# Poly-Ox from Kent Marine for BGA ?



## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

So some people here suggested that I use Chemiclear(?) for BGA.
Then it was suggested I try Potassium Permanganate.
This is in Poly-Ox by Kent Marine.
Before I kill things other than the BGA by using this Poly-Ox does anyone know if there is a
reason not to ?
Supposedly it kills the BGA by removing what the BGA feeds off of...excess organic materials
dissolved in the water.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

I haven't used this proguct myself.PP is old school and should be used very carefully.I've used the red slime and blue slime remover without issues,and just today purchased the chemi clean.BGA=BS!
Read the reviews on this link ;
Kent Marine Poly Ox Red Slime Remover
I also soak pieces of wood that would fit in buckets with h202 and it worked great after three days of 10 minute treatments.Shame the big pieces just don't fit!Most of my BGA is on wood and one large rock.


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## jccaclimber2 (May 6, 2012)

What are your nitrate levels in the tank with the BGA? I've always been able to cure it by dosing nitrates, and cause it by letting my nitrates zero out. I did have a case of an iron loving bacteria (like bga but medium brown) which I knocked out with a single dose of erythromyacin (Mardel maracyn).


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

It can be from low nitrates. Cut back the light to 4-5hrs per day, stopped adding ferts, what % water changes do you do? etc I've gotten BGA before, but in my experience it was so easy to get rid of. 

Why add a chemical that risk killing fish? I would much rather add an antibiotic and personally would be the closest thing I'd to a chemical. I would even do the turkey baster with peroxide, which I hear works pretty well, before that.


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## inkmaker (Jun 10, 2009)

jccaclimber2 said:


> What are your nitrate levels in the tank with the BGA? I've always been able to cure it by dosing nitrates, and cause it by letting my nitrates zero out. I did have a case of an iron loving bacteria (like bga but medium brown) which I knocked out with a single dose of erythromyacin (Mardel maracyn).


Erythromycin is the easiest, most effective and easiest on the tank inhabitants to kill Cyanobacteria (BGA). As a matter of fact this is about the only effective use of Erythromycin in the Aquarium. After treatment, about 3 days, change the tank water and reduce the amount of food, lower the lighting and watch the Nitrates. They shouldn't go to zero.

I keep a little Erythromycin around for the occasional Cyanobacteria popping up.

Charles H


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

According to the Aqavisor (and they don't list my fish so a substituted one likely is more bio-load) I only have a 60% stocking level
and the recommended water change of 11% I double each week(10G-2 for substrate=8 take out 2 but put back 2G + 40oz R/O to
keep Ph at 6.8). The extra R/O water also accounts for the evaporation each week. So it's low on nitrates yes as there is very low
ammonia to be converted to it.
I recently added RCS to (start)increasing the bio-load and give me a reason to feed flake food as the two fish that I have in there don't
eat it. Some Macro ferts are coming but I would like to address the problem before addressing the symptom(the BGA) so can any of you give me a source for nitrates which could be gradually introduced ?
This is the first time anyone mentioned nitrates in conjunction/w this BGA so I would like to pursue it further as part of the repair
of the general overall health of the tank so that the BGA won't be able to return this time.
It has already lost some of it by doing water changes each week instead of letting some slide and it seems to be working so
every added info moves me closer to that healthy tank in which it has no place(theoretically)...LOL...


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## jccaclimber2 (May 6, 2012)

More food works, although you may get more small critters as a result. A growing shrimp population will help with that. You can also dose KNO3 directly in very small quantities.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

