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Re: BGA
> Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 09:37:09 -0500
> From: Richard_Clark at doh_state.fl.us
> Subject: blue/green problem
First check the archives. I know I have amore than 5+ pages full in there.
>
> I am trying to decide how to attack my blue green problem. Either try
> antibiotics or a blackout? I have some new plants so I am afraid of doing a
> blackout right now and I sorta hate to do the antibiotic because I don't
> want to screw with my biological filtration.
It won't mess with your bio filter(erythro).
> Can someone give me some
> advice? Manual removal is not possible, it is getting pretty extreme.
I vacuum it out with a gravel vac and prunes those fine needled plants etc.
Disturb the heck out of it. Fluff it around in your tank, clean thy filter.
Do the water change.
I
> have cut back on the fertilizers this week and done a lot of water changes
> but it isn't working.
It's happy either way(toomuch or too little nutrients for the plants). Try
focusing on the plant's needs. That's how it got to this point in the first
place.
> I can keep it off the substrate and the walls but it
> is all in my fine leafed plants and I can't do anything about it.
So pull them(just the fine needled) out and place in a bucket full of water
in the dark for 3 days or so. Add cheap plants that do not make a good place
for attachment if you have too. Add the fine needled plants back later after
a good cleaning/manual removal. Add KNO3, add K2SO4, add more traces, add
KH2PO4 if your running low on PO4. You can fluff out the algae also before
you place them it the dark.
> Someone recommended Erythromycin. Can someone tell me what the dosage would
> be for a 135gal?
> Someone else recommended Maracyn (sp?). That is pretty expensive around
> here.
It will cost a fair amount to treat in this manner and it doesn't address
the issue of the root cause, only the quick fix. Regular pruning, water
changes, additions of nutrients, herbivores, CO2 levels will do wonders if
you keep up on it.
> Do antibiotics hurt snails or shrimp? And do I remove the carbon from my
> filter?
Remove the carbon. Never tried it on shrimp. Never needed too. The remedy I
use is much cheaper and more effective. BGA will be there in a few weeks
afterwards waiting for the conditions to become ripe again. I have(and
everyone else's tank I've looked at samples) have it. I never get it though
to where it ever becomes visually present to the naked eye.
> Thanks,
> Rick