Re: [GSAS-Member] Erythro question ?

[steev ward <steevward@mac.com>]

I have to agree in principle that you could be encouraging drug resistance
in the Cyanobacteria by using small doses of Erythromycin, and in fact
there is a good argument for not using antibiotics in that way. But what is
the danger here? We really aren't worried about a super strain of
Blue-Green Algae taking over the world. The real concern in  antibiotic
resistance is that human pathogens are exposed to low levels of the drugs
that we are throwing around, say if you were coming down with an infection
while you were fiddling with it. Then when you spread your cough to the
people at work you might be spreading a strain of bacteria that has already
gotten used to Erythromycin a little bit and that's not fair to the human
population as a whole. So with that in mind you might say that it is better
to use the smallest amount necessary to get your results. It does get a bit
complicated.

I prefer not to use antibiotics for controlling Blue-Green Algae, because I
see it as a challenge to correct those things in the aquarium that lead it
to bloom in the first place. It is a sign of pollution, and if you take
away the pollutants that allow it to grow it will go away. That usually
means cleaning up the excess food and waste. If you manually remove the
Blue_Greens you are also taking out the chemicals from which they are made.
Kill it with antibiotics and the tank will have less algae but more
undesireable chemicals.

I think a happy medium would be to clean it up as much as possible and use
Ery if you feel you need help while getting the rest of the tank's
ecosystem established. If on the other hand you consistently have a lot of
fish waste and leftover fish food under bright lights you will always have
something growing on it. We shouldn't count on always finding a pill that
will fix whatever form the problem takes on today.

Steev

Kate Breimayer wrote:

> Every other day worked for me, I didn't have to do it more than 3 times,
> often one dose was sufficient.
> Kate
>



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