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



Ok, that makes sense...except all my plants are growing just fine.  I'm
trying to keep them in the tank.  After 2 weeks since I planted them, 6"
limnophila is breaking the surface and the ceratopteris is unravelling
around everything.  The ludwigia is crimson red and I pinch the shoots
regularly to keep it in check, the lilaeopsisis is popping up everywhere...
mind you, all but one of my Hygrophila corymb. are dying (I think they have
never recovered from my being forced to replant them a few times for various
reasons...the one that's ok only went through it once), and the echino.
angust. has made much of a move...but everything else seems to be growing
like wildfire.

Oh, and I tried to remove the BGA first, but it was growing over a mass of
Java moss.  Not an easy task.

Thanks for the help.  A water change would make me feel better.  I hope it
wasnt' too much of the other bacteria.  I'll be monitoring ammonia levels to
be sure.

And I'll look into ferts.
B.



>Message: 6
>Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 23:10:10 -0700
>From: "Thomas Barr" <tcbiii at earthlink_net>
>Subject: [APD] RE: BGA
>To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com.
>
>>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.
>
>Well your problem is poor plant growth, not BGA really.
>BGA is the result of poor plant growth.
>Grow the plant well and you do not get algae.
>So the focus should always be on the plants.
>
>Do plants grow on algaecide? Do plants need antibiotics to grow?
>
>No.
>
>No NO3 will allow BGA to appear, no PO4, what do you think the plants are
>suppose to grow on?
>Look at a fertilizer bag, it's got PO4 and NO3 and K etc in there.
>Algae have far less growth needs than plants.
>
>You can easily kill BGA with a simple 3 day blackout, dosing KNO3 at 1/4
>teaspoon per 20 gal of tank the day of the water change(50%+), blackout the
>tank for 3 days(trash bags, towels etc), turn off CO2, make sure no light
>gets in, remove all the BGA you can.
>Wait 3 days, remove bags, do water change, add the same amount of KNO3 back
>and then thereafter 2x a week or so(more with higher light).
>
>No antibiotic is going to do that for you nor remove the organic matter,
>waste, toxins from the BGA. It'll kill it but that is __all__ it will do
>and antibiotics are not available in many places, cost money, and do not
>grow plants.
>
>> 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
>
>Check.
>
>>B) it's a bacterial bloom.  This, of course, strikes me as odd as the
>>antibiotic treatment is not quite over.
>
>Unlikely a bacterial bloom.
>
>Did you remove as much BGa as you could first, do a water change and then
>add the antibiotic?
>If not, then it's leftovers. Also, some bacterial decomposers help process
>smaller waste products and the EM might have killed those off, producing
>turbid conditions.
>
>>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?
>>Thanks!
>>Ben H.
>
>I'd do a water change to remove it, then start adding things that make
>plants grow. Add KNO3, add KH2PO4.
>Your tank will grow much better as a result.
>
>Regards,
>Tom Barr





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