current recommended antibiotic for cyanobacteria??

[Alice B]

I lost my male Albino BN algae eater, the antibiotics and hospital tank may have finished him but his fin tips were red and he'd been eating red cyanobacteria. Female in that tank is showing pinkish fin tips, rather than treating her I have moved her to her old tank, the 38 gallon (approx) oceanic hex, with her old boyfriend. Hope she just recovers on her own. She did fine in there for years. I no longer have the LED lights on the 55 that had cyanobacteria, I need to recharge my CO2 generator or bring my canister in and try not to kill the fish with too much CO2. Or I need to know what antibiotic is currently recommended for red cyanobacteria. I will treat the tank. I can do a peroxide treatment until I have time to get antibiotics in, deciding how much is challenging. I don't see a lot of red. I still have a clown pleco in the 55, lighting hours are reduced, 40 watt cool fluorescent bulb, with a supplemental 15 watt over the dark part of the frog bit. My nitrates are close enough to zero plants are struggling, not doing water changes to fix this.

 

[DoubleDutch]

As far as I know Red Cyano bacteria are found in Salt water tanks instead of freshwater. Are you sure that is what you're facing.

 

[Spyro]

I lost my male Albino BN algae eater, the antibiotics and hospital tank may have finished him but his fin tips were red and he'd been eating red cyanobacteria. Female in that tank is showing pinkish fin tips, rather than treating her I have moved her to her old tank, the 38 gallon (approx) oceanic hex, with her old boyfriend. Hope she just recovers on her own. She did fine in there for years. I no longer have the LED lights on the 55 that had cyanobacteria, I need to recharge my CO2 generator or bring my canister in and try not to kill the fish with too much CO2. Or I need to know what antibiotic is currently recommended for red cyanobacteria. I will treat the tank. I can do a peroxide treatment until I have time to get antibiotics in, deciding how much is challenging. I don't see a lot of red. I still have a clown pleco in the 55, lighting hours are reduced, 40 watt cool fluorescent bulb, with a supplemental 15 watt over the dark part of the frog bit. My nitrates are close enough to zero plants are struggling, not doing water changes to fix this.

You need to dose with potassium nitrate and do regular water change.
Most likely cause is high dissolved organics and lack of nitrate/potassium in water. (from personal experience)

Antibiotics will just slow it down temporarily.

 

[GaryE]

No antibiotic is recommended. That's simply a waste of valuable medical resources and an invitation to antibiotic resistance.

@Spyro has the only solution I have seen work. I got Cyano on a regular basis, seasonally, as did most of the aquarists in my old region, whether our tanks were well or poorly maintained. The problem becomes getting potassium nitrate, as in many places it's a controlled substance due to its usefulness for terrorist bomb makers. The lessons from the extremists south of us have made things awkward. It's hard to get here in Canada, and I have to go through a bit of a bureaucratic circus to acquire it. It's worth it - a small quantity goes a long way and it works.

If you can't get it, black out the tank (zero light) for a week to 10 days. It's not great for the desired plants, but they survive and the cyano doesn't.

One of the major, winning arguments for banning the sale of over the counter antibiotics for aquariums here was the fact people were willing to use them for things like Cyano outbreaks in tanks. I now have to get any antibiotics after a visit to a vet, and vets don't study fish. But I do grudgingly support that restriction.

There's a product called red algae destroyer I broke down and tried once. It has secret ingredients, and I don't like buying things like that, but it knocked the Cyano out for as long as Potassium nitrate did (once I had run out of Potassium nitrate). The fish didn't act affected, and the plants were good, but the ingredients are secret, so I don't know... I did it and it worked, but would I do it again? It depends on how bad things were.

 

[Alice B]

Thank you thank you thank you. On how I got it, I'm not sure, its a brand new tank I started from tap water, chlorine remover and fritz zyme 7, so as not to carry any algaes, etc from my old tanks, I did use a sponge that had been around a while on the intake for the back filter, that is where I first saw red cyano. I don't know how old that sponge was, it could have been exposed to my old reef tank at some time. Sponge and back filter have been removed. I have potash. For gardening. and I have stump remover which contains, possibly pure, potassium nitrate. Which would you suggest @GaryE ?

