Blue Green Algae

I am sure I am not in the majority, but I have never been able to rid "Blue Green Alage" without using antibiotics. I have used Mardel erythromycin powder with great results.

When I first started my tanks after my move I had BG in two of my tanks (I had 4 tanks at the time), and no matter what I did, I could not get rid of it.

I used Mardels erythromycin powder, and have never had BG again. It did not effect my plants, fish, nor did I get a "Cycle spike".

Years later when I got cyber "Red Algae" in my SW, I use it for that too. Same excellent results.

My tanks have been clear of it since.

just my .02 cents.

I've had BGA in 2 separate tanks over the past 5 years, and in both cases the BGA was eliminated overnight by dosing it at close range (using a test kit pipette, or plastic syringe) with plain household hydrogen peroxide (H202), and there has been no recurrence of it in either case. In both cases I then reduced the lighting period, stepped up the water changes, did a better tank cleaning & substrate vac job, and improved water circulation in the lower parts of the tank, using a small circulation pump. The latest incident occurred in this 10 gal tank about a year ago, and it's been sparkling clean ever since. http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h357/discuspaul/Anubias Ignore the first pic of a grow-out discus tank. It's photos #2 to the end of the album.

Thanks. Try the hydrogen peroxide (at full strength) - it will work. Just turn off your filter and lower your water level enough so that you can easily get to the BGA to dose the H202 at close range with a syringe. The BGA will get covered with bubbles that will soon begin rising to the top of the water. That's a sure sign the oxygen bubbles are killing the BGA. Leave the filter off for about a 1/2 hour so that no water flow removes the H202 from the BGA. By next morning the BGA should have disappeared, but if there are any traces left, just repeat the procedure.

Are talking about Blue green or Beard algae?? BG is a Bacteria. Hydrogen peroxide works on beard.

All depends on how much BGA you have - i.e. how many plants are affected, and how much area of substrate it covers. I expect that you could do a good number of plants if only the tips are affected. It would only take a couple of drops on each plant tip to coat the BGA, so if, for example, 15 plants needed dosing, then 2 or 3 syringes full of H202 should do that job at one time. That's very little H202 solution going into a tank that probably has at least 30 gallons of water remaining in it after you reduce the water level significantly to get at all the plants properly. No problem there. Dose your affected substrate in stages if need be, a section each day over several days. I've used as many as 6-8 syringes full of the Peroxide on one treatment day in that 10 gal tank, which had only about 5 gallons of water left in it, without any adverse effect on the fish. In fact, I still have the same fish in that tank that were in there when I treated the tank a year ago - haven't lost one since that time. So, if you treated your 55 gal's substrate in say 2 or 3 sections, over 2 or 3 days, using perhaps up to 10 or 12 syringes of H202 each treatment time, I'm quite certain there would be little or no risk to either your plants or fish. If the BGA is only here & there in limited size patches, you could probably do it all at once. Does this explain satisfactorily ?

tanker said:

Are talking about Blue green or Beard algae?? BG is a Bacteria. Hydrogen peroxide works on beard.

Click to expand...

I believe the OP is talking about blue green algae (cyanobacteria). H202 will certainly deal with that. If the tips of his plants have BBA (black beard algae) rather than BGA, then H202 should also deal with that as well.