ALGAE is pearling

[BlazerFRS]

Nope not my plants.... just the algae. From the plantgeek algae atricle I'm calling it Cyano. Since the tank is empty (of fish) I added 200mg of erythromycin to hopefully kill it... How long does this generally take to be effective? How many doses?

I'm not sure what type of imbalance is causing the algae in the first place, NH3 is 0, nitrite is 0, NO3 is about 5ppm. I've got a PO4, GH, and KH tests coming in the mail soon so i'll be able to pinpoint CO2 levels and PO4. My PH is 7.4 out of the tap and it's 7.0 with CO2, at about 6 bubbles per min.

I'm not sure what else to do besides the erythromycin until my test kits come in... any other suggestions?

 

[rich311k]

Wipe a little off and smell it. If it stinks its cyano.

 

[BlazerFRS]

I just pulled some out, it doesn't smell... guess it's not cyano? What else is dark green and grows in thick sheets?
More importantly how do i get rid of it?

 

[cowman345]

Cyano is slimy and bubbles... and recently vaccuumed some out with a 1/2" hose no problem.

-dave-

 

[BlazerFRS]

Yea-some of the larger patches had some nasty bubbles last time I cleaned the tank... so maybe it is cyano...
It's definatly not any of the other algaes in the algae article on plantgeek

 

[malkore]

Its probably cyano. there's about 1,000 species of this bacteria (hint: its not really algae), so its very likely that some species don't have the typical pungent aroma.

What's your nitrate level at? cyano usually occurs with 0ppm nitrates, or a lack of enough current in a tank.

antibiotics should be the last course of action, not the first. blackouts, bringing nitrates up, and making sure you have enough flow are the primary steps.

when all else fails, use a half dose of Maricyn/Eurythromycin for 5-7 days. it should NOT affect fish, plants or your bio-filter, especially at that half dose level.

 

[BlazerFRS]

NO3 looks like 5ppm now; but I've heard the AP NO3 test kit is notoriously spotty in the low range... so I'm going to dose up to 10ppm now and see how it goes.

 

[Simpte]

That would be best. If it is cyano it can fix N in various forms and even at lower levels (pbb range). Manually remove what you can, do a waterchange, and do a 3-4 day blackout. Waterchange again afterwards.

 

[workfortheman]

How dare that algae pearl! HOW DARE IT!!!!!!!! I've seen my non-cyano algae pearl before, in my new tank setup. I don't mind, at least something is producing oxygen in there