I have battled red slime algae on my sand off and on again for about a year as well as a few other fellow reefers in this area. The local tank maintance guy in town told my friend Nancy to put Erythromyacin in a small dose in her tank and the red algae would be gone in two days. Out of frustration..she tried it!! It was gone almost overnight. Norm, my friend, said what the heck and put it in his reef tank and it was completly gone in two days. Veda, the fish store lady dumped it in her tank and it was gone over-night. I was petrified to try it because I have a fully stocked 180 gallon reef with thousands of dollars worth of corals in it but I went ahead and jumped. I put four Erythromycin tablets in and woke up this morning and the red algae is completly gone!! No sighn of it at all and my corals are all fine. Has anyone else done this with success or failure?? Lets hear the stories. I can't believe I looked at that ugly stuff for months and it is gone after one day!! :rollface: Kimmy
Wanna see red algae go bye bye!!
- Thread starter Kimmy
- Start date
It'll be back again once that Erythromycin works its way out of your system. There's a product that you can buy (Red Slime Remover) that is basically just Erythro. powder...and it works fine short-term...but unless you find out exactly why you have the nutrient problem that you do to cause the bloom in the first place, the cyano will be back with a vengeance. And while the cyano is gone, what is consuming those other nutrients? I'd watch out for other algae blooms as well as deteriorating water conditions.
Cheers,
Fred
Cheers,
Fred
Jeffie
New member
Erythro is a quick fix to a bigger problem. As stated before, be ready for other algae blooms, unstable water conditions and the cyano coming back stronger next time around. I believe that Erythro will affect your biological filtration. That stuff works good on FO but does not solve the problem just makes it go away for a few weeks. I would never use it in a reef.
nethawk73
New member
It will kill some other "good" bacteria. The best thing to do ,like M_Phobos said is to find out what caused the problem in the first place. Anti biotics that remain in your system will slowly make any remaining bacteria more and more resistant to the drug. You might end up with a super strain of red slime. Use caution.
As with any algae problem..."treat the problem, not the symptoms." If you remember that and the fact that this hobby isn't about keeping animals, but rather, about keeping WATER, then you'll be set.
(Yes, these things are simple to say and can be incredibly HARD to do, but that's the basics..lol)
Cheers,
Fred
(Yes, these things are simple to say and can be incredibly HARD to do, but that's the basics..lol)
Cheers,
Fred
thrlride
Aka lemmywinks
Red slime bacteria CAN become immune to that if used regularly. The antibiotic will kill your good bacteria as well as your bad.
As already said, it's best to get rid of the cause instead of patching the problem. Feed less, more flow, make sure your lights are good, skim, water changes...
As already said, it's best to get rid of the cause instead of patching the problem. Feed less, more flow, make sure your lights are good, skim, water changes...
Well..there went my bubble!! ha ha I'm not sure what caused the red algae as I haven't changed the way I do things in a long time. My ammonia is zero, my nitrites are zero and my nitrate is undectectable. I have a huge skimmer that skims all kind of yucky stuff out. I have alot of water flow and I try hard not to over-feed. I have halides and power compacts for lighting and I change the bulbs rather frequently....I think. (every six months). Juhnko, No ..I didn't see any red coloration in my skimmer at all..no foam either. The directions on the medicine said to use one caplet per 10 gallons which would have been 16 tablets. I used only 4. Ryan (tank guy) said to use it in very small dosages and that it wouldn't kill the good bacteria. Not so? He swears that he has done it for years in his fish store with no side effects... Oh well, I figured it was to good to be true...thanks for setting me straight and tellin it like it is....I have to say though...that white sand I have right now is awful pretty...
I guess I'll go stare at it before the cyano comes back. I will keep everyone posted on Norms tank, Vedas tank, Nancy's tank and my own tank to let you know how long it takes for the stuff to return and if we see anything negative happen to the corals....
I guess I'll go stare at it before the cyano comes back. I will keep everyone posted on Norms tank, Vedas tank, Nancy's tank and my own tank to let you know how long it takes for the stuff to return and if we see anything negative happen to the corals....I must say that I am bracing myself for the RETURN OF THE SLIME ALGAE (great name for a horror flick):lol: but for the moment I am enjoying the white sand. There is not a trace of that cra* anywhere. I have my skimmer back on in full bore and its pulling out its normal brown yucky stuff. Like I said before, I'll keep everyone posted on the four guinea pig tanks as to how long it will take to return. I re-tested my water today (I know its still early) and so far so good. ph 8.2 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 and nitrate is maybe 10. The color looks like it wants to change from the bottom of the card to the next shade of 20...but not quite. Its wierd but I think the Xenia kind of likes the stuff. I haven't seen it pulse this furious in a long time. Kinda fun to watch though. Yak at ya later.....Kimmy
69vette said:
This is very well known in the fresh water world when fighting green slime algae.
You can get this product from the fish store, its called Maracyn or Maracyn2 (I don't rememeber which one if the correct one). Its pretty pricey but it will completely kill the bacteria (its not actualy algae)
As a winner in the battle against Red Slime Algae (Cyanobacteria) I can say that an additive is not the answer as everyone else has said you are treating the symptoms. I had a huge problem with Cyano about two years ago. I allowed it to cover my entire tank as an experiment in hostility. I tried using a variety of "remedies", but mother nature ended up being my best weapon. I increased my water movement (it doesn't like high circulation) did tons of water changes, and etc. But believe it or not my best friend is the Mexican Red Leg Hermit Crabs (Not the Blue or Scarlett variety). They eat this stuff faster than it grows. Now I haven't seen any red slime since. Just lots of coralline.
hopper
New member
I had the same problem. Chemi-clean worked for me. Took 2 doses to clean it up though. Skimmer went nuts after I turned it back on and after a couple of days everything settled back down. I am keeping an eye on it to see if it is going to break back out. It has been a little over a week since I treated with the second dose. If you use this stuff, remember to turn off the skimmer and UV for about two days and do a 20% water change per instructions after the two days. Kimmy is right. That white sand sure does look good when it doesn't have red stuff growing all over it. As for trying to kill the source of the problem I would have to go to the LFS and dump all of their water from every tank in the store. I think it hitched a ride with something that came from the store.
Well, so far so good. Nancy hasn't had any return yet and hers has been the longest guinea pig. She dumped the stuff in over 2 weeks ago and still white sand. I rush to my tank every morning to see if the nast crap has returned but of course its only been five days
. I try to take everyones advice on this board but I a kind of at a loss on what is actually causing my outbreak. My paremeters are excellent, corals and fish are growng and thriving, huge amounts of water flow, feeding spariongly, light usage about 8 hours a day....why do I have the cyano?? Does anyone know from experience how long it will take before the red stuff actually comes back?? Kimmy
. I try to take everyones advice on this board but I a kind of at a loss on what is actually causing my outbreak. My paremeters are excellent, corals and fish are growng and thriving, huge amounts of water flow, feeding spariongly, light usage about 8 hours a day....why do I have the cyano?? Does anyone know from experience how long it will take before the red stuff actually comes back?? Kimmy
