# War on Cyanobacteria



## VincentK (Dec 16, 2009)

Ok, I was having the exact same problem a few weeks ago, what I did was buy some Maracyn and basically used all 8 packets, and it was all gone. There's also this product that's made exactly for fighting cyanobacteria called Ultralife Blue Green Algae remover, also, I found that it tends to grow in stagnant waters, so you should get that checked too. But Maracyn was the cheapest way I found to get rid of it.


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## Canuck (Apr 30, 2009)

BGA - causes are reported to be high organic load (dirty filters, inadequate water changes, excessive mulm), low water flow (probably low O2), low nitrates. Maracyn will kill it but if you don't correct the contributing factors it will come back. Personally, its shown up in my tanks when I've slacked off on ferts. I've removed it manually, dosed KNO3 and it was gone in a few weeks. Others seem to have a lot more difficult time with it.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

^^^^

Canuck nailed it. One of the three factors he mentioned is your problem. 

If you keep a decent maintenance regime on your filtration system and you have an adequately sized GPH ratio chances are great that your nitrates have bottomed out. 

I had a little try to pop up in the riparium a few weeks ago in a spot. Knew the filter was clean and I was overfiltering already anyway... bumped up the nitrate dosing by half for a week and its gone and not coming back.

If you have a fairly strong outbreak you need to do the best manual cleaning you can by breaking it up/sucking it out. You can kick start the attack by using Maracyn to get it back into check but as mentioned already if the root cause is still there it will come back easily.


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## Aubzilla (Mar 2, 2008)

Blackouts also work. I used a 3 day on mine and I haven't had it since.


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## zachfishman1 (Feb 5, 2010)

I had an awful BGA infestation a couple months ago. It would literally slime over the entire substrate and start climbing plants and walls 2-3 days after each WC and manual removal. When a 3-day blackout didn't kill it all, I began dosing NO3 (my tank had 0ppm, not good), which slowed it down. 

Eventually I got tired and nuked it with Maracyn. Haven't seen any sign of it (even with my dirty substrate). Make sure you've got your NO3 in line (10-20ppm) before dosing Maracyn - otherwise it'll likely just come back in the future.


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

*To deal with BGA, I applied Maracyn (follow the instruction written on the box) and did partial water change, cleaned the filter, trimmed and replanted (keep the organic detritus to a minimum).*


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## williamsonaaron (Jan 27, 2010)

Crispino Ramos said:


> *To deal with BGA, I applied Maracyn (follow the instruction written on the box) and did partial water change, cleaned the filter, trimmed and replanted (keep the organic detritus to a minimum).*


+10 to this. I have used it in my 5.5 gallon and my 80 gallon follow the instructions on the box and you will be cyano free in 5 days. I also had no adverse effects on filter bacteria either.


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## marielou20 (Aug 7, 2006)

can someone help me please, i have been fighting against cyano now since about 10 months, 2 weeks ago, i add Erythro in my 220 gal tank. I still didnt see any improvement since 

You think i could add som Maracyn now to try to solve my problem

I do a really good maintenance on my tank so thats not how the problem start.

what would be the dosage to put for a 220 gal...

tks for your precious help


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

*Maracyn Dosing*

*Maracyn dosage - Add the contents of one packet per 10 gallons of water and repeat every 24 hours for 5 days. Repeat this 5 day treatment only once if needed. Important: Treat for 5 days even if visible signs disappear. *


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

marielou20 said:


> can someone help me please, i have been fighting against cyano now since about 10 months, 2 weeks ago, i add Erythro in my 220 gal tank. I still didnt see any improvement since
> 
> You think i could add som Maracyn now to try to solve my problem
> 
> ...


I wouldn't bother. It'll get too expensive for a 220G. Do it the old fashion way. Remove as much as you can by hand and siphon. Then block out all light to the tank (blackout) for 3-5 days.

And then fix the problem that started it. Maybe you have too much light? Or not enough plants and nutrients.


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## zachfishman1 (Feb 5, 2010)

marielou20 said:


> can someone help me please, i have been fighting against cyano now since about 10 months, 2 weeks ago, i add Erythro in my 220 gal tank. I still didnt see any improvement since
> 
> You think i could add som Maracyn now to try to solve my problem
> 
> ...


To start, what is your NO3? Also, ensuring decent current flow in the tank is a good step to take (nothing ripping, just no dead zones).


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## marielou20 (Aug 7, 2006)

Crispino Ramos said:


> *Maracyn dosage - Add the contents of one packet per 10 gallons of water and repeat every 24 hours for 5 days. Repeat this 5 day treatment only once if needed. Important: Treat for 5 days even if visible signs disappear. *



that means that i have to put 20 packets on day 1, another 20 packets on day 2, same amount on day 3 and day 5, and finish with another 20 packets on day 5...

i have to repeat 20 pachets for each day, until 5 days, that makes a total of 100 packets???


