Red Sludge.... How Do I Get Rid Of It?

[LyleBabcock]

I used to have a major problem with some red sludge growing in my tank. I cleaned everything out and i thought i got rid of it but i'm spotting some small patches of it. How do I get rid of this??

 

[Sea Turtle]

I am having the same problem. How old is your tank?

 

[LyleBabcock]

its about a year and a half old. i started having trouble with it about 6 months ago, but there wasn't anything in the tank so i just let it go. i cleaned it out real good, but i'm seeing traces of it come back. my local store said it was a bacteria problem (but i still don't know what to do about it)

 

[WayneVT08]

Two doses of chemi-clean got rid of mine.

 

[Mr._Fishy]

Probably cyanobacteria. It is a bacteria that can photosynthesize. Astrea snails will eat this. There are additives that are supposed to remove this too.

 

[Sea Turtle]

I am currently trying a product I got from the lfs called RedSlime Control It is made by Blue Life. I am also having a similar problem. I hope it works.

 

[Musho3210]

Probably cyanobacteria. It is a bacteria that can photosynthesize. Astrea snails will eat this. There are additives that are supposed to remove this too.

I think it would be a one in a million chance to find anything that can eat cyano bacteria that can survive long term in tanks, especially with astraea snails (who rarely if ever even venture down into the sandbed to eat cyano)

 

[dilbert]

I got a red-legged hermit that I have actually seen with my own eyes eating red slime. BUT ... that hermit has to be hungry and even if you got many of them they won't eat it all. There is absolutely no chance that you can get a cleaner crew that will solve a red slime problem. My hermit ate red slime of the size of a thumbnail a day.

Chemical red slime remover may affect other bacteria, too. It might be a measure of emergency in some cases but the real cause is too much nutrients and phosphates.

It might be extremely difficult to get this right but that's the only way to go in the long run. I got this plague, too, in may nano and in the meantime I keep on removing this stuff manually. Every week an hour.

In my pico, it went away quickly by its own despite my pico had higher phosphates (0.35 ppm at that time) than the nano but in the pico are only corals and a lonely hermit and they don't eat much and therefore don't pollute much.

 

[LyleBabcock]

thanks for all the help.... my lfs also told me that a good skimmer has alot to do with it. I have a seaclone that i bought from petsmart, and its obviously not the skimmer of choice for the experts. I bought some chemicals (red slime control by blue life), one dose and its almost gone, second dose is on its way and i think that'll take care of it all.