blue-green algae (BGA) Maracyn question

[7Enigma]

So after trying countless times to rid my puffer tank of BGA I finally decided to go the antibiotic route. I had heard good things about Maracyn and so picked up the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals brand. I am now on day 4 and the BGA is not showing any visible signs of dying?

Prior to dosing I manually removed as much as I could in the tank (it was on EVERYTHING). I still had some of it on the inner parts of my anubias and they just don't seem to be looking any different.

Does anyone have experience in using Maracyn (Erythromycin) for treating BGA and if so how long did it take for you to see results? My treatment is now done according to the packaging (4 doses total), and plan to do a water change tomorrow and put a carbon insert in my AquaClear filter for over the weekend to remove any remaining medication.

Thanks

 

[An t-iasg]

I had some old expired erythromycin pills, 250 mg. I used half a pill for 7 days. I cut the pill in two or three pieces and placed them in the hardest-hit areas of the tank. I was also doing a blackout at the same time. After the 7 days, I did a large water change and the BGA (and the smell!) was gone.

I would try using more of the Maracyn pills to equal about a 125 mg. dose, or increase the number of days you treat, if the BGA is especially bad. I was using this dosage and blackout time frame on a 10 gallon tank.

 

[7Enigma]

Thanks for the reply. These were 200mg packets (powder form), and so I dosed a total of 800mg over 4 days with a 25% water change after the first 400mg. This is my 10 gallon puffer tank in my sig btw. I did not do a blackout during this time however...I was kinda worried about the puffer from an ammonia standpoint and so wanted my anubias to hopefully suck up any free ammonia before it harmed her.

I'm just worried I have some crazy antibiotic resistant strain...

 

[dinokath]

I recently had a very nasty outbreak of BGA. I used hydrogen peroxide applied with a syringe directly on the BGA (still in the tank). Turn off all the pumps and squirt it right on the spot where it is growing. I used some air line attached to my 50ml syringe to directly spot dose. It will start to bubble almost immediately and will go on for about 15 minutes or so. I read that you shouldn't go over 1ml per gallon in a 24 hour period on one site and then another, which makes sense, claimed the H2O2 converts into H2O after it oxidizes and is harmless. I stayed with the 1ml per gallon rule just to be safe. BGA was gone in one day, no kidding. That was about 3 weeks ago and I haven't seen another spot of it since. No fish death, no shrimp death, no damage to the plants. I had it pretty bad in two spots on the substrate and deep inside a java fern bunch and an annubias. Everything looks healthy.

I would do it again gladly.

 

[7Enigma]

Thanks Dean. I'm an original user of peroxide for in-tank use. It is very effective and safe as long as fish don't swim directly under it when applied. My problem was it never was in a single area, it would spontaneously grow on virtually every surface in the tank. I'm pretty sure now it was due to no nitrAtes since the entire tank has good current so there are no dead spots which are typical of BGA (and likely why you only had it in 2 spots).

I have begun dosing a small amount of potassium nitrAte every day and hope this curbs the problem. As I only have a single dwarf puffer, there really is no bioload and so the nitrAte just wasn't there for the plants to absorb the other nutrients that the BGA thrive on.

I just wish I could get some other inhabitants for the DP, but he just seems to attack anything I try to add (including otos which are supposed to be compatible...).

 

[Smitty]

I had a really bad case of BGA in my 55g (I think I've had all the bad algea-still dealing with BBA).

I did a straight 3 day blackout and that was like a miracle as it was all gone. It was wonderful. Have you tried the blackout yet?

 

[7Enigma]

Wanted to update this thread with my results from Maracyn treatment. The BGA is pretty much completely gone from the tank. After ending my treatment (1 course as per the directions) I was pretty disappointed as it didn't appear to really have done anything.

So I did a large water change and put in a carbon insert over the weekend to remove the medication. Did another large water change and began dosing nitrAte every couple days to avoid bottoming out. I initially dosed ~20ppm (was aiming for 10), and now that it's been a bit under a month I'm pretty confident I've kicked the BGA.

In the areas that I couldn't get too as I had mentioned during treatment the BGA appeared unaffected. Either it takes a long time to die or it just couldn't handle the competition from the anubias once nitrAte was in the water, but it very slowly just disappeared over the course of a couple weeks. I can still see little dots on some of the anubias leaves (how it seems to start in this tank), but they have not gotten larger in size so it's possible the BGA is growing at damaged areas of the anubias.

I just dosed for the first time since treatment with my iron/trace suppliment (CSM+B) and hope to not see increased BGA levels. While I know BGA is not caused by iron, in the past it seemed to have really ramped up the growth rate of the BGA (probably because there was no nitrAte).

Thanks everyone for the replies. Check out my sig for a recent picture of the puffer tank sans BGA.