Treatment of Cyanobacteria with Erythromycin.

[Jimmy Dale]

Hi all. I recently had some joy treating cyano with the antibiotic Erythromycin. I did this as a last resort after having no joy with increasing nitrates and night time aeration. I also purchased Easy Life's "Blue Exit" for eliminating Cyano. I am a fan of Easylife products but I found this one to be ineffective. On the back of the bottle it states that it does not contain Erythromycin - maybe that's why it doesn't work? I found a few good articles on the subject of using Erythromycin which are worth looking at if you are considering doing this, this one is very good - Controlling cyanobacteria | The Skeptical Aquarist. Here is a brief account of my experience.

At the time of doing this my tank was 2 months old although the filter was started with mature media from another tank. The livestock was only 5 Otos and 5 Amano shrimp in 80L. There is some suggestion that Erythromycin can knock out your filter bacteria so if you have a well stocked tank then this may not be the option for you. With minimal live stock I decided I could manage the diminished filtration problem with water changes and I added more mature media to the filter after the process was over.

I acquired my erythromycin from eBay - (dodgy?). It was from Thailand and marketed as an aquarium product. It cost a tenner and turned up promptly. The pills were the gel cap type which I pulled apart to access the powder, I dosed 250mg (1 pill) into my tank and watched.

After 48 hours the thick slimy sheets of cyano were literally falling apart, I poked at one with my pincettes and it just lifted away, floated around like a deflated balloon and made its way over to the intake. Bye Cyano! I performed a 50% water change and siphoned up all that I could - it lifted off leaves with great ease. With my 50% water change I added a further 250mg.

By 4 days all of the cyano had completely gone without a trace. I cleaned out the filter (the floss was quite clogged with dead cyano in a kind of green brown slime). I kept on with 50% changes every 48hrs for the next fortnight just to be sure.

Here's a picture of the cyano before treatment:



And here is the same bit 48 hrs later



I hope this is of some help to anyone considering doing the same.

Here is the tank 3 weeks after treatment with not a trace of Cyano. No harm came to any of the plants.

 

[sanj]

I used to get Cyano in planted tanks after a year or so. This was more than a decade ago before I did large weekly water changes an EI dosing. I have never ever had a cyano outbreak since beit high tech or low tech tanks. I am wondering how did you end up with this situation to start with in only a 2 month old tank? I thought this kind of bacteria was often associated with a build up of organics. I have to say I am terrible filter cleaner, they get a look in a couple of times a year, but no problems with this algae-bacteria. I am just curious...

 

[Jimmy Dale]

I have no idea how it arrived for sure mate but I can speculate. There were two 'recycled' components of this scape. Firstly I used mature media from a big system which has been for about 15 years, secondly I used old substrate from my last scape as a base and capped with a small bag of new aquasoil powder type. I've been lucky in that I've never suffered with it before, this was my fist outbreak but it came on quickly and aggressively started to cover everything.

Everything I read on the subject confused me more. Some sources stated that poor flow could be the cause but this was not a problem in my tank. Some stated that low nitrates could be an issue but I am dosing EI with dry ferts as per the nutrient company's dosing calculator. I do not think it was a build up organics, I have been militant with water changes and besides 5 Otos there are no fish in there. Everything I read suggested that it shouldn't have been there in the first place - but it was!

 

[Ian Holdich]

I don't like to see antibiotics used for these kind of things. I see first hand what antibiotic resistance does to people. These antibiotics are washed into the waterways after you've done your water changes. I know it's a low does, and I know everybody doesn't do it. These antibiotics are not normally sterilisable so we end up drinking them. I also appreciate that some of the livestock we eat get antibiotics, but they are few and far between now.

^^this is purely my opinion on this matter.

 

[NatureBoy]

I don't like to see antibiotics used for these kind of things. I see first hand what antibiotic resistance does to people. These antibiotics are washed into the waterways after you've done your water changes. I know it's a low does, and I know everybody doesn't do it. These antibiotics are not normally sterilisable so we end up drinking them. I also appreciate that some of the livestock we eat get antibiotics, but they are few and far between now.

^^this is purely my opinion on this matter.

me neither...big time overkill for blue green algae treatment in a planted tank. Although rampant when conditions are to it's liking and I understand it seems like the mother of all problems, it's a complete stranger in a well cycled established aquarium where conditions do not trigger its growth. It evolved in nutrient depleted water in a primordial soup and adapted to harness atmospheric nitrogen. I'd say overall there's not enough nitrogen producers in your set up...so although you add nitrates, the continual nitrogen cycle produced by the aquarium itself is missing...too many water changes, and understocked in nitrogen producers with 5 ottos...problem is, as the symptom is not fixed, you'll be constantly bombing the tank with antibiotics...get shrimp, get snails, get fish, get a nice nitrogen cycle ticking over with additional nitrates from dosing, and it'll realise it's in the 21st century not the dawn of life on earth.

 

[Tim Harrison]

I suppose it is overkill...but interesting post nonetheless. Microorganism drug resistance is scary stuff, but I think the NHS is just as culpable for the current state of affairs as veterinarian medicine. I also think that there is sometimes a tendency for healthcare professionals to over compensate for past misuse when it's not appropriate. This can sometimes mean that patients don't necessarily get the treatment they need when it's needed, which can ultimately exacerbate the issue.

 

[Iain Sutherland]

i used i once when i first started in fishkeeping for treating BGA, worked a treat but just the once. It seems from reading others experiences also that BGA will be entirely resistant now so if it comes back enthromycin will not work, even reusing the substrate in another tank means that you will have to solve it the old fashioned way.... hard work, elbow grease and patience.

 

[Jimmy Dale]

Thanks for your comments, it was a drastic measure and I appreciate that it may not have been everyone's preferred option. It worked for me but I would advise anyone who is considering doing it research the potential impacts of this. I am actually starting to wish I had done a bit more reading on the subject of resistance to erythromycin.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I don't like to see antibiotics used for these kind of things. I see first hand what antibiotic resistance does to people. These antibiotics are washed into the waterways after you've done your water changes. I know it's a low dose, and I know everybody doesn't do it. These antibiotics are not normally sterilisable so we end up drinking them. I also appreciate that some of the livestock we eat get antibiotics, but they are few and far between now.

You can't buy erythromicin (or any other antibiotic) over the counter in the UK, and you shouldn't be able to find a vet who will prescribe them.Thisis the guidance for the aquaculture industry <http://www.ruma.org.uk/guidelines/antimicrobials/short/fish.pdf>.

We had a thread a while ago about this <Easylife Blue Exit | Page 2 | UK Aquatic Plant Society> and the link from this on the health effects of resistant bacteria is well worth a read: <Running Out of Antibiotics: Europe Gets It - Wired Science>.

cheers Darrel