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Maracyn
>From: IDMiamiBob at aol_com
>Subject: Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V3 #782
>
>SCAYUGA writes:
>
>> I am presently treating a 20L planted aquarium for a BG algae
outbreak.
>> I caught it before it carpeted the tank and am doing the five (5) day
half-
>> dose Maracyn treatment.
>Bob Dixon Replies
>Why only half-doses? The folks who invented the stuff did numerous tests
to
>see what is effective. THey did not double the dose requirement just to
make
>more money.
De-lurking for a moment or two here; this sentiment might be in the right
place for some aquarium products, but it certainly isn't for erythromycin.
The makers marketed this for years as the best thing since sliced bread when
in reality it's never been proved to be effective on any fish disease other
than a few specific conditions (kidney infections, if I recall correctly)
among salmonids. Since most of us don't keep trout or salmon in our
aquariums, it wasn't good for much for the home aquarist other than wiping
out the biofilter making whatever problem was being treated that much worse.
It's a reasonably safe bet that most any "cure" anyone experienced was a
result of either a) coincidence or b) doing the water changes recommended as
part of the treatment regime.
The only saving grace of the product is that some marine people accidently
found out a few years back that it was good for cyanobacteria. Since the
package directions obviously weren't related to any real studies involved in
curing aquarium fish, and the package dosage is reasonably well-known to
severely inhibit biofilters, using as little as possible to get the job done
killing BG algae seems like a good idea.
(A little background; the value (or lack thereof) of Maracyn was beaten to
death on Compuserve's FishNet back in the early 90's... Mardel had a bit of
a fit, but never refuted the information, as I recall... There's been a lot
of water over the overflow since then, so my memory may be a little hazy.)
- Chuck