Cyano & Maracyn

[JRagg]

I'm cycling my tank now and I have had two forms of "algae" show up. Brown algae (doesn't look like diatoms) forming on the glass, sand, and tops of plant leaves. I seem to have gotten this slowed down or killed. I did some fert dosing and added CO2 and it lookslike that is under control.

Cyano... this crap is taking over. It started when my tank was bottomed out on Nitrates (I have since dosed up to 20ppm) and it is still growing quickly. It is going to kill my watersprite. I have to clean the watersprite daily, but this is just a temporary fix. I did a search and found a site saying that using erythromycin (an antibiotic) will kill the cyano. Apparently Maracyn has this antibiotic as a main ingredient. The same article said that Maracyn had some effect on Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter, though the Maracyn bottle says this is not the case.

Can anyone confirm that Maracyn is good for killing cyano? Any confirmation on whether or not it affects Nitrosomonas or Nitrobacter?

Here is the article I read:
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/cyanobacteria.html

TIA

 

[Zezmo]

Maracyn will knock down Cyano (BGA). I don't know if it kills off most of the good bacteria as well or not. However, I didn't have my tank "cycle" after using it per the package instructions.

 

[JRagg]

I guess we'll see for sure. My fishless cycle is within a day of being over (nitrites down to 0.5) so if I see any more cycling I know that the maracyn is to blame.

For killing the Cyano should I follow the full 5 day dosing instructions?

 

[malkore]

STOP.

Antibiotic treatment is the LAST RESORT for dealing with cyano. A blackout for 5 days is a much much better idea...and its free. 5 days of blackout and keeping nitrates from bottoming out should resolve it. And i'm certain the brown stuff was diatoms.

If, and that's a big IF...the blackout doesn't work, then you can look at antibiotic treatment. Half dosage per the box, for 5 days. Again the meds are a last ditch effort...as you don't want to create a tank that's resistent to antibiotic treatments.

 

[JRagg]

Too late. I'm 4 days into the antibiotic treatment already. The cyano is toast, but my water is getting a little cloudy (bacterial bloom?) and I guess I'll find out tomorrow if it has screwed my cycle or not. I think it may have since my nitrites were going down rather quickly (finishing my fishless cycle) and as of yesterday they were still sitting at 0.25 (for the second day). I shouldn't have a problem with nitrates bottoming out again since it all started during a fishless cycle and I've got some potassium nitrate as well.

There are no fish in there yet so that may be the one hidden blessing in this (they won't be resistant to antibiotics). After tomorrow I'm going to put some carbon in my filter for a day or two to remove the antibiotics and then switch back to my normal mechanical filtration.

 

[Plantbrain]

Does to bottle on the antibiotics tell you why you got the BGA outbreak?

No.

Does it tell you what to do to correct the BGA so it does not come back in a month or two?

No.

Are antibiotics essential plant nutrients?

No.

Will they help plants grow?

No.

Will antibiotics kill the BGA?

Yes, and the tank will get reinfected in a month or so.
BGA have airborne spores, even a month after a volcanic eruption, they settle and form in the rain fed pools on a mountain.......

Many spcies of algae form after fire, other very destructive natural processes and they form pretty quickly.


Blackout will knock the BGA back, it will reinfect much faster if the conditions are not corrected that caused the bGA to begin with: low NO3.

Adding KNO3 must be done if you want to prevent the BGA from coming back.

This is the part that the folks that suggest the pills consistently leave out in their advice and this is bad advice if they leave this part out.

Why is it bad advice?
Algae killing is not a hobby.
Growing plants is a hobby.
Good plant health/growth=> no algae.


Pills likely would have never shown why BGA formed in our tanks to begin with because there is about 1-2 month delay before reinfection takes place, with the blackout, you can asee reinfection in just a few days.

Once folks realize this and start taking better care of their plants, they stop having so many algae issues.

Then the problem is what to do with all these plant trimmings.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[JRagg]

I have 40 ppm nitrate right now (will do another 50% change before adding fish). It was at 80+ (due to fishless cycle) when the Cyano was at its worst. It took hold when nitrates were bottomed out since I had no bioload and no idea what ferts I should be adding.

