Re: [APD] BGA, antibiotics, and cloudy water

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

That antibiotic (Erythromicin) works on Gram positive
bacteria and a few other things (such as BGA) that don't
show positive with the Gram test but are susceptible to
erythromicin anyway.  So it is not likely to kill off all
the bacteria in your aquarium.

One possibility for the cause of cloudiness in your
aquarium is that killing off lots of BGA quickly gave a
sudden increase in food for other bacteria and that is
causing the cloudiness. I have heard of this happening
before. Just as with normal cycling, it should disappear
eventually as things stabilize.

The more important thing is that the condition that allowed
the BGA to "prosper" is eliminated, so you don't have to go
through this repeatedly. My guess about the likely cause is
an imbalance in the nutrient levels -- possibly inadequate
phosphate, so that the plants cannot take up enough
nitrogen, or a shortage of nitrogen itself. 

Scott H.
--- Benjamin Hong <bkhong at rogers_com> wrote:

> I always seem to have a question...
> I have just completed an antibiotic treatment for BGA (I
> didn't know what
> else to do as pH is somewhat acidic, phosphates
> non-existant, and Nitrates
> extremely scarce, too).  I used Maracyn.  By day 4 of the
> treatment the
> water had begun to turn cloudy and now, the final day, it
> is quite hazy.
> It's not green, either.  All I can think is two
> possibilities, but I want to
> double check to be sure: either it's
> 
> A) just dead BGA (though it doesn't look like BGA,
> whatever that means, and
> my other tank didn't have this problem), or
> 
> B) it's a bacterial bloom.  This, of course, strikes me
> as odd as the
> antibiotic treatment is not quite over.
> 
> I've read that blooms should be monitored, but left alone
> as they are
> indicative of a recycling and will sort themselves out. 
> Of course, I've
> learned not to trust everything I read, and this one has
> me a bit puzzled.
> 
> Any thoughts?


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