Answered by Anthony Ramsey & Paul Talbot

Cynobacteria & Apistasia

Q. My tank is only a small 70 litre marine tank and only has three fish (two Ocellaris Clownfish and one Mandarin Fish) it has lots of live rock and some corals but just recently there has been some red slimy goo that is covering some of the live rock and is even coming up onto some of the corals and I have no idea what it is. I am getting worried about the safety of the fish and the tank. My second question is about Aiptasia, when I got the tank everything was fine until these little Aiptasias started to grow everywhere and they spread so fast I was worried so I went to my local fish shop and asked them what it is and they said it was Aiptasia and was regarded as a pest anemone so they gave me something called Joes Juice to get rid of it, I used it to get rid of it but every one that I killed another thousand appeared and it was just too hard to keep up with them, and then I got an instructional DVD on keeping marine aquariums and there was a little note down the bottom that said that they can sting some corals and a little while back some started growing on my hard coral and then it started to go brown (when I bought it it was yellow). I have checked the ph, nitrite, ammonia and salinity and it is all ok. The fish are all ok and have no signs of being sick. Help Please.

Cj Lubke

Queensland

A.The problems you are now encountering are very common and considered the baine of most reef keepers. The red slimy goo you describe is called Cynobacteria and is usually the result of the accumulation of unwanted nutreints such as nitrate. Issue 1 of AAM delt with controlling Cynobacteria and can be downloaded from the Q & A section of our website if you missed it. Regarding your second question about Apistasia anemones, yes they are a nuisense and they can sting and kill corals. Joes Juice can be effective however I find that after a couple of treatments the apistasia become immune. The best treatment I have found is using a hyperdermic surringe to inject a concentrated Kalkwasser soloution (Calcium Hydroxide) directly into the individual anemones. Kalkwasser solution is extremly alkaline and literally causes the apistasia to melt away. Squashing them will not work as the pieces regenerate into new anemones further compounding your problem. With time and patience you will get on top of your outbreak. Above all else in such a small tank you need to ensure your water is low in dissolved nutrients like phosphate and nitrate and high calcium, magnesium, carbonate and Ph levels to ensure the fewest hassles. 

Powerless Aquariums

Q.

I was worried how long my tank could last without power?

Russell F. Sullivan

A.That will depend on how many fish you have and how big they are. It is a very good idea to have a battery operated air pump on hand just in case this ever happens as lack of oxygen is the main problem when power is out. The more fish you have and the large they are the more oxygen they need. Most heavily populated aquariums will last about 6 hours but can last several days with a battery powered air pump. Don’t feed the fish if the power is out and introduce a double dose of water ager every few hours if possible. Large animals like sharks consume massive amounts of oxygen so having a back up plan is overly important for them.

Algal Blooms

Q.I keep getting algae in my Marine tank and no matter what I do it keeps growing. What can I do now I have tried everything?

Joel Davis

A.Solving algae problems is very simple. Make sure your phosphate level is zero using a phosphate removing sponge and in three weeks after zero phosphate is achieved the algae will start to die. Keep the phosphate at zero and about 3 weeks after that the algae will be gone. It is never more complicated then that as algae needs phosphate to live. 

White Spot

Q.I have a heavily populated Marine tank with all the best equipment including a UV sterilizer but I keep getting whitespot on my fish and they keep dieing. I only buy a couple of fish a week from good shops and it is a very big tank with perfect water quality. How can I stop this?

Wayne Trinder

A.It is important to ensure that your aquarium is running perfectly for one month before you ever introduce new fish to your tank. When the aquarium is running well for a month it will be stable and all your fish will have good immune systems. When the new fish are introduced their immune system is low due to the stress of the move. While the immune system is low the fish have an imbalance of pathogens verse antigens therefore there is a high risk of infestation of whitespot disease. When you allow that tank to run perfectly for a month then the dinoflagelate pathogens that infect the fish with whitespot are mostly gone and the risk of contracting the disease is low. Also ensure that your salt level is low (1.020) when you introduce new fish as it eases osmotic stress which also helps to reduce whitespot. 

Answered by Paul Talbot

Salt build up

Q.I have a marine aquarium that’s doing well.  All the fish are happy and seem content. I’ve discovered a lot of salt is starting to build up on the outside of my tank. It’s really hard in some places, and where I scrapped it away it seems to have damaged the glass in a few spots. Is there an easy way to remove it? And is it dangerous inside the lid where the lights are?

Sarah McGee

A. It is important to remove the salt creep weekly, as the longer it is allowed to build up, the harder it is to remove. Don’t let salt contact your lights or it may short them out. You should turn off the lights and wipe them over with a cloth weekly. You can safely use methylated spirits or vinegar out of the water to help remove the salt stains. There are also Salt Creep eliminator products available at good aquarium stores. If the stain has been there for a long time it is possible that you may not be able to remove it all, so as with most things prevention is better than cure. 

Beginner set up advice

Q.I’ve got a 4’ (180 litre) marine aquarium in which I’d like to keep some marine fish and some invertebrates. I don’t think I have enough experience to keep coral yet and my lighting set up is just a bank of three fluorescent lights.

Can you suggest some compatible fish and invertebrates I can keep that are not too difficult for a beginner and will get along well.

Justin White

Victoria

A.If you only have 120 watts of light on your tank be sure to get corals from medium to deep water as the tank does not have enough light to support shallow water, high light corals. To ensure adequate light for shallow water coral aim for at least 1 watt per litre and also that your tubes are replaced every 9 months. Some good selections would be Bubble coral (Plerogyra), Open Brain coral (Trachyphillia), Candy Coral (caulestrea), Sun Polyp (Tubastraea), Duncan (Duncanopsammia), Leather coral (Sarcophyton) and Zoanthids.

Some great fish are Clownfish, Yellow Tang, Sailfin Tang, Pajama Cardinal, Bi-colour Blenny, Blue tail Wrasse, Six-line Wrasse, Flame Angel, Royal Dottyback and Foxface.

Be sure to do lots of research and ask lots of questions and I am sure you will enjoy this great hobby. 

Feeding lionfish

Q.I’ve recently purchased a lionfish for my fish only 260 litre marine aquarium, however, I am having some problems getting the fish to feed? What sort of foods should I be feeding?  Also, will the other fish I have in the tank be a problem with my lionfish (I have two humbugs and a dottyback).
The tank has lots of hiding places and so far everything seems good.

Brian Saleeba, NSW.

A.At the start a lionfish will often require live food such as whiteclouds or bronze comets to stimulate them to feed. Be sure to feed up the feeder fish with high vitamin flake food before you feed them to the lionfish as feeder fish are mainly protein and lack many vitamins. Lionfish can be trained to eat frozen prawn or whitebait and even pellets. The way to train the lionfish is to tap the top of the tank and raise your hand and throw the food into the water, with the same technique each time.  After a while the lionfish will learn to wait at the top of the water when it is hunrgy. The fish will soon learn to associate your hand movements with food and will bite at whatever you throw in the tank.  As the lionfish grows it may eat the other fish in your tank. It is never safe to house a lionfish with anything smaller then itself.

Good luck and I hope this helps.