Snails and BG algae

[Fat Guy]

I've got some spotty bg algae on my substrate. It is slowly growing onto small pieces of driftwood in my tank.

My snails eat it, but not at the rate that it reproduces. My question is:

If treating it like as a bacteria problem (treating my tank with meds to get rid of it), will my snails die.

I love my MTS, and don't want to kill them.

Other question:

Does anybody have any advice on treating this stuff.

I've tried to increase water movement at the bottom of the tank.

Does the fact that my nitrate levels are at 0 add to the problem.

I'm going to start dosing Nitrates now that I'm adding additional light.

Is it true that this algae appears when your nitrate levels are very low?

[Fat Guy]

Buehler....Buehler....Anyone....Anyone....Buehler. ...Anyone...Buehler?

[jatman]

I tried erythromycin (after many reports that this work well) and half the stuff has disapeared after only one day. I got the erythomycin froma local pharmacy. much cheaper than the aquarium product. I powdered the tablet and made a slurry with water. Dumped it into the tank and the particles spread over a large area. Watch the ammonia and nitrite very closley since it may affect the friendly bacteria in the tank. However I`m sure that the friendly bacteria aren`t affected ( my ammonia and nitrite levels are fine after three days)/

[aquaverde]

I seriously doubt you will harm The Cockroach of the Aquarium with a little antibiotics. I will be happy to reseed your supply should worse come to worse As Doomer once said, anything short of a thermonuclear device isn't going to harm them.

With respect to the causes of BGA, I am blissfully ignorant, and intend staying that way as long as humanly possible. But I'm sure there are those more experienced than I who can give you a coherent answer re that and nitrates.

[Fat Guy]

Thanks for the advice.


I think I'm going to hold off on the meds until a little later. The problem isn't huge right now. It's funny, some of the BGA is on one of my MTS shells. Love those buggers.

If I do treat the tank, I'm probably going to take the filter media out of the filter and put it in a bucket with a 50W heater and an airstone to keep the water moving. That should spare that bacteria colony from total distruction.

What about arithromycin's affect on my fishkie?

[aquaverde]

I've never heard of it hurting the fish. It may even be indicated for some bacterial problems fish get.

Where are the pros hiding? Get this post back up top!

[m.lemay]

BGa is actually a cyano bacteria which will respond to antibiotic therapy. I generally get it in newly setup tanks. I have never used antibiotics to remove it in my tanks. I've gravel vac'd and manually removed as much as I could. It eventually just goes away. This stuff seems to be a non issue in older tanks.

[George Willms]

I treated my tank with EM for a case I could not get rid of and had no biofilter problems. It did not harm my fish or my shrimp either, but it did get rid of the BGA.

[Fat Guy]

I think that I'm just going to gravel vac it off, or scrape it by hand. My tank's been setup for 6 months and it just started showing up on the bottom front of the glass. It's spotty and likes my driftwood. If I scrape it off and don't actually collect it, does that temporarily kill it?

How much arithromycin would you use to make a solution.

If I'm going to crush a pill of it, how many mgs and how many parts water should I mix it with?

Does anybody know if BGA has something to do with low nitrates?

[Wasserpest]

The dosing instructions for Maracyn are to add 1 tablet for every 10 gal of water, and repeat after 24 hrs.

One tablet contains 200 mg of EM, so that's what you would need for every 10 gallons. I have read that to kill BGA half of the dosage is sufficient.

Regarding BGA... My "feeling" (I have no scientific explanation) is that BGA thrives in low oxygen conditions. Low nitrates do limit plant growth, which limits the O2 saturation of water. Low light does the same thing. Stagnant water adds to the problem. No CO2 injection... worse still.

My suggestions: Yes, check the NO3 levels, and bring them up to 5 ppm if they are zero. Add CO2. Increase light if it is low, and above all, increase water movement. Get those plants pearling... and I bet the BGA problem will resolve in no time.

[Fat Guy]

Well I've got CO2. My nitrates are nill. That's what I'm going to fix. Water movement is alright, not fantastic yet.

Thanks for the help. Check out the info about my tank on my signature next time. I've got ample light and co2.

You know what, I've got crappola nitrates.
I think that must be it. I'm going to attack the problem with nitrates and increased water movement. I'm going to skip the medicine for now. I'm approaching it as a tank inbalance issue. There's obviously something in my tank that isn't to par, and I think it's my nitrate levels that are in turn letting the algae win over the plants.

Thanks for the advice.

[Wasserpest]

You are right, I wasn't even looking at your sig. I just wanted to summarize my BGA feelings, rather than suggesting what to do in your specific case. Of course you have plenty light over your tank

[Fat Guy]

No hard feelings Wasserpest. I made a DIY spraybar that I attached to my Tetratec to get the water moving more on the bottom. But I've got to make new plans for it, or just scrounge up the money and buy a cannister filter with a built in heater and spray bar.

Anyway, thank you for your help.

[LiquidEric]

Low nitrates should give BGA an advantage over most plants because BGA is capable of Nitrogen gas fixation, but most plants aren't.