Someone from elsewhere advised that a 1/4 teaspoonful would be what they would dose a ten G tank per week.
Does that sound high/low to anyone ?
They suggested that as part of a normal dose of Macro ferts for a ten G tank(per week) and Potassium Phosphate
being the other half of the Macro(Magnesium Sulfate was said not to be necessary unless you know the Gh is low)
and the dose for the Potassium Phosphate that went/w the dose of Potassium Nitrate is 1/64th teaspoonful.
Easy to measure actually as 1/4 teaspoon=16/64th so 16ml of R/O water and mix in 1/4 teaspoon of the P
Phosphate and dose one ml = 1/64th teaspoonful.
And last but not least I intend to dose these/w Flourish Comprehensive as my Micro ferts till it runs out and then
perhaps buy the Micro/Macro mix dry fert. All in the direction of giving the plants a more complete fert package
to raise the overall health of the tank(as part of that effort).
But does anyone see an overdone amount of either of those two for a ten G tank ?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I would think no more than 1/8th per week may be okay. You would have to judge by how much you had before your water change. I think if you are dosing any level of ferts you need to be doing weekly changes at least in the 35% range. More ferts should equal more change. Those of us that are forced to dose large amounts of ferts on a weekly basis are also forced to 50% water changes minimum to "reset" the tank. To some extent you have the same need.

Nitrates may help to prevent BGA, but what have you decided to do to treat what you have?


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## jccaclimber2 (May 6, 2012)

The basic EI dosing regime recommends ~1/8 tsp KNO3 3x weekly and 1/16 tsp KH2PO4 on the same interval. I prefer dry measures, and you can get dry measures of that size online. They tend to be hard to find locally. In your case I would start with those doses on a weekly basis as I doubt your uptake will be all that fast.
In my 20 gallon tanks I found that a single day's dose applied with water changes was sufficient to keep the plants looking nice.


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## jccaclimber2 (May 6, 2012)

On the BGA note, I get it in my floating riccia in my 75 because it grows densely enough that the top is nutrient starved. I flipped the island over a couple days ago and 80% of it vanished in the first 24 hours. That was a day and a half ago, so we'll see what it looks like come Monday when I flip it back over.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

Not that I rely on that info alone as I'm buying some of this...
API E.M. Erythromycin Powder Bacterial & Fungal Aquarium Medications
for "just in case" but the person who recommended the Poly-Ox said the BGA would die from the use of the Poly-Ox as it removes excess
organics from the tank water. The "food" for the BGA. Then he recommended that I do(one this week and one at next water change), a 90%
water change to "help" the Poly-Ox. Then I read on the bottle "Do NOT use after massive water changes." So you see I am skeptical as
in most cases about just jumping in without a bit of thought/checking first.
As I'm not trying to get super growth in my plants but rather provide them/w all instead of just some of the nutrients which they need
to have, I will cut the dose by half as you suggested. The tank only has two fish(Banded Pigmy sunfish) in a species only tank and 
recently added five RCS to that so as to give a reason for flake food as the BPS don't eat it. So in days past the Nitrates have been low
for lack of Ammonia but that is slowly changing upwards.
IMO lack of plants seems to be a big factor in this tank and I gave a picture to show you this. The Dwarf sags now mostly all have new
leaves on them. The sub is a bit thin but is Eco-Complete on top of API Pure Laterite. I'm tempted to add the balance of left over Flourite
that I have from the re-sub on the other tank and mix them all together instead of in layers but the tank is not healthy at the moment
so I think best to wait on that. The Baby tears(not dwarf) are growing well and one that I trimmed is pearling from the cut aria daily.
Just not enough of any of the plants yet.




Already have Potassium Nitrate and Phosphate coming from on-line. When it gets here it will make the Macro and the Micro is covered by the Flourish 
Comprehensive. I appreciate all the replies for sure but might like to state that I'm on a very limited budget for this...therefor any real high tech is not
practical for me and really I JUST want to give my plants/tank the most complete ferts/care that I can afford for it without going true high tech.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

Well it arrived today. One part of my Macro's ferts, the Potassium Nitrate. As this is the main part needed for the BGA treatment,
I will use it now instead of waiting for the Potassium Phosphate to arrive. It's coming from a long way off cause no U.S.
dealers sell less than a lb at one time. Considering that the suggested dosage is only 1/64th teaspoonful at a time, I would take
till 2079 to use a lb of it...LOL...
Put it in just before midnight Wed. so tomorrow(the KNO3) and BTW does anybody know, before I waste a lot of time looking it up
if Microsoft keyboards are programed/w scientific layouts/programs so that I can write this product name correctly ? They do/are
programed for languages other than English but I don't know where to look for that info. It's printed correctly on the bottle
label so somewhere there exist a keyboard capable of it.
So anyway tomorrow I might see some results IF a deficiency in this is all/part of the cause of my BGA.
If nothing else I'll know my plants have that part of their proper nutrients from now on.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

If you are looking for this to treat any BGA you currently have present, I would be very surprised if anything occurred. I would guess that adding some nitrates will prevent in the future, but it is not really a treatment for BGA.

