upped my water changes and added flow, but it occurred to me this might be something very simple that I did.

I had lots...billions, felt like...of asterinas. Everywhere. They left everything alone, and we got along fine, until I bought some neat little blue/black zoas. They were on those zoas within the day, and 2 days later no more zoas at all. Angered, I went out and bought a harlequin shrimp.

And a week later, I saw the beginnings of this problem...a couple months later, my asterinas are almost gone, now, and here I am battling cyano like never before.

Thoughts? Did I nuke my accidental cleanup crew?

 

[mapleredta]

Asterinas to the best of my knowledge, have little to no effect on cyano developing or eradicating it. Have you increased your bio-load? Increase in your feeding habits?

 

[crewdawg1981]

I had always thought that a booming asternia populations meant things in the tank werent exactly great? Not terrible, but on the dirty side?

 

[hhughes]

Not particularly. I have a maroon clown (2.5"), a melanarus wrasse (3.5"), a mandarin, and a bangaii cardinal. I've had them all for quite a while. I feed 3 or 4 times weekly, frozen mysis/brineshrimp.

Edit: It sure *looked* great when I had them... not a speck of algae and happy corals.

 

[gmpolan]

Cut back your lighting period by an hour or so and perhaps look into feeding alil less. The water changes should take care of the rest....

 

[crewdawg1981]

gmpolan;656395 wrote: Cut back your lighting period by an hour or so and perhaps look into feeding alil less. The water changes should take care of the rest....

Not sure I'd cut back feeding... She's only feeding ever other day or so. I doubt thats her issue. Any less and she'd starve the tank.

What flow do you have now? Where is it directed?

What is your lighting schedule? Do you have a fuge? If so, is the fuge light on a reverse photoperiod or on 24/7?

How old is the setup?

 

[mapleredta]

I feed pellets once every 3-4 days and have a MP40 on my little 45 cube tank. I've got great flow in my tank and STILL have cyano. I'm trying to figure out where my phosphates are coming from.

 

[hhughes]

It's 2.5 years old now. I have 4 older powerheads in there, mostly pointed down at the rock, and one big koralia that runs behind all the rockwork, directed straight across the back of the tank.

It's a 55 gallon.

I don't have a fuge yet. I am trying to get this 75 set up so I can get my new skimmer/sump installed, but it hasn't happened yet. (I blame my husband, he's been out of town almost 8 weeks now, hard to get anything done with a toddler running about. Then I had a friend promise to help me.... 3 months ago... and never have time since.) (/emo mode off)

 

[crewdawg1981]

Just so i read this right... you guys are really feeding your fish THAT LITTLE? Everything... and I do mean everything... I've EVER read indicates that they need to be fed at least once a day. I understand that you could go a few days without feeding and your fish would be okay, but this is certainly not something that should be continued?

Okay...

Take your powerheads and aim them up for surface agitation and aeration. I'm trying to remember how my 55 was setup, but I had two SEIOs along the back corners pointed towards the surface and then added two maxijets along the sides and shot those up and towards the back... then of course I also had the return line broken in two on a SCWD.

Never had cyano and fed pretty heavily each day.

 

[hhughes]

I'd certainly prefer to feed every day; the every other day feeding is a desperate effort to limit nutrients and kill the algae.

 

[jbadd99]

Good luck in your quest. I recently just battled an outbreak of cyano on my tank. No explanation of why it just suddenly appeared and my water parameters were spot on. The only thing I had done new to the tank around the same time as my outbreak was add carbon to my sump.

I tried the three days no light... water change... powerhead adjustment... etc, all to no avail.

Finally, I broke down and added an additive recommended by Jenn. Within about 18 hours all the cyano in my tank was gone. The reef residents remained happy too...

 

[dawgface]

I think every one kinda missed her initial questions. To which I do not have an answer for but am curious on some opinions.
She thinks it may be from dead asterinas, from what she said she had "billions" or what felt like billions. Added a harlequin shrimp and a few months went by and they are almost gone.
Could the pieces of dead asterinas laying around the tank in fact cause problems?? IDK but curious!

 

[linda lee]

Another thing to consider is that while the asterinas were living, they're one type of organism, once they're eaten, they're something else, i.e., "shrimp poop."

Must remember that while adding something from nature to eradicate something from nature would appear to be the best course of action, you're in turn creating another cycle of events -- increased waste.

Another question -- what's the life of your bulbs? Bulbs that are on their last legs are notorious for stimulating algae growth.

(P.S. -- I know I'll get yelled at for this, but using Chem-Clean once in a blue moon is NOT a sin. And it takes care of the stuff lickety-split.)

 

[acroholic]

Linda Lee;656647 wrote: (P.S. -- I know I'll get yelled at for this, but using Chem-Clean once in a blue moon is NOT a sin. And it takes care of the stuff lickety-split.)

Chemi-Clean works great when you follow the instructions. It has always worked great for me the 2-3 times I have used it.

 

[coolsurf]

My feelings are the asterinas had little or no affect BUT, I could be wrong.

I've seen cyano pop up due to skimmer issues including mine at one point. It appeared as though it was working great but in all actuality, it had a major problem and was not skimming well at all. Once I corrected the skimmer, evreything turned around and the tank looked fine. Just a thought worth checking into.

 

[hud3339]

Linda Lee;656647 wrote:

(P.S. -- I know I'll get yelled at for this, but using Chem-Clean once in a blue moon is NOT a sin. And it takes care of the stuff lickety-split.)

I agree ive always used it (pass 5 years) and no problem

 

[linda lee]

hud3339;656655 wrote: I agree ive always used it (pass 5 years) and no problem

It's definitely a way to control the symptom while you're looking for a way to solve the problem. Just gotta remember that the chemical itself is not the solution.

As for fish-feeding, I don't feed every day; I feed every third day and my fish are fat and healthy.

One thing that really bugged me when I fed daily was the way my fish threw themselves at the glass every time I approached the tank. They saw me and it seemed they thought "EATING TIME". Now when I feed every third day, my fish don't beg. I can walk all around my tank and enjoy it. The fish are calm and seem happy, not frantic.

Coincidence? Or are my fish trained? Hmmmm....

 

[acroholic]

DawgFace;656634 wrote: I think every one kinda missed her initial questions. To which I do not have an answer for but am curious on some opinions.
She thinks it may be from dead asterinas, from what she said she had "billions" or what felt like billions. Added a harlequin shrimp and a few months went by and they are almost gone.
Could the pieces of dead asterinas laying around the tank in fact cause problems?? IDK but curious!

I doubt that asterina parts are causing anything. Harleys eat starfish as they are hungry, and don't kill indiscriminately.

 

[insane_reef_keeper]

Chemi-clean is the way to go for a quick eradication of the cyano.

 

[skriz]

Asterinas are algae eaters (for the most part).