I realize now that antibiotics were probably not the best choice to go at this with. The stuff literally had taken over my aquarium. It was all over the substrate, rock, killing my water sprite, etc. I had read that blackout was not always successful with this as well, and I guess it was my mistake to go with antibiotics.

Other than making sure my nitrates don't bottom out (which I seriously doubt they ever will again since I only have medium light) is there anything else I can do to prevent a future outbreak?

Once folks realize this and start taking better care of their plants, they stop having so many algae issues.

Thanks for that. That really helps. Because I was trying to kill my plants and grow algae.

 

[Zezmo]

If you have plenty of Nitrate and still get teh BGA, then perhaps look at your circulation. You could have "pockets" of low nitrates without enough circulation. It should really be as simple as that, plenty of nitrate and water movement.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Another thing to add, I think the best way to allow the blackout to work more effectively, before blacking the tank out, get as much of the algae out as possible. Do a thorough cleaning, scrubbing the glass, and then run a diatom filter while doing so. Then do a 70% PWC afterwards, then black the tank out. This will ensure there is less algae in the tank, giving you a better chance of success. Also, a smaller mess to clean up after the lights are turned back on. I'm currently in the process of blackout on my 29G. Will have the lights out Fri-Sun, and uncover Monday morning. This is my first actual blackout, so it's a new experience for me. If all goes well, will blackout my 26G next, as it's not in great shape either. But as for the rest of the tanks, algae is either very minimal or none at all.

 

[LindaC]

Hi LWB, I am also batteling BGA in my 29 gallon, what a royal pain in the butt, I'm telling you and I hate the smell. My question is, did you turn off your CO2 while blacking out? Did you use a trash bag? I black out my 10 gallon a while back and used a towel, what a mistake that was, it pulled more than half the water out of my tank.

 

[rich311k]

Turn off your CO2, add an airstone or lower your water level to keep O2 levels up. I would cover in black plastic and then put a heavy comforter over the tank to insure no light gets through.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I currently do not have CO2 yet on that tank, but I would turn it off, yes. I would also add an airstone, or wand. The more surface aggitation, the better, so my preference is a wand. As for me, I'm just using a heavy quilt. And the ambient light in the room is pretty low, so I don't need to worry about covering it with too much stuff. I'm on day 3 now, and tomorrow, will remove the quilt and do some cleaning, and turn the lights back on.

 

[LindaC]

Well good luck, I will check back tomorrow to see how you made out. I am getting ready to black mine out shortly, as soon as I feed the fish for the last time in a few days. I calculate my lifting the black out on Thursday, which will be 4 days. I might even lift it on Wednesday, depending on how strong I'm being.

 

[malkore]

what are you using for a nitrate test kit? have you had your LFS test nitrates to make sure they are really that high? cuz a tank with no fish shouldn't have much in the way of nitrates, especially if plants are present and there's a lot of light.

there's actually close to 1,000 species of cyanobacteria, which is why sometimes you have 10ppm nitrates and lots of current, but cyano grows all over.

Those are the few strains where you may indeed have to resort to antibiotics.

Keep in mind that PlantBrain is Mr. Tom Barr. He could school anyone on this forum about proper plant care, so its always good to heed his advice, even if it contradicts someone else's advice.

 

[JRagg]

I'm pretty sure my nitrates were that high. I was about a month into a fishless cycle with adding pure ammonia. I never did a PWC during the fishless cycle. That's why all my nutrients were so out of whack. I read them at 80, then 40 after a 50% change, and 20 after another 50% change. I use the AP test kit.

The Cyano took hold when I had almost no Nitrates, but as the nitrates went up rapidly due to my cycle (and as I upgraded my lighting) the Cyano began thriving. I should have blacked the tank out to kill it and I doubt it would have come back, but that's in the past now. I misread the other site that I looked at and inferred that a blackout would not kill BGA. I know better now.

I've got everything pretty straightened out now. I just need to get a versa-top and lift my lighting off of the aquarium a bit in order to cool down the water. The plastic top I've got is no good. That should help my CO2 absorption a bit, and help my plants burn up more of the NO3 in the water.

My issue was not with the advice, but the way it was presented. I understand that I'm a complete plant n00b. I don't know much, and that's why I'm here.