BGA cyano help

[Guest]

I seam to have a problem with BGA cyano. After 2 months of searching for the perfect center piece plant I finally found a Melon Sword last week, that was perfect.

Well after adding the Melon Sword, it appears some BGA was introduced into the tank. The Melon has about 25% of it's leaves covered in BGA, along with some now on a dwarf hairgrass and a little on some java moss.

Whats odd is my water para's have been very stable, up until I added the Melon Sword (that introduced the BGA). Suddenly my Phos has went from running .2-.5 up to off the charts (test kit only goes up to two) and my nitra has went from 5-10 down to 0 the past five days.

I ca'nt find KNO3 locally to dose nitra. I am currently in the process of putting together a dry fert order. To save some money versues most liquids.

What do I need to do to get BGA out of the tank? What about getting the water para's back in check. I picked up some Hagen PHOS X today. I think I'm going to put it in my filter to bring the Phos down. Seeing how the nitra is at 0 already, I can't see were it will hurt at this point.

Anyone got any suggestions on BGA removal? Thanks

 

[savga]

Treating the tank with erythromycin will get rid of BGA. Just follow the package directions like for treating sick fish. Monitor water parameters also since it may affect the bio filter. I used this method and it worked well for me.

 

[Guest]

I did a search here on AA and found a few people that have battled BGA. It seems they used maracyn meds for fish fungi. I've seen maracyn in many LFS, is this the same? Does it contain erythromycin. Perhaps I need to go read the ingrediants

 

[savga]

Yes, regular Maracyn is erythromycin. There are other brands of erythromycin as well. Maracyn II is a different antibiotic though.

 

[Guest]

Pardon my ignorance. Thank you very much Savga. I'll pick up some maracyn tomorrow and start medicating. I appreciate the help.

 

[shawmutt]

FWIW, maracyn bought online is MUCH cheaper than a lfs, if it can wait

 

[Guest]

I got the maracyn. Added 3, 200 mg tabs for a 37g. Seeing how the fish are healthy, I figured I would under dose slightly. How often should I dose?

I'm just running the two various foams and floss in the Filstart. I suspect I will have to recycle the tank after medicating.

Tough lesson to learn.

 

[savga]

Hopefully, since your tank is planted, you won't have a problem with ammonia or nitrites even if the meds kill your bio filter. I treated daily for the recommend 5 days with a partial water change half way through. I noticed the cyano dying after a couple of days. Afterward I noticed my tank stayed clean much longer than before

 

[Allivymar]

I underdosed as well; 1 tablet for 15g, instead of 10g as recommended for treating disease. It worked wonderfully, and there was NO effect on the water parameters either. I did remove as much as I could manually so when it died it wasn't in my tank to sit there and rot.

 

[malkore]

I too under-dosed marycin - 2 tablets for a 20gallon on day 1, then 1 tablet every day after until the package was gone. Today was the last treatment, and I see no BGA!