 

[GaryE]

The wrong suggestion could blow up a tank, so to speak.
It's been a long time since I messed with potassium in the tanks, and I honestly don't recall dosage. @Spyro , can you help here?

 

[Alice B]

there were people on a local DFW forum using it to mix with soil they were putting outside to age before putting under sand in an aquarium. Trying to reach some of them on a FB group, that forum is gone, like many others

 

[Alice B]

so we have no news on potassium nitrate dosage? And I got some replies in another group. On the one tank I take care of that I've been fighting black cyanobacteria since both their algae eaters died, with phosphate remover and a CO2 generator, I'm getting them either a Panda Garra or 2, or a Siamese (aka Chinese) Algae eater. Tired of the fight, hoping I can save my own albino BN's but no way I am sending one near black cyanobacteria

In that same group I learned a few things which I will share, as this group has older and perhaps wiser fishkeepers in it. The one that cured her tank, reduced light (which I've done), feed less (which I am) and used Flourish. I looked up Flourish Excel on a search and it sounds a bit dangerous but with black cyano or red cyano the fight is so long. It looks like they make a potassium product as well. I may just be adding some things to fight my red cyano instead of just using peroxide and a CO2 generator. Or course one thing Flourish does is to provide carbon, which CO2 does too. I would post a link to Seachem's FAQ on the product but I am not sure if that is ok.

 

[Colin_T]

As far as I know, there's no freshwater fish that eat Cyanobacteria. A few marine blennies eat it but most marine fish avoid it too.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Man, sounds like a nightmare! Wish I could help, but haven't experienced anything like this. Just want to say sorry about your fish, and what you're dealing with sounds really rough and hard to deal with.
Can you share photos of the red/black cyano? I'd like to learn more, so its good that you're updating with info you found elsewhere. Could really help someone out in the future when they find this thread! I hope these methods work out for you.

 

[Alice B]

I didn't get photos of the red, I just attacked it as soon as I saw it. Not fast enough for my male pleco. The black cyano is just a black algae film but it is toxic to plecos. I didn't take pics, I started removing. I've been keeping fish about 30 years. I treated with phosphate remover in filter (without even testing phosphates) and a CO2 generator. I do know it is not toxic to CAE's. I don't much care for CAE's, they are too aggressive to other fish, I normally only use in cichlid tanks. I was hoping someone would know something about Panda Garras. I looked them up after reading that they ate black cyano, of course the guy hasn't had the fish that long, maybe waiting before spending a lot on a fish. I worry much less about tank appearance than dead fish.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I didn't get photos of the red, I just attacked it as soon as I saw it. Not fast enough for my male pleco. The black cyano is just a black algae film but it is toxic to plecos. I didn't take pics, I started removing. I've been keeping fish about 30 years. I treated with phosphate remover in filter (without even testing phosphates) and a CO2 generator. I do know it is not toxic to CAE's. I don't much care for CAE's, they are too aggressive to other fish, I normally only use in cichlid tanks. I was hoping someone would know something about Panda Garras. I looked them up after reading that they ate black cyano, of course the guy hasn't had the fish that long, maybe waiting before spending a lot on a fish. I worry much less about tank appearance than dead fish.

I'm pretty sure I've seen a tank @WhistlingBadger set up that had panda garras in it, was a stunning tank, hopefully he knows more about them and can give some advice

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Panda garra are great fish, the most under-rated bottom feeder in the hobby, in my opinion. I have no idea whether they eat black cyano or not. I know they are great on normal green algae, and they eat diatoms like little kids eat ketchup.

Most fish won't eat things that are toxic to them. Which proves that in some ways they're smarter than us.

 

[Alice B]

I think I am going to look for panda garras. The 100 gallon I have been fighting black cyano on for months is pretty clear. Phosphate remover and co2 can stay on it. but they do need new algae eaters and I am not crazy about CAE

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Panda garra are great fish, the most under-rated bottom feeder in the hobby, in my opinion. I have no idea whether they eat black cyano or not. I know they are great on normal green algae, and they eat diatoms like little kids eat ketchup.

Most fish won't eat things that are toxic to them. Which proves that in some ways they're smarter than us.

They also happen to be adorable looking!
I'm gonna have to go back and find that thread of your tank you set up, remember seeing the video and loving it! The zebra botia with them too.

What would your recommendation be for minimum group and tank sizes?