# will anything eat BGA (blue green algae, or more correctly cyanobacterium)?



## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

i have a little here and there and i have increased current and plan on adding antibiotics, but is there anything that might nip at it?


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## McgJosh (Jun 4, 2006)

I dont think so, but antibiotics work great.


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## moogoo (Dec 7, 2007)

i had some all over my xmas moss and hairgrass. Mine all went away by my adding tons of plant mass. In the end, I believe the nutrient competition wiped it out entirely and even after taking out the extra plantmass, I have yet to see it return.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

hmm i may add more hornwort then (it is the weedy-est plant i have)


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## ummyeah (Jul 8, 2007)

Just go ahead and dose erthyromicin (Maracyn). It's the only thing that works.


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## Sierra255 (Sep 13, 2007)

ummyeah said:


> Just go ahead and dose erthyromicin (Maracyn). It's the only thing that works.


It was running rampant in my tank and one course of Maracyn wiped it out. Haven't seen even a trace of it in the two months since.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

glad to hear it works, its what i have and will use.


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## cleekdafish (Jun 13, 2007)

I still have problems with mine , however , not that much anymore


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## Sierra255 (Sep 13, 2007)

I should also add that I've had a really bad problem with just about every kind of algae except black beard and have been taking small steps here and there to fix all of my algae problems, so that may play a part in why the blue-green algae hasn't returned. But the Maracyn definitely got rid of it and was the first step in ridding the tank of all algae.


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## kornphlake (Dec 4, 2007)

A 3 day black out got rid of BGA for me as well as some green hair algea and it put BBA into remission (only to mess up and have it come back a few weeks later.) In another tank I had some that came in on some Val I got from another fish club member, it slowly spread to some of the rocks while the tank was cycling. I added some Endler's livebearers and changed my lighting from 1x18watt to 2x30watt and the BGA dissappeared, I'm not sure if the fish ate it or if the light killed it. Either way it's gone and I'm pretty happy.


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## BiscuitSlayer (Apr 1, 2005)

Some people equate the presence of BGA with a bottoming out of nitrates in the tank. While I don't nessecarily agree with this theory, I did increase my dosing of KNO3 as a preventive measure after treating the tank with Erthyromicin. 

There might be some truth to the nitrates being low for the BGA to start infestation. One place that I tend to see the problem over and over again is at fish stores that have plants in tanks where I know that they do nothing other than drop the plants in and wait for customers to buy them. These tanks have probably all bottomed out with regards to nitrates.

On another note: If you see one of the tanks that I mentioned above, be cautious about buying plants from it. Chances are, you will spread the BGA from the store tank into your tank even if your parameters are in order. ( I know this because I have done it).


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## waterfaller1 (Jul 5, 2006)

Why would you use an antibiotic? Won't it kill your biological filter?


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## BiscuitSlayer (Apr 1, 2005)

waterfaller1 said:


> Why would you use an antibiotic? Won't it kill your biological filter?



It states on the packaging that it doesn't effect the biological filter and I have checked amonia and nitrite levels during the treatment and after as well. I didn't see a spike of any kind. I used Myacin, so I can't speak for all brands. I would imagine that the active ingedient would be exactly the same between brands though.


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## crazy loaches (Sep 29, 2006)

Treating w antibiotics, namely erythromycin, is a well established method of treatment. The few cases I have had with BGA was due to nitrates bottoming out (and other nutrients bottoming out as well I am sure) the best I can tell, and a 3-4 day blackout wiped out every trace of it in the tank easily (thus I have never used the erythromycin yet so no personal experience on its effectiveness). I would however try the black out method before trying antibiotics IMO, could save you some money, and also less chance of an accidental over dose (which I believe could wipe out your bio filter among other things), etc. Good luck!


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## waterfaller1 (Jul 5, 2006)

I keep reef tanks , and it is always said that any treatment of fish with erythromycin must be done in a QT, as it will wipe out your natural biological filtration.
Instead of looking for a bandaid or cure-all for algae,perhaps try to address it from the other way...
How did the algae get to my tank in the first place?
To me...once the temporary fix wears off, the algae problem will return unless you make changes in your husbandry, maintenance, feeding, bio-load...something ..somewhere is out of whack.
Am I off base?


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## Sierra255 (Sep 13, 2007)

I agree that unless you fix the root cause to why it showed up in the first place, any other treatment method is just a temporary fix. It will probably come back at some point. But I've also read that the only way a lot of people could actually get rid of BGA was using erythromycin. Then they could take the necessary measures to ensure it didn't return. And that's exactly what I did. So far, I've yet to see it return so I must be something right for the moment. Only time will tell, though. If it doesn't come back in 6 to 8 months, I'll be confident I've got it beat. But not until then.


