# Erythromycin does not treat BGA / cyanobacteria



## mistergreen

They are gram positive.
https://prezi.com/1s8wn4yrq0cv/cyanobacteria-grampositive-bacteria/

But I don't recommend treating BGA with antibiotics. It's a waste of money and you'll create erythro resistant strains of bacteria.

The easiest way to rid of BGA is turn off your lights and clean as much as you can, then reduce your light intensity when everything is clear.


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## tlarsen

Uh, no, they are gram negative

Blackouts do nothing. When I take extra plant cuttings (clean them of all visible cyano) and stick them in a bucket of water in a dark closet, the BGA grows like crazy.


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## mistergreen

Oh, right.. I looked into it more carefully, the BGA cell wall is that of gram negative..

Well, cleaning and controlling the light worked for me.


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## WaterLife

From what I've read, BGA (Cyanobacteria) found in freshwater aquariums is typically gram negative.

Erythromycin does treat mainly gram positive, but it does also treat some gram negative.

There is speculation that Cyanobacteria is a easier to kill bacteria via antibiotics.

Whatever the case, going off of the numerous successes killing off BGA with Erythro, I would lean toward it infact being effective.
I am uncertain if results are dependent on certain water parameters to be effective (I haven't heard of many failures).

In any case, I would only use antibiotics as a last resort in fear of creating immune bacteria/super-bacteria (which you may have?).

Another option is Chemiclean that claims to at least not use the Erythromycin antibiotic. I've only heard success with it.


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## houseofcards

Erythromycin worked for me when I had BGA. 

For some reason it didn't work for you, but to come out with a title _Erythromycin does not treat BGA / cyanobacteria_ is very misleading since there are countless testimonials showing how it is effective against BGA. 

It is not a myth, there is no conspiracy theory with all the hobbyist stating it's effectiveness.


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## Riza1990

I've had 100% success using Ultralife Blue-green Slime Stain Remover. I'm honestly not sure how it works, but it completely cleared an outbreak that had spread through all of my tanks. It had no negative effects on fish or plants, and didn't hurt the tank's biofilter one bit (that was the most important part for me). After I had found what caused my outbreak I still couldn't get rid of it even after trying almost every recommended solution out there. Found that product and was blown away. It takes about 5-7 days to do its work, but after a week every tank was cleared of bga. 
Of course you need to know what caused the outbreak so it won't return again once it's cleared, but I really can't praise ultralife enough. 

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## John Wong

Once I encounter MASSIVE outbreak of cyanobacteria in my tank after 2 weeks outstation. My entire tank were TOTALLY covered with dark color slime. I remove as much as possible (they recover very fast),dose with potassium nitrate and turn on air pump and did a one week black out. 

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## tlarsen

I'm very frustrated with products that do no state their exact ingredients. It seems crazy to me to throw something into your tank without knowing what it is. I've tried 'Sliminator', which doesn't state ingredients, and if anything, it seems to feed the BGA even further.

I hear that erythromycin works for some people. This is strange since it is not broad spectrum and is intended to treat gram positive bacteria, which is not BGA. I really wonder what is available to treat gram negative - maybe ultralife is one, but again, I want to know what it actually is.

Dosing extra nitrates and limiting light (even long blackouts) has zero impact for me.

Two other possibilities are that I have been sold expired or fraudulent erythromycin, or that somehow I have an extremely resistant strain. But again, the known mechanism of gram positive action does not match with cyanobacteria


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## York1

boyd chemiclean works on cyano for me. Maybe red clay......


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## Riza1990

tlarsen said:


> I'm very frustrated with products that do no state their exact ingredients. It seems crazy to me to throw something into your tank without knowing what it is. I've tried 'Sliminator', which doesn't state ingredients, and if anything, it seems to feed the BGA even further.
> 
> I hear that erythromycin works for some people. This is strange since it is not broad spectrum and is intended to treat gram positive bacteria, which is not BGA. I really wonder what is available to treat gram negative - maybe ultralife is one, but again, I want to know what it actually is.
> 
> Dosing extra nitrates and limiting light (even long blackouts) has zero impact for me.
> 
> Two other possibilities are that I have been sold expired or fraudulent erythromycin, or that somehow I have an extremely resistant strain. But again, the known mechanism of gram positive action does not match with cyanobacteria


I completely understand that. I was unhappy with the lack of ingredients list as well. It ultimately came down to whether the potential benefits outweighed the risks, and for my particular situation they did. I figured I'd share my experience to at least throw another option in the ring for you. And I wish you luck in finding something that works for you! I remember how frustrating the battle against BGA can be. 

