[Clownknife]

I bought a 24 pack of Maracyn to treat a bad case of Blue Green Algae in my 200g tank.

On the back of the box it says 1 tablet per 10 gallons every 24 hrs. The LFS that I bought the box from only had one on hand. If I was to dose the tank I only have enough for one dose.

The guy at the LFS said that he uses one tablet every 24 hrs for an 80 gallon tank. He suggested that I use 2-4 every 24 hrs.

My question is should I use the LFS guys advise or follow the directions on the back of the box?

 

[Marc]

I bought a 24 pack of Maracyn to treat a bad case of Blue Green Algae in my 200g tank.

On the back of the box it says 1 tablet per 10 gallons every 24 hrs. The LFS that I bought the box from only had one on hand. If I was to dose the tank I only have enough for one dose.

The guy at the LFS said that he uses one tablet every 24 hrs for an 80 gallon tank. He suggested that I use 2-4 every 24 hrs.

My question is should I use the LFS guys advise or follow the directions on the back of the box?

I followed the instructions on the box and worked great. Dont expect the BGA to just fall off on the second or third day, you sort have to fluff it off and get as much off as possible. It will come of very easily tho. by then end off a full week you should notice a dramatic difference. dont forget to do water changes and take the carbon out.

btw you can get 100 tablets at http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=12101&N=2004+113017
way cheaper since you will need alot

 

[PeteyPob]

I just recently had a sucsessful run treating BGA with maracyn. I wouldn't follow the lfs guys advice or the box instructions its alot of maracyn and way too expensive! Here what did the trick for me, but then again this is just me

Day1:
Take out carbon from filter, and add 1 tab per 10gal
Day2:
Add another dose @ 1 tab per 10gal
Day3:
Increase filteration and remove as much of the dead BGA floating around to avoid a peak of ammonia.(You might not have any floating)
Day4:
Remove any floating dead BGA and preform a 50% WC. Clean sponge from filter with nonchlorinated water (aquarium water). Add 1 tab per 10gal.
Day5-7:
Monitor your ammonia, nitrate,nitrite levels and do not change water unless absolutley nessary.
Day8:
Make a 30% WC and add half the recommended dose. From here you can pretty much continue with your regular WC routine.

HTH
Pete

 

[Marc]

PeteyPob- looks like you folllowed the box instructions except you didnt dose the full week, only 4 days. IMHO dosing a full week is best.

 

[GDominy]

There is no golden rule for this... I managed to cure BGA in my 90 gallon with 3 tabs totall.. it was gone in 3 days.. but in my 45 gallon I had to use 3 tabs a day for a week.. Hard to say

 

[Clownknife]

Man doseing for a week per box instructions is going to cost me around 75.00

 

[Marc]

Man doseing for a week per box instructions is going to cost me around 75.00

How bad is it? GDominy is right- there really isnt a golden rule, it took a week for mine to completely disapear. Also i took my fish out when i did this. since i was doing alot of cleaning in the tank.

 

[GDominy]

Try doing it in a 135 gallon tank!

 

[grungefreek]

I treated my 10 gal (yes i know smaller than all your tanks) with half a tab of a general human antibiotic, roxymycin. Next time just treat it with old meds u have in the cupboard

 

[Aphyosemion]

I dosed 5 of my 7 tanks and cleared it out of all of them with plenty to spare for about $35 after shipping. Here is a link to check out. Look at the 100 tabs bottle, since that is the best deal.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...ll&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&N=2004&Nty=1
As for the amount to use, I used the full recommended dosage and went for 5 days on all tanks except my 75 gallon, which I did 7 days, just to be DAMN sure that crap wasn't coming back.
If you can kick down the $35 for the pills, don't risk making a maracyn immune version of your BGA. Just suck it up and follow the directions. In my opinion the more diluted the medicine, the better the chances you will develop a resistant strain.
-Aphyosemion

 

[malkore]

I dose marycin for BGA at half dosage, for 1 week. It took care of my BGA bloom.

 

[imnappy2]

cant you get bga with a diatom filter??? You can buy a diatom for way less than 75.00 on ebay and then you would have that in your arsenal of tank stuff. I would imagine after taking it all out with the diatom then treating the tank with the rest of the marcyn that you have. I treated my tank with marcyn and i think i could hear my tank laughing at me... it didnt help one bit

 

[plantbrain]

BGA can easily and for no cost at all be killed in 3 days in any tank.
Is free a good price?

Do a 50% water change and remove as much as you can. Add 1/4 teaspoon of KNO3 per 20 gal of tank. Turn the lights/CO2 off and cover the tank for 3 days.

Turn CO2/light back on and do another water change and add the KNO3 back again and then add KNO3 at least once a week or more thereafter to prevent the return.

This is 100% effective and is free.

