# blue-green slime and this product



## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Hey folks, I found myself with a heavy case of blue-green slime and am looking into all possible remedies. Basically, everyone says they only had luck with Erythromycin. Which I'm also told is a harsh solution and should be avoided if possible.

I ran all my water chem tests and nothing is too wacky (phosphates are a bit high but I think that's from me playing with the ferts to see if it responded before I knew it was a bacteria, not an algae).

This product I found on Amazon promises all the benefits of an antibiotic without the issues. Has anyone used it before? The reviews are mixed.

http://www.amazon.com/Boyd-Chemicle...=1450638955&sr=8-3&keywords=fish+erythromycin


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## foster (Mar 7, 2013)

If you don't have a great lot of it, then spot treat with hydrogen peroxide or glute(Excel). It will take a bit to get all of it eradicated, but better than throwing erythro. in the tank. If you don't have fish in the tank then its not a big deal. Erythro. will damage the bacteria colony established.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Thanks for the advice but I have a lot of it and Excel hasn't touched it. I've been removing it by hand for weeks and it creeps right back to the surface of the substrate hours after "removal." Kind of scary. I've bleached plants and drift wood, removed the gravel it was on... it's just too tough to get all of it.


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

In about half of the tanks I set up I get attacked by BGA. I treat it with Erith.... . It goes away forever.

As far as I am concerned, BGA is caused by a nutrient inbalance. That has to be corrected before the tank will become permanently BGA free.

Merry Christmas (or Xmas) to all.

Bill


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## herns (Aug 28, 2007)

i have the same algae in my other tank. Once I treated with Maracyn they go away and come back after a month or so. 

I watched Youtube and lots of videos using Hydrogen peroxide and they are so much cheaper than Maracyn.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Thanks for the insight- Oddly this is an old set up and it just suddenly appeared. I bought new plants a while back and I'm thinking it hitched a ride on those. 

The positive thing about this infection is that in my futile efforts to fix it as though it were algae, I adjusted my ferts and CO2 more favorably for the plants. Though it did nothing for the BGA, it helped out other issues.

I dosed the tank today with the "Chemi-clean." It's in my new nano tank set up too so I dosed that one as well (thankfully that tank was only a few weeks old and has no inhabitants). 

Did anyone else notice the gray scum it created on the surface of the water?


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

So here's a post-treatment follow up. I previously misspoke- this product does NOT contain erythromycin nor algaecides. 

I followed the directions- removed as much by hand first, did a water change, then dosed the powder. I turned off my UV sterilizer and added an air stone (all according to directions). Many of the reviews on Amazon said that instead of taking 48 hours to work as the package claims, 72 hours was more likely. With that in mind, I waited 5 days to do the 20% follow-up water change (what with the holiday and life and all). 

So the first photo is my tank as a hot mess to show the extent of the problem. The second is a week after that, where you can tell green spot algae is claiming a lot of ground as well. The next is immediately after treatment, then finally 5 days after treatment, including a shot of the blue-green staining that is still a bit visible below the gravel line.

I removed 95% of it by hand so there's not a lot to see in the post-treatment photo. Only a couple tiny bits that I was watching carefully. Usually after three days, the bacteria significantly recolonizes it's former ground. So I would say this product has done great in the short term (those little spots withered away).

Anyway, the product seems to have left my filter system unharmed but I will try and post a few more updates since so far, I'm happy with this product. The fish all did great too.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Thank you for following up on this- I will be interested to see if the tank remains algae (and cyano) free, and for how long. 
It is good that you got the ferts, CO2 and lights dialed in to the optimum levels for the plants.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Ok so we're about two weeks out from the initial treatment and I'm pleased to say no more BGA in either tank (I dosed my nano tank as well)!!

That being said, I made an interesting observation. The instructions tell you to turn off your UV sterilizer during treatment (which I did). After performing the follow-up water change, I turned it back on. I noticed after my second dry fertilizer dose later in the week, the tank got very cloudy. I wouldn't say the typical green spot algae got significantly worse but the tank remained very cloudy for the rest of the week (a gray cloudy, not a green cloudy). 

I noticed the nano tank (which has no UV sterilizer) never got cloudy. It still looks crystal clear (even after the water change and liquid ferts I use on that tank). So after doing a water change today, I turned the UV sterilizer off to see if that was in fact somehow the problem.

Any thoughts?


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

A thought, but probably not the answer. 

UV can break apart the chelation of iron and many other of the trace minerals. Read the label on the micros you use, see how many are chelated. If you are using CSM+B most are chelated. 

I wonder if that has anything to do with it?


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