Algae or bacterial bloom?

[J double R]

I shouldn't have said "probably" before (but I didn't want to sound too sure), because I'm certain the discoloration is caused by the Maracyn as I've had an identical experience to yours. I never had any tint to my water, then I medicated with Maracyn for the recommended five days, during which the powder was causing a white cloudiness, and about a day after I stopped using the Maracyn, my water took on a green tint. The tint has not gotten worse since I first noticed it and I think it would have if it was algae because it appeared so suddenly (so, it would have kept growing and gotten worse, right?).

I suspect something like that is going to take several water changes to finally get rid of but I figure it's safe to do a 50% change, then follow up with 10-20% every few days (or less) since I'm trying to eradicate the infected water anyhow. Somebody can feel free to correct me on that since I don't know anything about whether frequent water changes are harmful beyond any stress the fish experience, which is hopefully less harmful than the infected water.

perhaps i should make myself more clear. if its green, its algae. the medication can discolor the water, but it will be immediate and slowly wear off. the medication will NOT cause a discoloration later after extended treatment.

the water changes are not going to 'eradicate' the 'infected water' since whatever 'infected water' is leftover is going to mix right into the fresh water.... the medication should kill whatever it was supposed to, and then you can use carbon in your filter to remove it.

 

[Rbishop]

"almost dark" will not kill an algae bloom. Water changes, reduce the food source and lower phosphates, in addition to a TOTAL blackout.

 

[J double R]

"almost dark" will not kill an algae bloom. Water changes, reduce the food source and lower phosphates, in addition to a TOTAL blackout.

and the catch there is that most municipal tap water has phosphates IN it, so doing water changes that seemingly reduce the cloudiness will only aggravate the problem. thats why you do MINIMAL amounts daily,vice large changes weekly when youre dealing with a bloom.

 

[amhodge]

the medication will NOT cause a discoloration later after extended treatment.

I guess I should have mentioned that after the first dose I turned off my light for the remainder of the treatment, so I didn't notice the green tint until the day after the last dose. :duh:

the water changes are not going to 'eradicate' the 'infected water' since whatever 'infected water' is leftover is going to mix right into the fresh water.... the medication should kill whatever it was supposed to, and then you can use carbon in your filter to remove it.

I need to learn to word myself more carefully; sorry about that. By 'infected water' I meant water with Maracyn still floating around in it. Good to know that the carbon will eliminate that. I wish I had read your advice sooner because yesterday I did a 75% water change by doing a 50%, refilling, then repeating. Prior to that the green tint was starting to clear, but now it's gone.

I have a question about that carbon. I bought the Mardel Maracyn powder and the instructions said to leave the carbon in during treatment as long as it isn't less than 6 days old. I went online and read the instructions for the API erthromycin and it said to remove any carbon. Which is the correct thing to do?

 

[J double R]

The meaning behind leaving the carbon in after 6 days is the assumption that the carbon is no longer active.. If you want to play it safe and not worry about whether or not the medicine is truly working, take all the carbon out, no matter how old it is.