Erythromycin Treatment

[Blinky3]

Hey guys, I've been told to treat my very bad cyanobacteria infestation with "chemiclean" or erythromycin sulfate. I'm concerned that this will probably kill all of my good bacteria, cause my tank to cycle again and result in new antibiotic-resistant bacteria to colonize afterwards. What does everyone think and is there anything else I should be concerned about?

In an effort to answer likely questions:
I've tried "Red Slime Control" twice without any effect
The tank is a year old 24 Gal with only two fish and therefore a very low bioload
Protein skimmer runs when I’m not treating it
Water is milliQ RO water and 5 gal of water is changed every week
Light is pretty new and water flow is very good
There's about 20lbs of live sand and another 20 lbs of live rock in there
In short, I think I'm doing everything right.

 

[matttaylor]

Erythromycin is a great way to get rid of cyno. I have some left over from my wifes surgery a few years ago and used it when i had an outbreak. Cleared up the cyno in 12 hours and it has never come back. The trick is to dose as little as possible so that you don't kill off the good bacteria. I used 3/4 of a 500 mg capsule in my 135 gallon tank.

 

[robertloop]

I've used perscription eryth before in my old 55. worked great. risky however. chemi according to the directions is prolly safer

 

[dots]

Try leaving your lights off for 3 days.....don't worry, most livestock will do fine for a couple of days. However, it should take care of the cyano for now to allow you to try and figure out what needs to be changed so it doesn't come back again.

I tried it recently and worked well. Karl (Unarce) was telling me about it and it was in Advanced Aquarist magazine as the thread of the month as well.



http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1078532

 

[robertloop]

I recently went on vacation for a week and came home to a big cyano out break. Not sure if a snail died or what. Going to try a water change or two before breaking out the chemi clean. Also been pondering a phos reactor.