# Erythromycin



## marielou20 (Aug 7, 2006)

Did someone had ever try ERYTHROMYCIN to fight against cyacobacteria?

I would like to have your comments on that product?


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## metageologist (Jan 10, 2008)

i have used it once with great results. i had to use it about 2 months ago and it hasn't come back


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## marielou20 (Aug 7, 2006)

THANKS, could you tell me how many packages should I put to treat a 220 g, I know that each little pack treats 10 g/each


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## metageologist (Jan 10, 2008)

22.


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## marielou20 (Aug 7, 2006)

22 packs , did you do the treatment once only or you had to repeat it a 2nd time?

how long did it took before you see an improvement


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## metageologist (Jan 10, 2008)

i only did it once and it was gone in a week but it all depends on the severity of the out break i only had it on some moss and a few other plants


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## marielou20 (Aug 7, 2006)

ashappar, I dont understand what you mean, do I have to put 22 packs all in one day or you mean 1 pack per day!!!!


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## marielou20 (Aug 7, 2006)

should I turn off my lights too for a few days while I'm doing this treatment


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## DiscusIt'sWhats4DinneR (Apr 25, 2008)

you do not have to turn off your lights.
you could dose full strength using 22 packs every day, or half strength using only 11. using half strength makes treatment cost half as much, it worked for me but it is up to you. some argue that dosing antibiotics half strength runs the risk of creating antibiotic resistant bacterial strains. nevertheless if it were my tank i would do a half strength treatment.

treatment would only use 3 boxes of 24 packs, instead of 6.
Maracyn is erythromycin. 
maracyn is a catchy brand name for erythromycin by Mardel.
also, make sure you buy Maracyn. (not maracyn two or maracyn t.c.) as these contain different medications meant to kill different bacteria.

keep dosing for 3 days after it is all dead just to be sure. usually it takes about 3 days to kill it. so dose for 6, or longer a few longer if needed.
i would use a gravel vac and remove as much as you can by hand while doing a large water change before medicating. that way there is less cyanobac present to kill, and less to decay in the tank during the week you are medicating.

go to drsfostersmith dot com and buy the meds there. they have it much much cheaper than any store you will find.


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## orion2001 (Mar 15, 2008)

I'm pretty sure that if you read the instruction pamphlet inside the maracyn packaging it says that for large tanks (over 50 gallons) you can go a little lower with the dosing and also that you don't need to dose the same amount every day (ie you can dose less frequently). You should make sure to read the instructions carefully before dunking in 22 packets. That being said it isn't really harmful. I have double dosed it to treat my bettas and they were fine. Also it does not hurt your biological filtration at all (in my experience).

PS- For large tanks, it would be more economical to buy erythromycin from http://www.nationalfishpharm.com

I bought E.M.Pro (erythromycin) and it works out much much cheaper than buying Maracyn. They have a great selection of medication and it is very reasonably priced (If you are going to be using a fair bit of the medication or if you have large tanks/ponds)


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## MiSo (Oct 26, 2005)

i bought a bulk amount of EM tablets. bigals used to carry it. it was 100 tablets for $25. i think i was dosing around 7 tablets per day for a week in a 75 gallon tank. it's been a while so i dont remember. last time i checked, bigals didn't have it on their website. but its better to buy in bulk if you can find it.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

get some connection with a pharmacist and get erythromycin that way. will be a whole lot cheaper than 22 packs of maracyn per day.


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## DaveS (Mar 2, 2008)

The only way any pharmacist that wishes to stay licensed is going to give you any antibiotic is with a prescription from a vet or a doctor. Trust me, I am married to one and I have asked ....