Anitbiotics do not grow plants nor address the cause.
Adding KNO3 addresses the long term cause, your tank will look better as a result, KNO3 is dirt cheap and plant's use both NO3 and K to grow.

Hey, it's your money.

KNO3= stump remover, www.gregwatson.com also sells it.

Works faster/as fast and makes the tank look better than pills.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Clownknife]

Tom I am going to jump all over that idea like a Hobo on a Hamm Sandwich. I just joined your site and placed my first order of KN03 with Greg.

 

[plantbrain]

We have Vegan hobo's here in CA. I accuse them of of being "baby plant murders", they crush poor little seeds(baby embryonic plants) to death with their teeth and smile and like it when they do it. I've seen them!

Plants just don't get no respect.

Main thing though: keeping good plant growth and having that focus, that will never lead you wrong. Antibiotics do work, I've never said they don't, but the long term solution and why the BGA comes in the first place(Neglect generally) is more important to most folks. No pill will cure neglect.

Some get BGA with dirty filters, extreme nutrient levels etc as well at the other end of the spectrum(so a good clean job helps either way). I found one other other genus of BGA(Very rare), but it looks very different from the more common one we deal with.

There is another that would be very nasty and likely resistant, Lyngbya, it's a vile weed, looks like nasty brown black course hair and is foul and flithy. Truly a horrid weed.

Good thing it does not infest out tanks like BBA or BGA.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[magicmagni]

Tom: Thank you for all your good advise. This guy knows what he is talking about people!

I kind of giggle internally when I hear people say they treat algae with expensive medications and then say they even have 0 ppm nitrate and phosphates and they don't understand why they have a problem! I was one of them. I guess that there's still old information out there saying that nitrates and phosphates cause algae, but it's actually the opposite! Thank God for Tom and others like him that have been on the cutting edge and sharing what they learn with us with very useful and informative posts... and it's all free! How can this be? LOL

I neglected my tank for a month on my 10gal and had a huge outbreak of this nasty stuff -testing the macro levels showed everything bottomed out. I did the 50%water change and added 10ppm KNo3 1ppm phosphate with Fleet and made a new batch of DIY C02 to get the plants growing again. I was sick so I didn't have the energy to remove any of the BGA which covered both sides of the tank and the whole carpet of plants on the substrate. I got busy and didn't even look at the tank for a week. I was afraid to look, but to my surprise everything was gone. It just disappeared. WOW!

 

[plantbrain]

After addressing algae issues for many years, it's the same old thing, time and time again. Becomes old hat fast.

SFBAAPS----> If you are not a member, you better start coming to the meetings and open houses. Or else!

Free plants, great ideas, nice people, cool tanks.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[magicmagni]

Or else what? ;-) LOL No, seriously though I joined the AGA some time ago, but not the SFBAAPS...yet. It's always something. I've been growing these water weeds now for a couple years and it would be cool to go to some open houses, meets and stuff and I always have plants to give away, well it sure seems that way sometimes. At first you can't grow squat and then you grow so much you don't know what to do with it! I'll have to look 'em up and join in.

Jeff

 

[plantbrain]

Or else what? ;-) LOL No, seriously though I joined the AGA some time ago, but not the SFBAAPS...yet. It's always something. I've been growing these water weeds now for a couple years and it would be cool to go to some open houses, meets and stuff and I always have plants to give away, well it sure seems that way sometimes. At first you can't grow squat and then you grow so much you don't know what to do with it! I'll have to look 'em up and join in.

Jeff

Or else what? We will declare you a plant terrorist and drop the dreaded algal plant bomb tank buster(APBB) on your aquarium. Additionally, a voodoo curse will be placed on the tank and each plant you possess. Possession of a noxious weed can be punishable by 1 year in the Bay of algae off the Cuban coast. There, "Detainees" are forces to scrub off caulpera infested shape coral reef rocks also infested with stinging jellyfish and biting coweries and toxic nunibrachs.

The best advice: you'd better come
It's a good group of folks, we are going to host the AGA event this year in Monterey also. We have many events and it's a laid back group of folks, you certainly will get your money's worth and really learn and enjoy the hobby more locally.

We just had a meeting in SJ, there's the SVAS as well, a great place to auction off the weeds, there's the SFAS, the PCCA as well.
If you like Killi fish, there's the BAKA, the list goes on and a whole other SW group exist as well.

The SFBAAPS group is the oldest local group around in the USA.
There are a large number of semi new folks now as well as old timers.

www.sfbaaps.com

Anyone can join, we have some folk from TX joining in discussions.
We also know when and where LFS get good stock in, eg Albany Aqaurium, somke members make cool devices and know where to get dirt cheap items for the tanks etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[magicmagni]

Oh no not the dreaded algal plant bomb tank buster(APBB) Anything, but that!!! LOL

Thanks for all the info Tom! I just joined.