Cyanobacteria Photos After Dosing VSV
OK, yet another non-reef night. This time I was hard at work getting a report done for the guy who signs my paychecks… that felt important.
Since I didn’t have time to finish my thoughts on VSV/Bacteria/Algae (and quite frankly want to reread a bunch of resource materials so I don’t say anything foolish) I’ll just present some interesting photos. Will I include any commentary? I don’t know yet… but we’ll both have figured that out by the end of this post.
I have a few areas of my tank with cyanobacteria growth. It isn’t always present, and even over the course of the same day I have seen it spread and disappear. It does seem to reoccur in the same locations in the tank. Recently I noticed in particular that the cyano recedes considerably after dosing my normal amount of VSV in the evenings. Yesterday I decided to take some photos of it, which follow. Interestingly, tonight when I glanced at the tank I didn’t see any cyano at all… although it’s been present the previous 3 or 4 nights. Huh. Guess I took my photos at the right time.
The first photo is taken right before dosing VSV, and the remaining were taken every 30 minutes. In this first photo check out that thick mat of cyano covering everything in the photo frame.
Cyano at 0 Minutes
Cyano at 30 Minutes
Cyano at 60 Minutes
Cyano at 90 Minutes
Cyano at 120 Minutes
Cyano at 150 Minutes
Cyano at 180 Minutes
In the last photo, you are not seeing cyano – you are seeing the red cotton algae that was on the live rock under the cyanobacteria. The cyano is pretty much completely gone. To give you an idea of how much cyano receded, try to find the caulerpa in the first photo (not just the one exposed leaf). My halides shut off after this last photo and I wasn’t able to take any more photographs, but I could see the cyano further recede in the following hour. Most of the recession is captured in these photos.
I’ve read that different concentrations of the VSV components can contribute to growth of cyano. To me, these photos are further empirical proof that different bacteria do in fact thrive on different carbon sources. Obviously there is a bacteria present in my tank (presumably from the Prodibio BioDigest) that was able to outcompete the cyano… or is that not so obvious? Is there something in the VSV that would have killed the cyanobacteria? I find that less likely.
I think I can also conclude that VSV does not necessarily cause cyanobacteria, although in a different concentration than I am using cyano may thrive on it as a carbon source. Now does Prodibio BioDigest introduce cyano? … maybe. I have no idea. I have had cyano outbreaks in other tanks that weren’t dosed with Prodibio products. Frankly, I think it is always present (although not always visible to the naked eye) and any excess nutrients can cause it to rear its ugly head (am I crazy for not finding it too ugly? I guess it’s all relative when my choices are cyano or red cotton algae). Again, it’s one of the most prevalent strains of bacteria out there, so who knows when or how it got introduced.
Now my question to myself is… will cyano outcompete the red cotton algae for nutrients? If so I may try to find a way to encourage cyano to grow. I find it a lot easier to get rid of than the red cotton algae…
Hey what do you know, I provided some commentary.
Comments
16 Responses to “Cyanobacteria Photos After Dosing VSV”
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Very nice photo series Jim. Glad to hear it’s working out for you.
Wow! Thank you!
I always wanted to write in my blog something like that. Can I take part of your post to my site?
Of course, I will add backlink?
Sincerely, Timur Alhimenkov
Eric, thanks. You’re really onto something with VSV. I was about to begin experimenting on a few ideas I had around dosage levels, when work suddenly took off and the tank has fallen into routine maintenance mode. Looking at these photos now I see a lot of detail was lost when I resized them, I may reload them again… sometime.
Timur – Certainly. Thanks for checking us out and posting a comment!
[...] Jim @ Unrulymck has posted some interesting photos showing VSV eradicating red cyano bacteria in a matter of hours. Cyano and carbon dosing is a very sensitive situation because cyano can utilize carbon sources like vodka and sugar. When dosing any carbon source in the presence of cyano there is a very fine line of encouraging rapid growth or quickly eradicating. The photos below are just a few, the full image set can be found here. [...]
I’m also having a small cyano issue, and my cyano is dissapearing every night. Couldn’t it be you just took the pictures at the right time and that it’s not related to your VSV-dosing at all?
Espen – that certainly is a possibility. I have noticed the same thing on other areas of the tank, although not this particular rock, but it is true that I don’t have a “control” in the experiment (like Eric noted in his post, this wasn’t a highly scientific process). You’ve highlighted another thing for me to consider when doing further experimentation! Good thought, thanks for bringing that up.
Jim,
Do you know if the vsv mixture has any “shelf-life” due to the sugar in the mixture. I was just wondering how long the mixture would be good for.
I’ve wondered the same thing Paul, and I don’t have an answer. I’ve noticed that most of the jars I have been trying don’t seal very tightly, so I’ve been more curious about evaporation of the alcohol than anything with the sugar. I started making the VSV in smaller batches, and dumping it when it’s 1/2 or 2/3 spent (guess that would be ~2 weeks or so). It’s such an inexpensive additive I don’t feel bad doing that…
I wonder if Eric has noticed anything with the potency of the mix over time?
Gut!
Gute Arbeit hier! Gute Inhalte.
Danke beide.
These are great.
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Very useful information
This is absolutely perfect. Thanks a lot, I’ve been looking for something like this for a long time.