Cyanobacteria

[150EH]

Well I guess I picked this up somewhere, I first noticed it in some floating Riccia so I tossed it, it reappeared so I toosed it all, but now it is on all my mosses. I didn't know Excel was a no no and killed a bunch Fissidens trying to do some clean up, the Excel works but I didn't want to have all the plants go through a tranformation when it's added and then again when I stop using it. So I need help because according to most sites it's from hot poor quality water that is slow flowing but my tank is none of those, should I try Erythromycin and powerheads, help.

[londonloco]

Ive had it twice in my fw tanks. I use this:

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Green-Algae- ... B002DVPLHQ

Got rid of it with one full dose, never came back......

[fredyk]

also a three day blackout

[150EH]

I took a look at the Ultra Life blue green algae remover and it's a bit pricey with one bottle only being a single dose in my case so I decided to go the old Erythromycin route (I found some really cheap), but it seems the both have the same side effects and it's going to be a PITA no matter what, but thank you very much. I have found a good article using Erythromycin in smaller amount killing of the algae slower so it reduces the oxygen loss and will save my nitrifying bacteria, hopefully. If it works good I'll post it here for future reference for everyone and I can only hope I'll never have to come back and look at it.

[londonloco]

Yeah, it treated my 125g once, then a few months later my 75g once. The fw form didn't kill anything, but the red saltwater has killed peppermint shrimp, both times I had to use it. I actually have it on hand (in red form also) jic, hate that stuff, not only is it a pita and ugly, it stinks! Would you share the article link?

[150EH]

Keep in mind that I haven't tried it yet, but I did post it at TPT forum to see if I would get any postive responce and I did get some from worthy tankers, also the guy that wrote the article has battled this several times and it seemed very logical with a dose strong enough for the algae but not stong enough to cure fish from any bacterial infection, http://www.myfishtank.net/articles/blue ... e-article/ get it a read and let me know what you think while I'm still waiting for the Erythromycin to arrive.

[150EH]

We might as well have a copy of it here:

The followin is my suggestion for battleing blue-green algae:

First make sure that it is blue-green bacteria and not the "normal" algae. Remember that erythromycin is ineffective on anything but bacteria.

Day 1.

Add 2.5 mg/L erythromycin. If you have a protein skimmer, turn it off. I believe it will inactive a lot of the antibiotic through coprecipitation with protein. It will, however, be very usefull later.

Day 2.

Add 2.5 mg/L erythromycin.

Day 3.

Now you should see a lot of dead blue-green bacteria floating around in the tank. Increase filtration (a second mechanical filter if possible) to get rid of it. If you have a protein skimmer, turn it on. The critical thing now is to get rid of as much protein (dead bacteria) as possible to avoid a peak of ammonia.

Day 4.

Most blue-green bacteria should be dead by now. Try to clean out as much as possible of the dead stuff. I use a jet stream of water from the outlet of a canister filter to remove it from plants and decorations. Combined with the second mechanical filter, this works fine for me. Let the filter work for a couple of hours then make a 50% water change. Add 2.5 mg/L erythromycin.

Day 5-7.

Wash the mechanical filter at least once a day. Keep check on ammonia and nitrite but do not change any water unless absolutely necessary. The extra filter can be removed as soon as the water clears up.

Day 8.

Make a 30% water change. Add 1 mg/L erythromycin.

From now on, resume your normal maintenance.

The concentration I use is in theory a bit high and getting up where it should starts having an effect also on G(- ) bacteria. When I started using erythromycin I had problems using lower concentrations in the tank. It was not very effective. It might be time to check it again.

One word of caution. Only use erythromycin when you really need it or you might end up with blue-green bacteria resistent to the antibiotic.

My practical experience of using erythromycin to battle blue-green bacteria is limited to my own few tank (and some friends). It would be interesting to get some feedback from people with experience (good or bad) of battling blue- green bacteria (with or whithout erythromycin). I would of course post a summary of the response.

[150EH]

I can't believe I've got BGA again in this tank, I still have enough erythromycin to treat the tank again but I did lose some live stock and injure some long time residents so I'm a little concerned about trying a second treatment. I guess I could try the stuff Loni used and see how that goes, I remember someone making a suggestion on a very simple method but now I can't find the reply.

Any suggestions are welcomed.

[Cristy Keister]

You're treating the symptom, not curing the cause. http://gwapa.org/wordpress/articles/alg ... arium/#bga

[150EH]

You could be right but most of the causes on the list don't fit my tank with high organics being the only one that makes sense, I tried to use the Python on my last water change but the results were poor as it looked like I had some build up but very little seemed to go up the siphon but I did also miss a scheduled filter cleaning so between the 2 you could be correct. I'm always worried that I over clean but I guess I'll have to start cleaning better and up my maintenance schedule.