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

Get your nitrates up to around 10ppm and it will be gone for good. Thats what I had to to in my medium-higher lit tank with co2.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

does not matter now. im taking the tank apart (for other reasons, not BGA).

i know why the algae came: low nitrates (right next to 0). i just started the tank and planned on getting a school of cpd soon and it would fixt the problem, i just wanted to make sure the tank isnt overrun in that time.


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## BiscuitSlayer (Apr 1, 2005)

waterfaller1 said:


> I keep reef tanks , and it is always said that any treatment of fish with erythromycin must be done in a QT, as it will wipe out your natural biological filtration.
> Instead of looking for a bandaid or cure-all for algae,perhaps try to address it from the other way...
> How did the algae get to my tank in the first place?
> To me...once the temporary fix wears off, the algae problem will return unless you make changes in your husbandry, maintenance, feeding, bio-load...something ..somewhere is out of whack.
> Am I off base?



When it comes to reef tanks, then I would follow the same methodology as you. When I used EM to treat the BGA for the first time, I knew that I was taking a risk, but I saw no ill effects by following the directions and my biological filter was not affected. I can't say that this would be the case with a reef tank. The outcome could be completely different.

As far as answering the questions that you posed, I would agree with you on most counts other than BGA is not a true algae. It is a bacteria strain. I have had it on two different occasions:

1. I wasn't dosing nitrates and my nitrate level was [probably] low.
2. I introduced a piece of bogwood from a lfs that had it on it.

Just dosing nitrates after you have BGA doesn't get rid of it. At least from my experience. I even went as far as to black out my tank for about 6 weeks. Yeah, the BGA was gone for a week or so after I had the lights off, but then it came right back. I then used the EM treatment and it hasn't been back since. 

From my experience and the experience of a number of other people on this board, the EM treatment is the way to go. I have yet to see where there have been negative effects by following this method.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Reef tank bacteria are different. EM only targets gram positive bacteria, FW nitrifyers are negative.............

We know at least 2 things that can induce BGA, poor plant growth is the general one, not cleaning your filter and letting the NO3 bottom is the most common.

All 3 are due to neglect by us.

Not mysterious "unknown causes".

So if you simply focused on that and grow plants well, you never had a BGA issue and if so, only very mild and it means you need to add KNO3 and take care of the tank, do a water change etc.

You catch it before it gets out of hand.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## NeonShrimp (Mar 9, 2006)

Does it matter if you use liquid or tablet form of erythromycin?


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## NeonShrimp (Mar 9, 2006)

NeonShrimp said:


> Does it matter if you use liquid or tablet form of erythromycin?


Please let me know if you could. I am going to by some as soon as I get feedback on this.

Thank you.


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## waterfaller1 (Jul 5, 2006)

plantbrain said:


> Reef tank bacteria are different. EM only targets gram positive bacteria, FW nitrifyers are negative.............
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ahh..there had to be a good reason why the difference. Thank you mr Tom.


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## Tim S (Mar 18, 2007)

I know my BGA is due to poor filter maintainance and poor plant growth, my nitrates are always between 10 and 40 no matter how many water changes or dosing. So, I tried 2 blackouts for 3 days each, no luck. So now onto the erythromycin...and a cleaned filter. I hope this works. Marycin says to use one packet for every 10 gallons. I have a 29gal tank. Should I be dosing 3 packets or just 2. I didnt want the medicine to have any ill effects on my creatures so I figured I dose light just in case. How much could it take to kill the BGA? Oh, does erythromycin have any ill effects on invert's? I just bought my new amanos and I'd hate to kill them off with only a week or so in my tank.


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## NeonShrimp (Mar 9, 2006)

NeonShrimp said:


> Please let me know if you could. I am going to by some as soon as I get feedback on this.
> 
> Thank you.


I will try the tablet form and let you all know how it went when I have used it. Still no thoughts on liquid vs. tablet form:icon_conf ?


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

hmm, i have the powder form, have heard of the tablets (and seen), but never liquid.

wow, i started a thread that people actually responded to


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Humans are know to eat BGA... well, one strain of BGA...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirulina_(dietary_supplement)


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

lol, maybe ill jump in the tank and start eating it.


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## NeonShrimp (Mar 9, 2006)

That is true. I have bought nutritional grade Spirulinafrom GNC stores which is sold as a suppliment. I have not tried it myself but do smell it when I feed it too my animals. The fish and shrimp both readily eat it and it seems to be a good first food for their babies. It comes in capsule form and can easily be removed from the capsule to serve as a powder.


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## daviddaly5 (Nov 12, 2011)

There is some good infor on spirulina at: http://www.spiralyne.co.uk


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## jccaclimber (Aug 29, 2011)

Mollies ate mine, although not in any significant quantities. I ended up dosing nitrates and it went away within about a week. To the poster up top, it's your call, but also bear in mind, the directions are for a packet for 10 gallons of water, not 10 gallons of nominal size. In my experience most tanks are about 15% shy of their nominal size by the time you subtract substrate, glass, air at the surface, etc.


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