Swords growing out covered in BGA

[joannde]

I haven't treated the DP tank yet for the BGA - just doing lots of water changes and manual removal while I wait for the little one to get a bit bigger before a blackout (and if that fails I'm doing the Maracyn !).

I have 3 red rubin swords and 2 ocelot swords in the tank. The "plan" was to let them grow out in this tank and then transfer 3 of them to the 20G Longs that I'm planning on setting up. But now I'm afraid LOL - I HATE BGA !!!!

Is there any "sure fire" way to eradicate the BGA on the swords ? I was thinking a thorough rinse and then soaking them in a bucket with an OD of Maracyn for a few days, then rinsing again before I put them in the other tanks. Any thoughts on this ?

 

[joannde]

BUMP .... so, do I OD with Maracyn or just chuck the plants ? or .... suggestions welcomed

 

[zenkatydid]

i have not yet experienced a BGA outbreak, but a blackout is supposed to kill it off.

 

[newfound77951]

BGA = blue green algae? as in cyanobacteria? I've had a little of it in my tank, and found that upping nitrates and water movement gets rid of it very quickly. I had it on the substrate a little when I first set the tank up and didn't have any ferst yet. Now it will start to grow on the tips of my Myriophyllum, and I use that as my low nitrate indicator, and loss of pink in the tropic sunset as the high indicator. What is your nitrate reading in that tank?

 

[JRagg]

BUMP .... so, do I OD with Maracyn or just chuck the plants ? or .... suggestions welcomed

I'm sure you've researched this already, but you won't actually be ODing on Maracyn. I've seen other recommendations saying to do half dosing, but I would be worried that that may not work.

I did a full round of dosing (as per the package instructions) and got rid of mine. I honestly don't know how you've been dealing with it this long.

 

[joannde]

I've been dealing with it forever ! (seriously - 2 or 3 months).

I dose nitrates to try and maintain between 20 and 30ppm. I've increased circulation. I manually remove as much as I can see each day (via turkey baster - approx 1gal of water removed daily - out of a 10G !). I'm getting ready to do a blackout on the tank.

My main concern in this post was to determine how to make sure its REALLY dead on the swords before I move them to another tank. If I see BGA in another tank I'll freak out for sure (aka Get the White Coat !). I don't plan to treat the tank with Maracyn right now (gonna try a 4 day blackout first), so I was thinking that when I'm ready to move the plants I'll do the Maracyn in a bucket with just the plants as a "final clearing" - BUT, if there's any indication that that tactic might fail then in all honesty I'd rather spend another $50 buying new plants for the new tanks (that's how much I hate BGA ! LOL).

JRagg - thanks for the sympathy yeah, its been a long time .... but I really wanted that little puffer to grow up a little before doing anything that might stress her too much.

I haven't heard any non-success stories from people who have used Maracyn / e-mycin against BGA so I'm encouraged that my "final soak" will work .... if anyone has any other experience please let me know .... I really don't like that white coat with the long arms LOL

 

[happygirl65]

All of my BGA went away when I added a powerhead to stir up the water in tha area where it was growing.