[playthecello]

Resurrected thread to the rescue... I have blue-green algae in my tank (29g) that snuck up on me and got pretty bad. I moved, and did lots of wrong things that could have caused the outbreak (neglecting setting up my diy co2 b/c it was too much trouble, not replacing my clean up cory cats after they died, thinning back my plants but not my fertilizer, letting my light bulbs get too old, etc etc...) but I didn't realize how bad it had gotten until last week when I noticed the plants weren't really growing anymore, and everything looked pretty gross.

I spent 4 hours cleaning the goo off my plants and gravel and everything, but I can't get it all, and what escapes the gravel vac gets caught in my feathery plants. I was thinking I would have to hunt down some Maracyn until this peroxide thread showed up. Peroxide is way easier to come by than erythromycin in my area, but I know the latter is effective and relatively safe. So, what would the people with more experience recommend?

To (partly) answer mikslik's question, hydrogen peroxide 2(H2O2) breaks down into water 2(H2O) and oxygen (O2), but I don't remember exactly what causes it. I know it decomposes spontaneously, but there are catalysts that speed it up (silver, for one). I think I remember hearing that light catalyzes the decomp, which is why it's sold in an opaque bottle, but that could be wrong. (high school chemistry was a while ago)

 

[playthecello]

Yep, I know that. I was hoping to get it under control without using chemicals or antibiotics, but I'm not sure if that's going to be possible. A lot of the posts I've read recommend Maracyn or other form of Erythromycin to kill it, but then I saw this peroxide thread and wondered if it would work just as well, since it works as a topical antiseptic/antibiotic. It kills nasty things in paper cuts, so why not nasty things in the aquarium?

 

[playthecello]

I tried the peroxide. I dosed 2ml/gal two days in a row. The algae looks a lot better, but not completely dead, I don't think. If it comes back, I'm going to use Maracyn instead of more h2o2, because while all my fish survived, all of my plants did not.

My anacharis, eurasian watermilfoil and hornwort (all collected locally. coincidence?) are not looking so hot. The anacharis is droopy and wilting, the milfoil is turning brown, and the hornwort is disintegrating. They're all similarly delicate/feathery, but what is surprising is that my other delicate plants (water sprite and rotala wallichii) look fine.

The tip of each plant has a relatively healthy looking spot of new growth, so hopefully I'll just lose the old leaves and not the entire plant.

 

[playthecello]

I'd say 2ml/gal dosed two consecutive days killed 90% of my BGA, along with 90% of my anacharis, hornwort and milfoil. Another day probably would have taken care of it entirely, but when I saw my plants disintegrating I panicked and stopped treatment. The plants are growing once again, but the BGA is slowly coming back too. I removed the sensitive plants last night and dosed again, and ordered some Marycin just in case. I'm tired of paying for the stupid algae-causing mistakes I made a month and a half ago and I want this stuff dead.