DO ROTIFERS EAT CYANO?

[Reef By Steele]

DO ROTIFERS EAT CYANO?

Recently I was asked by an R2R community member for information on rotifers which you can see here.

Are rotifers just for feeding fry?

An R2R community member reached out to me and asked if i could do a thread about the benefits of adding rotifers to a reef tank. So I did some additional research to add to my own knowledge and experience. Please offer any experiences or additions that you have experienced in your own systems...

www.reef2reef.com

I first started culturing rotifers to try to raise Clown Fry. This was actually the inception point of @Reef By Steele only we didn't know it at the time. As with any endeavor I start by doing research, but at the time I only researched how to culture and about feeding them to fry. After the clown fry outgrew rotifers and moved to BBS (Baby Brine Shrimp) I wondered if it was worth the work to keep the culture running as it has to be harvested and cleaned daily. I reached out to my #1 source in a post under my original R2R nomenclature @HankstankXXL750, and received advice that rotifers benefit corals Softies, LPS and even SPS. I continued to culture and would dose to my tanks. when asked to compose a thread on the benefits of Rotifers, I had to go back to the basics and do more research, as I will never post anything that I do not know as a fact, unless I state IMO or state I am not certain. During this research I discovered that there are studies suggesting rotifers prefer cyanobacteria to all other algae sources in freshwater. I posed the question on the above thread, and no one came forward with a solid answer, but doing an experiment was discussed, and I stated that we would experiment with rotifers and Cyano.

As a disclaimer, yes this tank is terribly infected with cyano, and that really upsets @Ocean_Queenie as this is the home of the two Clown Fry we were able to raise from our first try. They still reside in this 20 with an sponge filter, as Sherry decides on a tank size, as she wants these two for that, and by never moving them we know they are disease and parasite free. We clean the tank and do water changes but the Cyano returns rapidly. I put them under the scope to verify Cyano before we start.

Our experiment begins today. We will first siphon and complete a 50% water change. Then we will add 1 gallon of freshly harvested rotifers. We will leave the filtration, and feeding schedule the same as it has been running and make no other changes. We will take new pictures and update on as regular of a schedule as we can. At the end we will come back and make a statement about our observations and whether we believe that the rotifers made an impact or not.

Please follow along on our journey.

Thanks
Kent and Sherry

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

Looking forward to the results!

 

[irischan]

Stay tuned.

 

[Netfish and Chill]

This will be great information to have! Eagerly awaiting results!

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Following!

 

[Reef By Steele]

Cleaned the tank but not completely and added 1 gallon of rotifers to it last night.

 

[AJQ69]

Following

 

[danreef55]

Looking forward to your results and following. From what I have read rotifers will not eat cyano because it is too large and tough to be consumed effectively. They will eat green slime. Rotifers have numerous benefits and we all should be dosing them at least periodically imo

 

[danreef55]

Something just dawned on me.....
If the tank has a stable population of rotifers perhaps, they will consume cyano in its very early stages. All that I have read in the past related to cyano being in sheets. This is going to be a great experiment!

 

[Reef By Steele]

Something just dawned on me.....
If the tank has a stable population of rotifers perhaps, they will consume cyano in its very early stages. All that I have read in the past related to cyano being in sheets. This is going to be a great experiment!

Thanks for your input. I honestly never considered this until I came across a couple articles. As for cell size, I think that may play a factor as they appear to be more of a filter feeder drawing in food with their cilia that spin around their mouths (really cool under the scope) but even then they appear to have mouths smaller than a lot of phyto cells. As time goes on, I may try to play with some under the scope and video as well to watch.

 

[Nickapos]

Following

I have been using coral snow(calcium carbonate) and adding bacteria to the snow weekly for about 4 weeks and have had a huge reduction in cyano. It wasn’t till I added rotifers a couple of days after the coral snow where I saw the cyano literally disappear and hasn’t come back. I think I’ll continue this regime and see what comes of it!

 

[Reef By Steele]

Following

I have been using coral snow(calcium carbonate) and adding bacteria to the snow weekly for about 4 weeks and have had a huge reduction in cyano. It wasn’t till I added rotifers a couple of days after the coral snow where I saw the cyano literally disappear and hasn’t come back. I think I’ll continue this regime and see what comes of it!

What bacteria did you use?

 

[Reef By Steele]

Have taken a few pictures. I can see some of the rotifers in the water column. It does appear that the cyano is gone? Whoever there is some kind of algae or remnants still remaining. I have done nothing to the tank except feed since we added the rotifers. Here are the pics.
Tuesday Morning

Today just a few minutes ago.

It appears to me that the red is almost if not completely eliminated. Going to try to do a small water change tomorrow, about 5 gallons and remove as much of the algae that is here. Then we will update after we return from RAP. The Cyano has always come back within a couple of days so this appears very positive.

 

[Nickapos]

What bacteria did you use?

Hey @Reef By Steele, I used Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter7

 

[Nickapos]

Have taken a few pictures. I can see some of the rotifers in the water column. It does appear that the cyano is gone? Whoever there is some kind of algae or remnants still remaining. I have done nothing to the tank except feed since we added the rotifers. Here are the pics.
Tuesday Morning

Today just a few minutes ago.

It appears to me that the red is almost if not completely eliminated. Going to try to do a small water change tomorrow, about 5 gallons and remove as much of the algae that is here. Then we will update after we return from RAP. The Cyano has always come back within a couple of days so this appears very positive.

Exciting times @Reef By Steele !

 

[danreef55]

Suggest an acid test... use another tank with cyano sheets and see if it goes away. Past information indicates it will not. The best outcome is utilizing rotifers on a consistent basis and avoid the issue completely

 

[Reef By Steele]

Suggest an acid test... use another tank with cyano sheets and see if it goes away. Past information indicates it will not. The best outcome is utilizing rotifers on a consistent basis and avoid the issue completely

By that, are you questioning whether the Cyano would have gone away without? The history of this tank is that the two clowns were added as fry. I can look back but it was a long time ago. We had 4 but lost two, first stayed tiny and I don’t think it really developed. Maybe the other was an aggression issue with just the three, as it had looked that they had paired into two sets. Did a good job of consistent maintenance until my surgeries and it was over taken with this cyano. Since January we have done 3 or 4 50% water changes but the cyano came back in days. This is the first time since we shifted to BBS then pellets that Rotifers have been added. We just didn’t document the early stages as honestly it is pretty embarrassing that we don’t do better in maintaining but our cultures consume most of our time.

I was going to pull some to a separate tank for the test, but think it is more valid to have it in the same conditions so Rotifers are the only change.

 

[danreef55]

No, my intent was to say you could determine if the rotifers could rectify a bad cyano bloom= sheets. If they could that would be great news. BUT if it didn't and continues to eliminate initial bloom per your recent test then rotifers can be used provocatively!

 

[Reef By Steele]

No, my intent was to say you could determine if the rotifers could rectify a bad cyano bloom= sheets. If they could that would be great news. BUT if it didn't and continues to eliminate initial bloom per your recent test then rotifers can be used provocatively!

Ok, I see. I have another option to test that in, but it is 160 gallons. I may set that up after RAP. I am harvesting our Rotifers heavy before we leave so they can multiply while we are gone without crashing (I hope).

 

[Virginia Dave]

Following. Would it be worth a try to put in Nannochloropsis or tetraselmis to feed the rotifers while the Nanno outcompetes the Cyano for nutrients? This might also get rid of the cyano if it isn't directly consumed by the rotifers.
Just a suggestion.