Peroxide on blue-green algae

[confused_aquarist]

Blue-green algae is starting to eat away at my water sprites so I want to get rid of them. I think it’s due to my tank being too lowly stocked causing unbalanced nutrition, since I can barely detect any nitrates or phosphates.

Since I use the water sprites as floating plants I don’t think I need to treat the entire tank, the idea is I’ll dip them in a bucket containing certain concentrations of hydrogen peroxide, and then do my regular glass cleaning in the meantime and hopefully the reaction will stop within a few minutes or an hour or so. Is this feasible and if so what final concentration should I use? Preferably I want the treatment to be as harsh as possible without damaging the plants.

Also confused on the idea of spot treating. Do I spot treat with a concentrated solution (what percent?) and then still leave the plants for an hour in a certain final percentage or do I spot treat with that final percentage and don’t care about the concentration in the bucket. Really confused since I know so little about plant diseases.

 

[confused_aquarist]

Also I’m guessing I can do the same thing with antibiotics- I have kanamycin and tetracycline, will an hour be fine or do I need to let it go longer. At what concentration?

 

[SammyTargo]

Hi,
I don't know the exact concentration you would want for your species of plant, and much less the antibiotic dosages as a whole.

I do however know that almost all tropical aquarium plants are good for a concentration of 3%. That would mean 1.5-3mL per gallon; the safe-zone is 2.6ml/USg for dosage inside the aquarium.

However, the best method IMO is to do targeted treatment via 2-3mL/USg, and dip the plants in for ~5 minutes. Some species are more sensitive like crypts and valisneria.

Good luck,
Samuel

 

[GaryE]

I have actually shot the blue green algae with a syringe of peroxide, direct. But there may be another level to the problem. Water sprite, and water wisteria have a weird history in my tanks. I keep trying, but am beginning to suspect they draw minerals from the water and actively aid cyanobacter. They always become coated, while other plants in the tank don't. They're magnets for the stuff.

I've taken the coward's way out and gotten rid of them, but one of our greener thumbed people might be able to help. Years ago, I got talked into an experiment where I dosed a tank with Potassium nitrate. It seemed counter intuitive to non chemist me, but it eliminated blue green cyano for quite some time, and did no apparent harm to anything else in the tank. It so happens that because of the tactics of domestic terrorists across the border, potassium nitrate is controlled and I can't get it without a bureaucratic process. I don't want to blow up my aquarium - I swear!

But there may be a fert with a higher content, or it may be a secret ingredient in the red algae destroyer products (they work, but I mistrust no listed ingredients remedies). Can anyone comment?

I wouldn't use antibiotics. It seems a misuse of a precious resource to me, in this era of growing resistance to the medications.

When I had my worse problems with cyano, it actively correlated with the outside environment. When local lakes were affected by blooms and the warnings went out, it was a hard to stop force in my tanks. When outside environmental levels were low, it rarely flared up in my tanks. It must have been getting through the water treatments.

 

[OldFishKeeper]

Blue-green algae is starting to eat away at my water sprites so I want to get rid of them. I think it’s due to my tank being too lowly stocked causing unbalanced nutrition, since I can barely detect any nitrates or phosphates.

Since I use the water sprites as floating plants I don’t think I need to treat the entire tank, the idea is I’ll dip them in a bucket containing certain concentrations of hydrogen peroxide, and then do my regular glass cleaning in the meantime and hopefully the reaction will stop within a few minutes or an hour or so. Is this feasible and if so what final concentration should I use? Preferably I want the treatment to be as harsh as possible without damaging the plants.

Also confused on the idea of spot treating. Do I spot treat with a concentrated solution (what percent?) and then still leave the plants for an hour in a certain final percentage or do I spot treat with that final percentage and don’t care about the concentration in the bucket. Really confused since I know so little about plant diseases.

I would go with the thought of the lack of liquid fertilizer.

I have kept floating and planted water sprite for years. I used liquid ferts in the water for the floating and root tabs for the planted.

Although neither developed BGA, the floating ones thrived while the planted ones didn't. In fact, bottom leaves of the plant ones turned yellow and that was with equal lighting for both planted and floating (I made sure the planted were not shaded by the floaters).

As far as I know, BGA attacks plants that are distressed and in water with little current flow. Just my .02...