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## Tamelesstgr (Jan 11, 2008)

When I try to siphon it comes into the tube but does not make it all the way up and out. I tried picking it up my hand, not very effective, I thought about using my syringe to try and get it. I have to check my parameters, I think my filter could use a cleaning. Just did a water change Sunday and it's back all ready~


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## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

I used air tubing to siphon it out. Worked great but it still took 5 gallons of water out a day removing it from the 150 gallon tank. Not just low nitrate, low phosphorus lets this stuff flourish. It would come up from the gravel where it got light through the side of the glass so pushing a credit card down between the gravel and the glass pushed it away from the light which looked good, not sure it helped much. It grew on the surface leaves so keeping floaters thinned out helped. Black outs and the medication works but it will come right back if conditions aren't improved! I found if I had high nitrate it was because phosphorus was low and vice versa.


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

I see it from time to time and it, atleast in my tank, is always caused by low nitrates. I dose and it goes away in a day or 2.

Craig


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## msawdey (Apr 6, 2009)

Kathy has it right.. i just went through this last week. The only thing i dispute is the nitrate part. I am a avid water changer, 40-50% per week. There is no way high nitrates were the contributer to the bga. After doing research all over the net, i found that the BGA can produce its own nitrates allowing it to survive even if conditions are not met. 
I believe it is a dosing problem.. try the seachem line, its basic and easy and there are scheudles online

I dosed maracyn for 4 days and i could see it falling apart. I ordered stuff to start dosing and upped my co2 by a bubble a sec.. The maracyn seems to be cutting right through it.. Tomorrow is my vac and water change day.. hopefully it will be gone. '


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## zachfishman1 (Feb 5, 2010)

msawdey said:


> Kathy has it right.. i just went through this last week. The only thing i dispute is the nitrate part. I am a avid water changer, 40-50% per week. There is no way high nitrates were the contributer to the bga. After doing research all over the net, i found that the BGA can produce its own nitrates allowing it to survive even if conditions are not met.


Sorry I wasn't specific. You want 10-20ppm NO3 to help combat BGA, since it thrives when algae is starved as it fixes its own nitrogen from atmospheric N2.


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

msawdey said:


> Kathy has it right.. i just went through this last week. The only thing i dispute is the nitrate part. I am a avid water changer, 40-50% per week. There is no way high nitrates were the contributer to the bga. After doing research all over the net, i found that the BGA can produce its own nitrates allowing it to survive even if conditions are not met.
> I believe it is a dosing problem.. try the seachem line, its basic and easy and there are scheudles online
> 
> I dosed maracyn for 4 days and i could see it falling apart. I ordered stuff to start dosing and upped my co2 by a bubble a sec.. The maracyn seems to be cutting right through it.. Tomorrow is my vac and water change day.. hopefully it will be gone. '


 
Only problem with your post is not one of us said anything about High Nitrates all references were to low or no Nitrates. Also dry fertilizers are much cheaper then the Seachem equivilents and are going to last longer and just as easy to dose.

Craig


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## msawdey (Apr 6, 2009)

Craigthor said:


> Only problem with your post is not one of us said anything about High Nitrates all references were to low or no Nitrates. Also dry fertilizers are much cheaper then the Seachem equivilents and are going to last longer and just as easy to dose.
> 
> Craig


 
I misread- apologies.. i had people telling me last week in my post that it was my nitrates too high.. i misread it and wanted to make sure that advice wasnt given again.. thanks for calling me out craig


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

msawdey said:


> I misread- apologies.. i had people telling me last week in my post that it was my nitrates too high.. i misread it and wanted to make sure that advice wasnt given again.. thanks for calling me out craig


 
No problem just trying to keep the advice given as acurate as possible. :icon_smil 

Craig


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## flora (Sep 7, 2008)

Hi,
I have the same problem. I manually remove it and it comes back within a couple of days everytime. I do large water changes weekly and I think I'm going to buy a better filter. My question is how do you measure nitrates? Do you use the dip strips? Thank you!


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## bunnie1978 (Jan 22, 2010)

If you have a planted tank and you're not dosing EI (and even if you are) you likely have 0 nitrates.



I did a test once where I dosed Nitrates up to 20 ppm twice in one day, and next morning was at 0.


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## Hyzer (Mar 9, 2010)

I just got done with a cyano war a month back. Before treatment, I measured nitrates at 0 with dip tester. Thanks plantbrain for helping me connect the dots.

Got some granular Green Light stump remover. Make sure it is pure potassium nitrate.

Dosed 1/4 teaspoon for 20g then completely blacked out tank. Be sure to let air flow to filter(if HOB) and surface.

Added 1/2 recommended Maracyn dose on day 1 and 3.

Day 4-> Opened up tank and did 50% water change, plus added 1/8 teaspoon potassium nitrate. There was still some pale green cyano, but it died off within a couple days.

Now I add 1/8 tsp potassium nitrate after every water change to keep ppm a bit under 20. The maracyn my have been overkill, but I used only 2 packets and have a bunch for future tanks. A month later, NO MORE GREEN SLIMEroud:


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## Pterodactyl (Mar 10, 2010)

Check your nitrates. I had it in my old tank probably because nitrates were 0. When I added nitrate the amount of BGA seemed to get smaller, but then I moved everything to my 55 gallon about 3 weeks ago and it hasn't come back yet.


