Cyno bacteria... other than it's ugly... types of effects on fish???

[Magnum Man]

So... yep I've got it in my Rainbow tank, and as it's spreading I've started losing some fish, including the deformed spine fish I posted pictures of in another thread... & including I have barbel less Cory's in this tank... curious what types of illness is associated with "cyno"??? I could fill up a whole post on why I was doing "everything" wrong...

but in a nut shell in that tank I was trying to grow water lilies, but the water was too alkaline I think... as I could never get them healthy... would get pads... on the 1st one, I even had to trim some pads, as it was taking over & getting all tangled because of the filter current, so the lighting was strong... also trying to more quickly grow several juvenal fish, so feeding was heavy

anyway one of the things I don't want to change is the hours of light... on all my tanks I currently have long hours of light, as I work all day, I want to see them before I leave for work, & again when I slow down at the end of the day... I have recently reduced the intensity of the lighting, on all my tanks, but left the hours the same right now... if I have to, I may have to let them go dark at mid day??? the water is all good, and I have a little algae, but not serious issues, even with the long hours of light, in the other tanks

to work on it, I'm removing the pots that had dirt in them cover by river pebbles ( that the lilies were planted in ) & heavy gravel vacuuming & water changes... curious if the issues with the rainbows could be related to the "cyno" this is the tank that has my barbel-less cory's as well so wondering if that could be a cause for that as well???

 

[Uberhoust]

I lived for years without ever getting an occurrence of Cyanobacteria, but in my current location it is much more frequent. My treatment involved reducing artificial light to 7.5 hours, 1330 hours to 2200 hours on two of the tanks (PAR at mid point in tank at approx 60). The other thing I did was vacuum up any occurrence within a couple of days. For me it typically starts on the gravel before it gets bad.

The other thing I did was to reduce the amount I cleaned the tank especially the gravel vacuuming in general. I found that my plants where chlorotic and the nitrates were less than 5 ppm, to me this indicated I had a nutrient deficit in the aquarium. I allowed the nitrates to move to 5 ppm to 10 ppm. I have more green algae now, but I have no detectable cyanobacteria. I suspect along with the increase in nitrates that the phosphates also increased but I don't test for that.

I have come across a number of posts in other sites that suggest that cyanobacteria takes advantage of environments where the nutrients available are restricted in particular ways, or when there is an excess. I couldn't really reduce the nutrients in my tank any further so I tried the opposite approach and it helped me out.

FYI I don't believe any of my fish suffered from the cyanobacteria. The genus I got, suspect it is still in the tank, is Oscillatoria, based on the stacked cells, shape, and the constant motion when viewed under the microscope, though I wouldn't bet the farm on this id.

 

[Colin_T]

Cyanobacteria releases toxins into the water that can poison anything that comes in contact with the bacteria, or lives within close proximity to the bacteria. Shrimp, catfish, loaches and eels are more likely to die from this compared to fishes that live in the middle or upper reaches of the water column. However, if you don't do water changes, the toxins build up and can kill everything in the tank.

 

[StevenF]

nutrient-calculator.php

I have come across a number of posts in other sites that suggest that cyanobacteria takes advantage of environments where the nutrients available are restricted in particular ways, or when there is an excess. I couldn't really reduce the nutrients in my tank any further so I tried the opposite approach and it helped me out.

that has been my experience. I had micro nutrient deficiency issues and cyanobacteria for a long time. When I got my micro nutrient fertilization figured out the cyanobacteria. disappeared.

Cyanobacteria releases toxins into the water that can poison anything that comes in contact with the bacteria, or lives within close proximity to the bacteria. Shrimp, catfish, loaches and eels are more likely to die from this compared to fishes that live in the middle or upper reaches of the water column. However, if you don't do water changes, the toxins build up and can kill everything in the tank.

There are many varieties of cyanobacteria and only a minori ty of them produce toxins. Other than these toxins there are minerals and various salts that can build up in the water over time. When these minerals build up to high levels the fish can die or be unhealthy. So for a healthy tank you always need to do water changes on a regular schedule. I do a 50% water change once a week. If you don't do this minerals naturally pressent in the tap water will build up over time As water evaporates and more water is added.

 

[jaylach]

I get the green slime bacteria but not in the water column. I get it on the cover for my LED lighting. The light cover is almost in contact with the water so makes a perfect environment for the crud. I really don't worry about it and just use a paper towel to wipe the stuff off the light cover when doing water changes.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I've had it a few times in my tank and it's been a pain in the butt to get rid of, mainly because it's in a south facing room home to 2 huge windows that let the sun in all day, especially so in the summer. For me it's always been in the gravel but I've learnt now to just remove and replace that portion of gravel as soon as I notice it and increase the frequency of my water changes. I do my best to stop extra light getting to the tank and I find aerating and creating more movement in the tank helps to get rid of it as well