Dave


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## DiscusIt'sWhats4DinneR (Apr 25, 2008)

DaveS said:


> The only way any pharmacist that wishes to stay licensed is going to give you any antibiotic is with a prescription from a vet or a doctor. Trust me, I am married to one and I have asked ....
> 
> Dave


 
HAHAH


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## orion2001 (Mar 15, 2008)

ashappar said:


> nice link. I couldnt tell from the site though - do you know how many milligrams of erythromycin are in a 1/4 teaspoon in that stuff they sell? The API bulk erythromycin I had was 400mg / teaspoon.


Hey, so the EM Pro box states that it is PURE erythromycin. So no filler material in there. You dose exactly as much as you need to. They have some guidleines on the box (1/8 tsp per 10 gallons).

The folks who run it are very experienced with dealing with fish diseases. I called once and they were very nice and helped me diagnose what was wrong with my bettas.


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## Riche_guy (Feb 14, 2006)

How expensive would it cost in general for her to dose her 220 gallon tank for the whole treatment - 6 days?


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

How about looking into why the poster actually has BGA in the first place?
Then you do not need pills...........

roud: 

It's not new news........and the methods to kill BGA are many and cost nothing, address the root causes.

Clean the tank well, remove what's there, water change, clean filter.
Turn light and CO2 off for 3 days, add KNO3 at 10ppm. 

Cover tank with towel, trash bag etc so that no light at all get inside(you can feed the fish etc, look etc).

After 3 days, the BGA will be dead.

If you keep the tank clean, and the filter clean, do routine maintenance, add KNO3 etc routinely, BGA will never come back.

For some curiously odd reason, I never seen to get BGA, but then again my NO3's are always high and when they bottom out for longer time frames, I do not clean my filter, neglect my tank, do not focus on the plant's needs, I will get algae.

However, put another way, BGA does not appear in anyone's planted tanks due to a lack of pills or EM does it? So there's some other reason for it appearing in your tank, and it's related to plant health/growth.

So focus on growing plants(which is the original goal of most planted aquarist), treat the cause, not the symptom. 

You will never really get better and be able to really help anyone grow plants better without focusing on the plants, sort of self evident but folks get side tracked nonetheless with their frustration with various algae species.

Well, then you come to an alga that cannot be treated with pills, then what do you do? This is about the only one that can be pill treated, but there are other cheaper ways, but neither is useful over time unless you focus on the cause.

The benefit of this approach is that it helps to grow the plants better, which is far better than any quick fix. 

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## marielou20 (Aug 7, 2006)

during the treamtn, will the algae already on my leaves and on the glasses will disappear or will the erythromycin only prevent the new algae to appear again? 

which signs will show me that the algae is dying....


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## DaveS (Mar 2, 2008)

Assuming we are still talking cyanobacteria here, it will die wherever it is in your tank. It will start to lose its coloring and fall off whatever surface it on, many times in long hair-like strands. When you start seeing the dead algae floating around, it goes without saying that some partial waterchanges are in order.

Dave


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## marielou20 (Aug 7, 2006)

after how many days should I see the dead algae floating around, I've been treating since 3 days now, I had put 18 packages of erythromycin per day...


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## marielou20 (Aug 7, 2006)

how many days after I started the treatment should I see the dead algae floating around and disappear??? I've been treating my tank since 3 days, I put 18 packages per day into it...


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## kittytango (May 7, 2008)

That treatment does work great, I'd also mix up the gravel to get rid of the dead spaces as well to help preventing it from coming back.


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## marielou20 (Aug 7, 2006)

just to give you my comments on the Erythromycin, I'd finished the treatment 5 days ago, last monday, I cleaned the whole tank ,I cleaned all the glasses, all my plants one after one, all the material that were located into the tank....filter, co2, uv sterilizer....After 5 days, there is still no sign of red algae anywhere in the tank, but I cannot be sure 100% that the treatment worked correctly because I want to wait another week to be completely sure..... Tomorrow I will clean my filter and clean the sand at the bottom. 

I also have my overflow that works full time....

For now, I'm satisfied with that treatment but I want to wait another week to be 100% sure everything worked...


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