What Eats Cyano?

Nafe · 10-21-2004, 08:05 PM

As the title suggests im looking for a creature fish/invert that will actively feed on cyano.

Ive noticed my crabs will occasionaly feed on it, but apart from that nothing else has touched it.

Before you blow me up and say i should be preventing the cyano from appearing in the first place rather then treating the symptoms im in the process of choosing a Reverse Osmosis filter. My tapwater source is full of nutrients and fuels a never ending Cyano outbreak in my tank. Its so frustrating i clean the tank, but days later sometimes hrs tiny patches of it reappear and start smothering the tank again

.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Nathan

yardboy · 10-21-2004, 10:09 PM

You ain't gonna get no help! If there were some creature that casually ate cyano, the bank wouldn't be big enough to hold all the money they could make off it! The key is nutrient export. Sorry.

Deuce24 · 10-21-2004, 10:10 PM

If you don't decide on a filter, I would suggest at least buying RO/DI from your local grocery store. Test it first to make sure it is truly clean, but my local Vons RO/DI is as clean as they come. You can buy by the gallon. Not sure how big your tank is, but this may be impractical depending on it's size, but may be worth the price if your tap water is as bad as you say.

PS. A lot of varities of snails feed on cyano, check some websites and the archives to see how others have battled cyano. GL. I'm battling diatoms right now, but not much to do about them but wait for them to pass.

Nafe · 10-22-2004, 01:27 AM

Buying the water is too expensive, i would prefer to spend alot of money on a RO filter now rather then spending more in the future buying lots of water.

Any species of snail in particular that you know off?.

I think ill have to buy a light for my sump and get alot of algae growing on some live rock down there to help.

Jeremy1973 · 10-22-2004, 08:38 AM

Hmm..now I thought I had heard some where that conchs nibble on cyano.. did I misread something somewhere?

rottielover · 10-22-2004, 08:54 AM

I have two astrea snails right now (waiting on my order to come in) 1 out of two is either eating the cyno or just "wiping it away"...

So in my limited experiance, so far I've had 50% of my snails eat (or wipe) cyno.

Personally I think I'm going to find a miniature roll of paper towels hidden in the tank somewhere!

iamdickie · 10-22-2004, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rottielover

I have two astrea snails right now (waiting on my order to come in) 1 out of two is either eating the cyno or just "wiping it away"...

So in my limited experiance, so far I've had 50% of my snails eat (or wipe) cyno.

Personally I think I'm going to find a miniature roll of paper towels hidden in the tank somewhere!

I have a yellow 8 inch long sea cucumber that eats it, either un intentional or not, off of the sand.

iamdickie · 10-22-2004, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nafe

As the title suggests im looking for a creature that will actively feed on cyano.

Nathan

I DO!

yardboy · 10-22-2004, 01:44 PM

Maybe I was being too dramatic, or maybe one of ya'll is fixing to be a millionaire! Or maybe the stuff just grows so fast even an army of cyano eaters would find it impossible to keep up?! I had a conch that would burrow under it but I don't think he was really eating it. On the other hand, my siphon hose would definitely eat it, though I don't think it was chewing or digesting it!

washowi · 10-22-2004, 04:50 PM

Blue Hermit crabs. They eat cynonacteria! Get a bunch. Red hermits, any hermit. Their mainstay is cyno.

Todd

rwdandald · 10-22-2004, 06:34 PM

I have a couple of conch's - they do not eat cyano. I have numerous crabs and hermits that do not touch cyano. I have heard several times about yellow cucumbers eating cyano - that may be a possibility because they are not eating cyano - they are eating anything in front of them, processing the digestable parts and passing the rest (along with whatever bound nutrients (IE pooped cyano) that they do not digest. IMO the answer to cyano are the three basics of reef keeping - Nutrient Control, Flow, Lighting. If there is a problem in these areas (particularly flow IMO) Cyano is the by product. The good news is that Cyano is relatively easy compared to most algaes - (though it is a bacteria really) correct the flow, nutrients, lighting , and the problem is gone. No long searches for the cause of phosphate accumulation or nitrate build-up, and the clean-up of cyano is a breeze - a little bit of suction and it comes of in sheets - no tendrils or "roots" , nothing tough about it - in 10 minutes you can rid the tank of all of it. It will be back in 24 hrs if you do not fix the root cause but it is easy to syphon out - just make sure you syphon it out as opposed to blow it off with a baster or powerhead where it will float around and settle elsewhere. Since it is a bacteria and not an algae you are not looking for algae eaters (snails , hermits , etc) to eat it - you would be looking for a "bacteria eater" - which I am not aware of any.

Beal09 · 10-22-2004, 07:01 PM

Top Crown Snails!

Not sure how much truth there is to these, but I stumbled across these guys when I was battling my cyno. I had already purchased the phosban and phosban reactor though...If they do happen to work, please let me know!!! http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...1&TopCatId=526

tdwyatt · 10-22-2004, 10:54 PM

Some species of the "Bristle-Tooth" Surgeonfishes, Genus Ctenochaetus (Koles, etc, see http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ctenocha.htm ) eat Cyanobacteria, and they are part of the control of blooms as well as having the underlying causes for bloom events under control. We never wipe out Cyanobacteria, just control its blooms by having penty of competition for the nutrients it needs, consuming it from the bottom up and the top down. This may include the acquisition of sand from someone's tank that does not have cyanobacteria issues,. Cyano is still an issue of nutrient control in mature tanks, but if your tank is still very young (less than 6 months) the Cyanobacteria will come under control as the food chains fall into place, so long as you have adequate herbivory, you're not feeding huge amounts, or have poor husbandry habits with the system.

hth