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## dxiong5 (Sep 28, 2008)

I've read that some people remove the carbon from their filter before applying Maracyn. I don't have the carbon insert but am using the ammonia remover as chemical filtration instead. Should I remove that or turn off my filter all together?


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## andym127 (Jul 5, 2004)

*another possible cure for BGA*

I have had the odd flare up of BGA, it usually starts with a sheet of floating slime building up over a few days then transfers to the plants and substrate. Some months ago I had a problem with white spot caused by my co2 system packing up whilst i was on holiday.

I treated the tank with a product called 'Esha Exit' for the whilte spot which sorted that, however, i noticed a side effect that the BGA disappear very quickly indeed. I didn't really think any more of it.

Last week i could see my surface slime coming back so added a half dose of the esha product....slime gone by morning!!

I'm not sure whats going on here but it seems to work and thought it might help someone else, especially those who cant get marycin like here in the UK.

Hope this helps someone.


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## thrak76 (Aug 3, 2009)

I treated my tank for BGA with H202. I did my weekly 50% w/c, and while the tank was half-full, i dosed the specific BGA patches with 10 ml/g of H202. I let the peroxide do its thing for a half hour, and then refilled the tank and started up the filters. The next day, all the BGA was gone. I haven't seen it since.


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## newday3000 (Nov 4, 2009)

I had this issue on my 220G low tech plants and lighting. The problem was related to low flow rate in the area it started to grow. I used double the Maracyn doses to kill it and have never seen it since. fixed the flow issue to point spray bar into the gravel.

It was very expensive on a 220G but the alternative of manual cleaning a big tank wasn't worth the time. I bit the bullet and bought Maracyn and it works with 1 treatment.


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## NyteBlade (Aug 19, 2006)

With BGA, once you see the stuff lurking on the substrate, is it possible to completely eradicate without Maracyn? Can you raise nitrates/CO2 and add oxygen at night and have it disappear, or is antibiotics and/or manual removal the only option?


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

BGA is usually caused by low flow, thus the collection of mulm.


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## zachfishman1 (Feb 5, 2010)

> With BGA, once you see the stuff lurking on the substrate, is it possible to completely eradicate without Maracyn? Can you raise nitrates/CO2 and add oxygen at night and have it disappear, or is antibiotics and/or manual removal the only option?


Raising NO3 is definitely part of the equation - but only if you have 0 nitrates (as I did when I had BGA). I also increased flow when trying to get rid of it (but now my flow is pretty low again, but I have very high NO3 (50).


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## Broaska (Nov 25, 2009)

*Cyano outbreak on substrate*

I am running a 29G system with a 65W CPL with DIY Co2. Photo period is 10 hours a day, moderately planted with various swords,anubias,water sprites etc. Flow is decent as far as I can tell. Plants are looking decent but Cyano seems to be creeping up on the sand. 

I have had this happen once before and used the Maracyn method and it seemed to work decent. I am running an Eheim 2215 without carbon. Parameters as of last night:

Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 5 ppm

Do I have insufficient nitrates in this system? Is there a dry fert I can get at Lowe's/Home Depot or would I be ok with SeaChem liquids? I have been dosing Flourish per the instructions 2-3 times a week. 

One other question as well. I have replaced my fine filter pad with a few layers of batting sheet from the fabric section of Wal-Mart. It is the hypo-allergenic type that I replace about once a month. Could this possibly be a factor?


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## fisher13 (Aug 21, 2010)

Can any recomend a nitrate increaser for fighting cyanobacteria


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

fisher13 said:


> Can any recomend a nitrate increaser for fighting cyanobacteria


I don't think nitrates have anything to do with it... it's Light intensity and a clean tank.


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## justin182 (Aug 19, 2009)

Maracyn will kill it, period. I first had it when I first started the tank. It took me a month or 2 to get the fert and CO2 down, and the BGS 'blossomed' during this time. I did a 4 days blackout with no success. And boom, Maracyn easily killed it.. and it never came back since!!!


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## Chasintrades (Oct 11, 2009)

I am getting GBA during my Dry Start. Should I just manually remove for now? I am thinking after the Dry Start is completed (only growing HC) that I would do a 5 day blackout before filling. Thoughts?


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## Sharkbait-ooHAHA (Sep 15, 2010)

I use purigen in my tank for chemical filtration. I like how it makes my tank water crystal clear.

However, it has apparently sucked all the nitrates out of the water and has caused this unsightful BGA.

Does anyone that has a planted tank use purigen? Do you have the same problem? 

I'm assuming the best course of action is to remove the purigen. But how to I keep the water clear?


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## Ahura-sama (Dec 7, 2009)

My vote on Nitrate, Kno3 specifically.

Had bad case of them a while while back. Was dosing Seachem N as only source of Nitrate. The bga went away initially but then would reappear again, basically on and off for several month. After a while I started dosing Kno3 instead, 1/4 teaspoon 4 33g and no sight of bga ever since.


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## Digsy (Mar 4, 2006)

I've never had a case of BGA that wasn't a result of low current areas od my tank. The problem has always been uickly solved by the addition of a powerhead or looking at the placement of my spraybar.

Sent from my MB200 using Tapatalk


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