Antibiotics, which WILL kill your tank and which won't: a primer.

[Sk8r]

Found an interesting answer to a user's question:
"Fast primer on bacteria: they come in two types, gram negative and gram positive. Some antibiotics kill gram negative types, some kill gram positive types, and some [broad-spectrum antibiotics] kill BOTH.

"Your beneficial sandbed bacteria are gram negative. Cyanobacteria is gram negative. Erythromycin [ChemiClean Red Slime Remover; and Maracyn] manage to kill off cyano without killing your whole tank. But following the instructions is critical. Having a good skimmer to take the sudden dose of biomass is critical. You can still get a heavy dieoff of unwanted bacteria, that will take out your tank from sheer biomass if you have a weak skimmer.

"What sort of bacteria is, say, fin rot? Gram negative---like your sandbed. Anything that kills it will damage your sandbed. Don't, as a rule, put any antibiotic [from Greek: anti: against; bios--life] meaning bacteria killer---into your display tank.

 

[uhuru]

cyano is g-

I think that info in general is an oversimplification of the microbiology in a reef system, and macrolides as well

 

[Pandarian]

Yep, I agree with the simplicafication. Erythromycin and macrolides are used to treat G+ bacterial infections clinically.

 

[Sk8r]

Thanks, guys: the internet often proves the source of good info and bad info: my first lookup gave me wrong info; thanks to you, I ran a new check, and corrected the info above.

 

[jcw]

Funny thing about erythromycin (and newer other macrolides) is that it's mechanism of action isn't bactericidal. Meaning it works not to kill the bacteria, but just stop it's growth.