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## WaterLife

Read my post above. Erythromycin is effective against some gram negative bacter, even though it mainly effects gram positive.

Boyd Chemiclean keeps their ingredients secret to avoid other's copying their formula, but I've only heard positive results with it and it doesn't use Erythro.


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## pauliewoz

Another vote for chemiclean. 

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## MtAnimals

Riza1990 said:


> I've had 100% success using Ultralife Blue-green Slime Stain Remover. I'm honestly not sure how it works, but it completely cleared an outbreak that had spread through all of my tanks. It had no negative effects on fish or plants, and didn't hurt the tank's biofilter one bit (that was the most important part for me). After I had found what caused my outbreak I still couldn't get rid of it even after trying almost every recommended solution out there. Found that product and was blown away. It takes about 5-7 days to do its work, but after a week every tank was cleared of bga.
> Of course you need to know what caused the outbreak so it won't return again once it's cleared, but I really can't praise ultralife enough.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk


another +1 for the Ultralife.It's the most economical to use,and the simplest.Erythro does work,but it takes 5 day treatment and no water changes.If the tankis bigger than 10 gallons,it gets expensive in a hurry and the BGA comes back as soon as it's gone.
I always notice BGA appearing if I have any sort of plant die off.Seems like the BGA eats the organic matter.The Ultralife says it contains enzymes,and I think they must eat whatever compounds the BGA lives on.
An interesting anecdote,I had seed shrimp appear in a tank that was getting BGA,and when they appeared ti disappeared.Maybe a co-incidence.


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## John Wong

tlarsen said:


> I'm very frustrated with products that do no state their exact ingredients. It seems crazy to me to throw something into your tank without knowing what it is. I've tried 'Sliminator', which doesn't state ingredients, and if anything, it seems to feed the BGA even further.
> 
> I hear that erythromycin works for some people. This is strange since it is not broad spectrum and is intended to treat gram positive bacteria, which is not BGA. I really wonder what is available to treat gram negative - maybe ultralife is one, but again, I want to know what it actually is.
> 
> Dosing extra nitrates and limiting light (even long blackouts) has zero impact for me.
> 
> Two other possibilities are that I have been sold expired or fraudulent erythromycin, or that somehow I have an extremely resistant strain. But again, the known mechanism of gram positive action does not match with cyanobacteria


Did you increase oxygen level? 


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## Rinfish

Using erythromycin worked really well for me when I had BGA underneath my substrate. It began to creep up and on top of my ground cover, so I used erythromycin in addition to black electricians tape along the bottom to block out light from the substrate. Worked like a charm, haven't seen it since.

It might be that you have a resistant strain, so i'd go with the other suggestions of doing a blackout or other chemical solutions that were suggested. 

So not so much that its a myth, just not always 100% effective. =) Good luck in treating it! I'm dealing with some hair algae introduced by some marimo balls, not so pleasant either haha.


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## torque6

BGA was the reason why I left the hobby many years ago. Tank was running very well for almost 2years, then it came. Started in the corner of my tank, then it slowly creep up the substrate, onto my HC, ferns, wood, then on everything. Dose erythromycin with black out, but it always comes back after 2-3 months, even though my nitrates were consistently up. Went on for the remaining 1.5 years losing countless fish and plants in the process. Decommissioned the tank and found a thick layer of BGA between the ADA substrate. So I bleached the tank and gave up finally.

BGA is not an algae. It is a bacteria. It is not something that can live harmoniously in your tank, providing food for shrimps, catfish like as algae.

Oddly, I only had BGA after introducing taiwan mosses to my tanks. These were on 2 separate occasions. A nano tank and a 1FT cube.


