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Antibiotic Treatment of Cyanobacteria
I wrote:
>> I have never had to dose a tank with Maracyn for more than two days to wipe
>> out a cyanobacteria infestation. In most cases, a single dose is enough.
>> I think most of the people who advocate dosing for multiple days use a half
>> strength dose. I'm not sure what their reasoning is for this. I'd rather
>> get it over with.<g>
Roger Wrote:
>I agree that the cyanobacteria are gone before the end of a treatment. But
>you need to continue with a complete treatment as instructed for the
>antibiotic so that you don't promote any antibiotic resistent strains of
>bacteria (or cyanophytes) in the tank.
>
>People are dying with infections of antibiotic resistent bacteria. It is a
>very real threat. I don't expect the bacterial apocolypse that some
>authors in the biochemical literature seem to predict, but bacterial
>resistence is a danger.
You are certainly right that you need to treat long enough to kill all of
whatever organism it is you are trying to kill. I would maintain, however,
that in my experience, Cyanobacteria _is_ completely killed within the two
treatments. I have never had a recurrance after a treatment (except in the
case of the water fall, which is for different reasons which I have
explained) There are certainly a number of types of infections where the
medical community has found that a shorter treatment period is effective
than previously thought. (UTI's and ear infections are two types that I
know of)
Do you have any evidence that resistant forms of Cyanobacteria have
developed as a result of a full strength two day treatment with Maracyn?
The reason I specifically _like_ the use of erythromycin for Cyanobacteria
is that it is already a fairly useless drug for fish diseases.
Karen Randall
Aquatic Gardeners Association