# hydrogen peroxide to kill blue green



## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

That's a new one on me, BGA is a virus/infection, you just about need antibiotic's to rid the tank of it. 
Use Maracyn... Not Maracyn-II
I would suggest you find out why you got BGA in the first place, dirty filter, poor water quality, dirty tank, no N03, and or a combo of them all.

I have heard using peroxide for BBA not BGA.


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## Georgiadawgger (Apr 23, 2004)

hehe...bacterial infection...hence the antibiotic will kill it.  "Cyanobacteria"

Craig is right, Maracyn I is the way to go...do the recommended dose for one week and it will work fine. Plants and fish will be fine. Or you can look up "black out" method.


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

theres he word i was looking for...cyanobacteria. we get the stuff cause we ont get enough current down to some spots of our display tanks. its real annoying.


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

I just used Maracyn for a week for BGA with great success. The comments about treating the root cause are right on target, but even if you do that, getting rid of the BGA that has already taken hold with Maracyn is NOT a cheap proposition, depending on tank size.

Peroxide would be MUCH cheaper if it was as benign a way to kill it.


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

yes maracyn is not an option. as we have prolley close to 500 gallons we need to treat. so hydrogn peroxide would be the best. im still gonna look for it and see what i can find.


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

found it. 1 oz of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons of water.


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

TheOtherGeoff said:


> yes maracyn is not an option. as we have prolley close to 500 gallons we need to treat.


That would be a lot of maracyn! $$$

Please let everyone know how the hydrogen peroxide works out. Would be good to know. Good luck.


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

Here is a link about it

http://www.gpodio.com/h2o2.asp


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

That's a great write up bigstick120! roud: Thanks. I've bookmarked that one.


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

Yes very good link there bigstick. i am going to have to try this for myself on my 5 gallon as the thread algae in there is terrible.


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## Navaros (Aug 19, 2005)

Well my tank is plagued with brown hair algae so today during mechanical removal i put a bunch of it in a small container of water and added maybe 1 ML or so of 3% H2O2 as an experiment.... I'm not sure if this is supposed to happen but it all turned green.... like almost a healthy green. Is that what this stuff looks like when it died or did I create super algae? :tongue: Also, as the H2O2 become O and H wouldn't the increase in oxygen mess up the PH of the water to some degree if the tank has CO2 injection due to the higher levels of oxygen in the water? And when the algae dies wont there be a risk of an ammonia spike?


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

well you add it for a little while then do a water change. that would draw out alot of the oxygen that was defused in there and would get replaced with water tht has less o2 in it. algae dieing shouldnt cause an ammonia spike either. and if it does start to give any off thats where the stem plants come into play.


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## jimjim (Nov 9, 2003)

*Blue-green alge*

You know, If you can find some small red Ramshorns(forgot the scientific name) they're one of the few animals I know that will eat BGA and do a good job of it. Just remember to keep the tank cleaner also. If you can't find any, PM me and I'll send you a few. They'll multiply like mad until the BGA runs out and then start dying off...Jim


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

really?!? i have TONS and i mean tons of them in our plant tank at work. might try those guys first before the hydro.


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## techbearus (Apr 21, 2004)

Notes for everyone:
Nooooo... Don't try the peroxide treatment. It can create havoc in the tank... personal experience. First of all, you can only use a very small amount of peroxide probably only around 2-3 ml (2-3 times a small dropper fills) before you start seeing nice bubbling in all the tank and at the same time killing all your good bacteria. Your tank would go into a new cycle again. And then if you have some beautiful delicate plants like ricca, they would show the effects in a day or two loosing all the chlorphyl and turning pale. In a week, you would see the bad effects. 

I had once tried this approach to kill BGA and hair algae out of impatience and had to pay dearly because of that. However, after that I had observed in subsequent cases of a BGA attack, I would increase the circulation or add erythromycin (half the recommended dosage) everyone in the tank was happy, yes... including the shrimps and puffers. No bad side effects were seen.

So my advice is keep your tank off from peroxide as far as possible.


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## jimjim (Nov 9, 2003)

*Bga*

Geoff; Unfortunatly I dont know which exact species(by name) of small red ramshorn eats the BGA. I do know the ones I have will, so if the ones from work don't work, PM me and I'll send you a few for free (RAOK)...Jim


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## Sleepy_lancs (Nov 4, 2005)

Please try not to apply hydrogen peroxide directly to the entire tank. Do only localise injection if the problem is at a specific area. Else, remove all those infected plant and dip them in hydrogen peroxide outside the tank (perhaps in a pail). That way your tank will not be affected.


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## endparenthesis (Jul 13, 2004)

I have hundreds of red ramshorns and I've never seen them touch BGA.


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## jimjim (Nov 9, 2003)

Do you know which species you have? There must be dozens of them. All will eat differant alges, some will eat BG alge as well. I've sent out bunches to other aquarists on this site and others and so far nobodys said they don't eat BG alge. In fact several have sent back that their BG troubles are over....Jim


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

my ramshorns seem ot enjoy my crypts as of currently.


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