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Hi,
Take a look at this article:
Algae
My tank is experiencing growth of BGA, cyanobacteria.
1) Anybody knows the cure or any liquid medication which contains Erythromycin sulfate (to eradicate BGA) ...
2) Will large & regular water changes help at this moment?
It has never happened before, but suddenly ... boom!
Tank details in my next posting.
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Iskandar
Hi,
Take a look at this article:
Algae
So far, I don't think any aquarium products contain erythromycin.
Your best bet is to see your family doctor, explain the situation to him/her and hopefully the dr sells you some after he/she finishes laughing.
On a serious note, it works because I tried it in my tank
One of the guys from Tropica was quoted in an interview suggesting BGA may thrive in conditions where large amounts of dissolved organic compounds are present in the water. This seems to fit in with my experiences, where I have had BGA after a lot of leaves melted on Crypt plants.
I recently eradicated BGA by combining a broad spectrum anti-biotic (tetracycline) with a series of medium - large water changes & the use a of carbon filter pad in my canister filter (to strip the water of nutrients & eliminate ammonia in the event of my biological filter being trashed). During this time I stopped all water column fertilisation, but continued with regular lighting levels & CO2. This treatment took one week and eradicated all signs of BGA.
I'm not sure if the anti-biotic did anything (supposedly tetracycline does not effect BGA), so perhaps you could try a combination of water changes & carbon filtration.
Another suggested solution is to dose your tank with nitrates and completely starve it of ANY light for a period of a few days. You can find out how this technique works by hunting around the web for it, I have never tried it myself.
You can get rid and prevent BGA easily.
Remove all you can and clean the filter.
Do a 50% water change, add KNO3, roughly 1/4 teaspoon per 25 US gal of waters.
Turn light and CO2 off for three days a cover the tank complelety so that no light at all get in(with a trash bags, towels etc)
Wait three days and the tank will be clean.
This methiod takes less time the antibiotics, works and cost you nothing and then also addresses the long term issues.
Make sure you add KNO3 back after each water change and weekly to 3x a week depending on pruning/fish load etc.
Low NO3 allow BGA to grow and get a foothold.
This is simply the best method there is out to get rid of it and keep it gone and it's free.
Regards,
Tom Barr
I've noticed very slight signs of BGA in-between the gravel and tank glass. Measured my NO3 and found it's seriously low. I've started upping my NO3 a little at a time, on a daily basis with KNO3. How long does it typically take to see improvement once my NO3 hits recommended levels?
Typically the front gravel line below the surface is common for BGA to appear.
As long as it styas there it's not an issue but you can put black tape over the area and that will kill what's there.
You need to kill it and remove it first. Then do the blackout and then keep up the NO3.
FYI, all but obne NO3 test is even worth the $ you pay, a Lamott is about the only thing that has stood up to known standards of NO3 solutions in the 0-20ppm range. These kits run about 60$US on line. Not cheap but much better if you plan on actyually using the test kit method for anything other than presence or absense and even then many test kits are bad there so......
What to do?
Well, pay the $ for the good stuff or.....
Dose regularly with KNO3(Prevents anything from running out for long) and do weekly water changes(Prevents anything from building up).
In this manner you don't even need a test kit as you can estimate what the plants need and can re set the tank each week to account for any dosing errors.
The method is actually more accurate than your test kits, even than the Lamott can handle for NO3 and K.
So for a 35 gallon of water(not tank), adding a 1/4 teaspoon of dry KNO3 will yield 6.37 ppm of NO3 and about 4ppm of K.
Generally at very high light and all the nutrients in good shape the plants may take up close to 3ppm a day. This is likely close to the max amount of NO3 remove in one day.
If you have less light, the rate will be lower.
So if you dose 1/2 teaspoon you'll have enough for 3-4 days no sweat.
Or you can dose 1/4 teaspoon every other day.
Weekly water change: add it back and repeat.
This maintains the 5-10ppm range pretty well, it's not bad to have the NO3 drop bel;ow this but never at 0.0ppm for more than a 24 hr period and even then some plants do not like it when using CO2, moderate high light etc.
Algae appear because the plants are not in their best health.
Work on the plant's needs when you see algae and remove as much algae as you can.
Regards,
Tom Barr
Vic, Vican, Locus and Tom ... thanks a million.
Vican - Just imagine going to the doctor and telling him that my tank is ill... comedy!
Vic - Thanks for the article ... pretty detailed. Sould ask the moderators to add to the aglae thread.
Locus - After much consideration ... will use the antibiotics last ... btw, doesn't the carbon give any adverse effect on plant growth?
Tom - Sorry to cause you the trouble ... apparently I did a search (which suddenly seem ok!) and saw what you wrote. I thought addressing the imbalance would be the right thing to do. Will be getting KNO3 to dose. Got your procedures.
Thanks a lot guys ... hopefully the tank goes back to normal. Will post the outcome so that others may learn from my experience ...
Personally this is the most irritating algae/bacteria I have came across ... the growth rate is tremendous
NinjaFly
My fish hobby site
My last dramatic encounter was about few months into my hobby... This Thick slimy goo suddenly started growing on my mossy driftwood!
read much posting and article with contradicting theories... too much NO3 = BGA, too little NO3 = BGA... ARGH! can't find Anti-Biotics, donno where to get KNO3, nearly wanna tear down and boil my tank!
But I was lucky, BGA seems to be really attracted to my Mossy Driftwood, removed it before it got out of hand. didn't add anti-Biotics, NO KNO3, No Blackout, etc...
time to time, I still see traces of it trying to get a foot hold near the front glass panel under the Glosso. but it couldn't... but I am keeping an eye out for it!
Baby Steel!
Hi,
Saw the Dreaded BGA in one of limSteel's webpage.
LimSteel,
dun mind if I show it here just for newbies who had never seen it.
NinjaFly
My fish hobby site
Bro Lim, thanks for the quick reply ... Bro Ninja, the bacteria looks just like that! Ugly! The more I clear, the worse the tamk became. I guess by 'removing' the pieces of slime got tangled with the other plants. I am doing what Bro Tom suggested. Will post the outcome later.
Iskandar
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