2nd 3 day blackout to combat bga

[houndour]

All fish alive.

There were signs of traces of bga still between the sand and glass.

In one hour the bga has taken hold again. All my glosso is covered. I just can't believe it. And now I want to jack it all in.

I'm going to blitz the stuff with maracyn. Every last microgram of this stuff has to go or it will return. If a 5 day course of maracyn doesn't work then I'm going to have to start again. And that means all new plants, all new gravel, bleaching _everything_ including tank and filter

If I take the route of starting over, how do I handle the fish? I have a small hex I can use for them, plus the 5 gallon, not ideal. But if I start over then that means having to recycle the tank, surely. If I save anything I risk getting bga again?

 

[nodding_dino]

if you do decide to go the complete re-start route...let me know, I can send you a load of hygra and some star grass to get you going...

 

[houndour]

awwwww thanks ND. That's really sweet. I may take you up on that if it gets that far. Fingers crossed for the maracyn.

 

[pseud]

If you do re-start, (fingers crossed you don't have to), keep the filter running on the 5 gallon until the tank is ready to be set up again. Keep the bacteria alive, you probably knew that already but that's just what I'd do.

I really hope the maracyn works. I dread the thought of you having to go through all of that *fingers crossed*

 

[@ombomb]

keep the filter running on the 5 gallon until the tank is ready to be set up again. Keep the bacteria alive, you probably knew that already but that's just what I'd do.

Isn't there a chance that the filter could contain traces of the BGA?

 

[Sime]

the blackout diddn't help my BGA either. it got rid for about a week, then came back. maracyn got rid of it and i've seen no traces now - so dont give up.... that will sort you out

 

[houndour]

Isn't there a chance that the filter could contain traces of the BGA?

Thats what I thought.

Sime, oh thats good to hear. Do you remember how much you dosed? And did you have fish?

 

[superjalami30]

This maracyn you speak of, what is it?

Is it one in the line of mardel medications?

 

[Sime]

hi houndour, im not sure of the size of tablet i used, but i just dissolved (not totaly) 1 tablet into a jug of water and poured it in every 24 hours for about 5 days.

i did have fish and plants - no effects on them at all.

i did a good water change before and after, and also cleaned my filter before dosing.

been gone for a few months now - you'll be fine once you've used it

 

[The-Wolf]

I'm not sure if it was you or someone else with this problem last week, anyways.
put 2x 2pence pieces in your filter. the copper will kill the BGA and not be enough to effect your fish.
I had this problem in a tank at work and adding the coins cleared it up within 3 days. I ran a copper test a week later and there wasn't enough to register on the scale.

 

[donkey]

i had the same problem with BGA .and i used the black out .but it came back a week later so i used some maracyn and six months later its still clear .i just put the tablet in the tank one for every ten gallons .and my tank is full of discus and they were all fine .

 

[George Farmer]

Sam - Maracyn went 1st post this morning (21st Sept).

 

[houndour]

Thanks guys that's good to know the maracyn seems to work.

I was going to try the copper (as I did find out that copper is poisonous to bga) but I couldn't catch my shrimp!! I think it'd be fine for fish, but shrimp are supposedly quite sensitive to copper.

 

[donkey]

yep i think that maracyn would be the way to go as the copper might set ya plants back a little

 

[zig]

Sorry it didnt work Sam, i still think that you need to supplement the nitrate from the fishwaste with KNO3 even after you beat the bga.