erythro dose for cyanobacter

[fishgeek]

anyone got a dose for erythromycin and blue green agal control or cyanobacter
thanks andrew

also any experience on other control methods
resons for outbreak in the first instance

 

[farm41]

I dose it at full strength just like it says on the package, there are other methods too. Never had a problem with the biofilter, ammonium spikes that you hear about are from decomposing bga, got to get it cleaned up before and after treatment.

The Krib has some articles on it too.

Improving circulation seems to be the biggest factor to keeping it away.

 

[BigDaddy]

I wouldn't bother dosing it. Just do a 5 day black out.

I had a bad BGA outbreak in my 5 gallon at the office while I was on vacation. Completely blacked out the tank Sunday night. Friday afternoon revealed a spotlessly clean tank. My dwarf sag got a little yellow, but my crypt and java fern were fine.

 

[johnnotis]

I have a heavily planted tank that started getting BGA as soon as I put bright (compact fluorescent) lighting in. I tried P-deficient fertilizer dosing, lots of careful manual removal, turning out the lights for a few days, and other non-chemical methods to get rid of it. It always came right back.

Finally I tried erythromycin. I did one dose at the box-recommended concentration, and then another at half that, two days later. The treatment seemed to make the BGA come unstuck from whatever surface it was growing on, so I took advantage and did some thorough vacuuming sessions. Never saw any nitrate spike or anything that made me think I'd hurt the biological filtration, but then I've got lots of plants. The treatment wiped it right out and I was very happy. Until it slowly came back within a month, and I had to do it all over again...

After a year's worth of messing around and nearly giving up, I discovered that simply doing more frequent and larger partial water changes keeps it completely under control. There's always a tiny bit growing somewhere in the tank, but it's rarely visible, and never takes over. I had been afraid of the chlorine in the tap water, and tried to keep my water changes minimal, 5% every other week. I thought I would let the mini-ecosystem I had set up in the tank take care itself, and took hope from the reports of others who 'never' changed their water in similar tanks. Now I do 20% a week, and if I get lazy, there's a nasty green reminder.

Different folks swear by different cures, and I'm sure it all depends on your particular setup and conditions. Neglect seems to be the most common cause of outbreaks.

-John

 

[farm41]

I do 50% weekly on my planted tanks, and 50% twice a week on breeders and growouts, more on the bb's when I have the time in the off season.

No bga for quite some time.

Water changes definately help.

 

[strohl71]

Where can doses of this erythromycin be obtained?

 

[aspen]

any lfs has it.

rick

 

[fishgeek]

apparently elodea/anarchis or american water weed secretes a chemical which inhibits the growth of cyanbacter

sounds like a neat alternative

i stopped worrying about mine and it went away with no change on my part , mayvbe thats why there are so many claims for differing treatments , it only invades tanks for a certain period and whatever you use near the end of its invasion period is going to look succesful

andrew

 

[swhiting]

erythromycin is also called maracyn at your lfs.

Used this on a 2 500 gallon tanks and a 1300 gallon tank, cyano hasn't come back.

 

[LyreTail]

BGA is nearly impossible to erradicate. I have given up on emycin and now I just do an extra partial water change when the water starts to smell "moldy" as that seems to be the first indication of a growth starting.

I also clean prefilters and trim plants to at least 3cm below water line to allow for good circulation

 

[strohl71]

I think I am definitley having trouble with this BGA. I thought at first that it was algae of some sort. It is a dark green slime that accumulates on the gravel, plant leaves and glass. It comes off easily enough with a gravel vacuum or just wiping the leaves off with my fingers. I physically remove the stuff with every water change but it comes back.

I would like to try maracyn. However, I noticed at the LFS that the maracyn boxes make no reference to BGA. The box says it is intended for fin and tail rot, popeye and body fungus. The manufacturer was Mardel. Am I looking at the correct medicine?

 

[aspen]

according to this link, marycin is a brand name for erythromycin.

http://www.pets-warehouse.com/Vpasp/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=523

rick

 

[Eric]

I had a terrible time with BGA. The Erytromycin worked but the BGA came back after a couple of months. I dont like using Antibiotics so I searched for alternatives. Some things that helped me was increasing circulation in the tank and adding Flourish Excel from seachem. I am not sure what is in Fluorish Excel but it definatley helped me.
Good Luck

 

[cootwarm]

I found that mollies work great at preventing BGA from taking over. They do great at keeping Java Moss in pristine condition. But if BGA has over run the tank they don't get rid of most of it. (Perhaps if I had used more mollies?) If you cut and remove the bulk of the BGA they do a great job of cleaning up the remaining traces.

Mollies don't do well in soft, acidy water. Likewise, my apistos don't do well with a little salt in the water, which mollies kind of need. I mostly use mollies to keep my java moss algae free, so when I have java moss that needs cleaning, I usually move the clump to the molly tank for 2 or 3 days. So by rotating my java moss through the molly tank, the job gets done and everyone lives in the kind of water they prefer.

BTW, I use a small pleco to clean the surfaces in BGA and BBA infested tanks. I move the pleco from tank to tank as they finish the job. I don't like to keep him in one tank too long because after the algae is gone he chews up my oak leaves and amazon swords! Of course I move any fry to a fresh tank before adding the pleco. They appear to eat the BGA, but they don't eat BBA, However they knock the BBA loose from where it's attached and it settles to the bottom where it's easily vacuumed. When the pleco gets to be about 6" long, I trade it in to the LFS from a small one. THey do a better job than larger ones. I find that one is enough to rotate amoung the couple dozen tanks I have.

Michael