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## John Wong

torque6 said:


> BGA was the reason why I left the hobby many years ago. Tank was running very well for almost 2years, then it came. Started in the corner of my tank, then it slowly creep up the substrate, onto my HC, ferns, wood, then on everything. Dose erythromycin with black out, but it always comes back after 2-3 months, even though my nitrates were consistently up. Went on for the remaining 1.5 years losing countless fish and plants in the process. Decommissioned the tank and found a thick layer of BGA between the ADA substrate. So I bleached the tank and gave up finally.
> 
> BGA is not an algae. It is a bacteria. It is not something that can live harmoniously in your tank, providing food for shrimps, catfish like as algae.
> 
> Oddly, I only had BGA after introducing taiwan mosses to my tanks. These were on 2 separate occasions. A nano tank and a 1FT cube.


My tank consistently got minor amount of bga between front glass panel and substrate especially sand, but they never spread. I think when substrate expired(caking, devoid of nutrients or water flow etc), BGA will start to spread. My worst algae outbreak is BGA where only few plantlets of hairgrass survive. That is because I left it unchecked for 2 weeks. 

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## lksdrinker

tlarsen said:


> I really wonder what is available to treat gram negative -


There are gram negative antibiotics out there. I beleive Maracyn 2 (or maybe just Maracyn) is gram negative. From what I recall thats the difference between regular maracyn and maracyn 2.....one is gram positive and the other gram negative. I think Furan 2 is also good for gram negative as is Triple Sulfa.


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## IUnknown

Worked for me. The reason it kept coming back in my tank is that it turned out my light was at 150 par. I moved the lights up and got things to about 50 par and everything is balanced.


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## Blake barber

Errhromycinay not be considered “broad spectrum “as a standard description of its pharmacological properties but having said this is BGA is not considered totally gram negative or totally gram positive,then bacteria has biological qualities of both types of bacteria and though its cell walls may be considered gram negative in nature it’s inner substance is made up of material that seems more gram positive,this is why Ethro can be used effectively...because the permeable state of the cell wall of BGA the Ethro is able to move through to the inside where it destroys most of that material causing collapse and death in the whole cell...I have used it on a couple of occasions in the 30+ years in the hobby to rid my tanks of BGA with no adverse effects on plant life ...this is my personal anecdotal experience and I am not suggesting everyone should rush out and change everyone they have come to find works for them but if we are to truly understand the effective range of tank medsbwwbneednto go MUCH further than the product labeling often these products are not even made by the company that sells them and the labeling is a generic description of the usefulness of said product and the company selling it in some cases does not even employ so much as a consultant pharmacist or pharmacological chemist ...they are basically a reseller,a broker for some labs products and it is claimed by some important voices in the hobby and in the animal care world that some of these are such poor quality and contains so littyifbthe actual medication and more potentially harmful additives that you may as well be dumping contaminated sand into your tank...but fur certain if you look and research careful out will see many instances of unconventionally used antibiotics to treat something that may not usually be considered very responsive to one type or another medication ...and to the commentator who suggested resistant strains of other bacteria could be created by the occasional used of a particular antibiotic,this isn’t really not much of s concern unlesss you constantly dosing your tank and just to put a little calm logic on that mindset if one orntwo random dosings had the potential to effectively spawn new species of resistant bacteria then common senses would say that we would have no useful weapons at this point because all known targeted pathogenic agents would now be mutated into super resistant epidemic scale diseases...using Ethro on the rare occasions that you may truly have a need for it is no more likelihood to cause resistance than using any other antibiotic when you have an occasional need for it would and I offer this as well these forums are a useful learning and sharing tool and I love using them as a resouyybut I would posit that of all the people commenting on this post I’d wager there is not one single pharmacology related degree between all of us myself included so be careful not to latch on to anything you read here or else wuss irrefutable fact until you have double and triple verified the statements with reputable authoritonbtjebfivej subject ...good luck


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## Greggz

Blake barber said:


> Errhromycinay not be considered “broad spectrum


Nice post but you know you are responding to a thread from 2016.......right?:wink2:


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## Kubla

I vote for H2O2. It kills quickly, fairly safe, readily available locally, even at 3am Sunday morning. If that's not enough it's a fraction of the cost of everything else listed here. (except a blackout or hand cleaning)


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