ATTACK OF THE SLIME ALGAE!!! (pics)

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AquariumFreak

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
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Location
Valencia, CA
ATTACK OF THE SLIME ALGAE!!!

Well I came home from work today and that slime algae has gotten worse.
Please take a look at the pics and tell me what you think. Some questions I have are:

Can I or should I try pulling it off?
Will my ferts help sense everything is reading ZERO?

I'm up for ideas... don't want my glosso to die :(
 
This stuff will spread fast so I would scrape it of the glass while doing a water change & cut affective leaves off your plants. This is the only thing I have found that works. There is no fish that will eat it because it is toxic.
 
It's cyanobacteria. I had it, so have most of us at some point. Erythromycin works. E.g. Maracyn. I did a 4-day routine of Maracyn and all the cyano disappeared. Worked for Allivymar also.
 
I've used antibiotics in my tank -- I just have java moss, and the antibiotics didn't hurt it. I don't know how it would affect other plants. It got rid of the cyano!

Maracyn (Mardel brand) can be found at most lfs. It's a white pill. One pill treats 10 gallons. Maracyn is erythromycin; Maracyn-2 is another antibiotic (can't think of which one at the moment), but you want Maracyn.
 
BGA = Blue Green Algae, also called cyanobacteria. BGA/cyano is a bacteria and not a true algae, so that's why erythromycin works to clear it up.
 
Blue-green, slime or smear algae:
Grows rapidly in blue-green, slimy sheets. Spreads rapidly over almost everything
and usually indicates poor water quality. However, blue-green algae can
fix nitrogen and may be seen in aquariums with extremely low nitrates. Sometimes
seen in small quantities between the substrate and aquarium sides. Will
smother and kill plants. This is actually cyanobacteria. It can be physically
removed, but this is not a viable long term solution as the aquarium conditions
are still favorable for it and it will return quickly. Treatment with 200
mg of erythromycin phosphate per 10 gallons of water will usually eliminate
blue-green algae but some experts feel it may also have adverse effects
on the biological filter bed. If erythromycin is used for treatment, ammonia
and nitrite levels should be carefully monitored.

i hope you've started dosing nitrates...
 
also, start with a half dose or Marycin...1 tablet per 20 gallons. I did this with a 20 gallon tank, doing 2 tablets on day 1, and 1 tablet/day until the box was empty (a 1 week treatment)
Its been about 8 weeks, and no BGA has returned.
 
I treated mine with antibiotics about 3 months ago and have had no problem since.

The antibiotics I used did affect my nitrite removal capability (but perhaps it was partially that the cyano was fixing NO2 and thus there were not many "good" bacteria availalbe to take care of NO2 in my aquarium).
 
I've had the dreaded cyano not once, but twice in the same tank 8O First time I used Maracyn for five days and it cleared the cyano, but I had to clean the filter and tank good to remove the dead decaying algae.

The second time I used the 5 day black out method putting a blanket over the tank. I personally liked this much better. I did'nt feed the fish for the entire five days. Once the cyano started dying and the fish got hungry, I had a heck of a cleanup crew. After the five day black out, my tank was spotless. The fish were stuffed as well. No filter to clean, no dead algae to vac up and best of all it was free. Maracyn treatment can be very expensive on big tanks.

The reason I used meds the first time was because I could'nt go five days without seeing my tank. The second outbreak just so happened when I was going on a 5 day vacation ( how convenient), so I tossed a blanket over the tank and let nature take it's course.

Did'nt lose a single fish, shrimp or plant leaf with either method. I'll treat future cyano outbreaks with the black out. Much cheaper (free) and no chemicals in the tank. Not to mention, the fish cleaned thier own tank for a change with the black out method. Now if I can only get them to do thier own WC :lol:
 
I bought a bottle of 100 maracyn pills online at www.bigalsonline.com They were about $25, and I only used 20 or so. This is a good place for Maracyn cheap. Also, drsfostersmith.com has the Maracyn for roughly the same price.
 
Well I went to Petsmart and paid about $30 for 48 pills.... Think I'll order some from bigals in case this ever happens again. At least I'll have it on hand
 
Think I'll order some from bigals in case this ever happens again. At least I'll have it on hand

Check on how long its shelf-life is before you do that. I think most antibiotics have about a 1 year shelf life, but check for yourself, don't take my word on that. In any case, hate to see you buy something that may not be any good by the time you need it. (Hopefully never!)
 
they do last about a year, but considering petSmart or petCo sells them for nearly $1 per pill, paying $25 for 100, and only using 30, you still come out slightly ahead of retail prices :)
 
Just go to the vet and get eurethromiacin, $3.20 for five times what I needed.
 
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