Personally, I would eradicate all of it using an antibiotic...easy enough to use and can be found at your local store. Or, use the turkey baster method with peroxide (method can be google'd). This way you start fresh.

And yes, you are right about how long it would take to use up. This is why I regularly promote dry fert dosing over liquid. All at a fraction of the cost.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

jrman83 said:


> If you are looking for this to treat any BGA you currently have present, I would be very surprised if anything occurred. I would guess that adding some nitrates will prevent in the future, but it is not really a treatment for BGA.
> 
> Personally, I would eradicate all of it using an antibiotic...easy enough to use and can be found at your local store. Or, use the turkey baster method with peroxide (method can be google'd). This way you start fresh.
> 
> And yes, you are right about how long it would take to use up. This is why I regularly promote dry fert dosing over liquid. All at a fraction of the cost.


I mostly objected to buying the stuff by the lb. Not just the purchase of it in general. As long as it will last me in a lb it could get
contaminated but more likely dampened by humidity into a brick before I could use all of it. That's why I opted to find smaller
quantities first and does each one separately.

Do believe your right on the antibiotics thing/starting fresh. Just got the Potassium Nitrate last night and did the dose for it.
Potassium Phosphate coming later though from farther away.
Don't know if you caught that I added RCS to this tank as the fish in it don't eat flake and only two of those Banded Pigmy
sunfish anyway so no ammonia(hardly) for the nitrate to come from without more something in there.

How much Peroxide can you get away/w using in a ten G ? Already have a new baster.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

First link says H202 is a remedy for PP overdose and should be on hand.
Hydrogen peroxide | The Skeptical Aquarist
The consensus is 1 ml per 8g is very safe.
Second link is from England so remeber our H202 is 3% not 6.
Hydrogen peroxide - The Free Freshwater and Saltwater Aquarium Encyclopedia Anyone Can Edit - The Aquarium Wiki


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Most ferts come in resealable bags and although it can get a tad sticky at times it breaks back up into powder form instantly. When you have some experience with it you will see.

I would watch dosing your phosphates. High levels can kill. Plus, if you plan to dose all that small irregular water changes isn't going to work. Phosphate levels will continue to elevate if you are not changing water. In a 10 gal I would guess that a 1/32 per week would be enough. EI or PPI levels will be too much for 3x dosing per week.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

jrman83 said:


> Most ferts come in resealable bags and although it can get a tad sticky at times it breaks back up into powder form instantly. When you have some experience with it you will see.
> 
> I would watch dosing your phosphates. High levels can kill. Plus, if you plan to dose all that small irregular water changes isn't going to work. Phosphate levels will continue to elevate if you are not changing water. In a 10 gal I would guess that a 1/32 per week would be enough. EI or PPI levels will be too much for 3x dosing per week.


I asked someone who knew how to use a fert EI calculator to give me a once a week dose of the Potassium Phosphate for a ten G and he said 1/64th teaspoonful. And I did this math after he suggested that and I asked myself just how can I...
1/4 teaspoon or .25 X 64/64ths=16/64ths...so... 16ml R/O water + .25 teaspoonful Potassium Phosphate and dose 1ml per week till you
have half left then dump remainder and start over. As I just want to insure all needed nutrients are there...this sounds right to me so as
to not take chances of OD in the tank ?
BTW...I've had lower plant leaf loss in a couple of stemmed plants but I believe it to be in conjunction/w planting new plants in the tank.
Aquarium Gallery - Nutrientdeficiency

The bio=load in this tank is from two Banded Pigmy sunfish and 5 RCS(for now) and the Aqvisor says 11% water change and I do
about 23% each week now. Enough ? Take out 1.5 gal from 10 for gravel + one pint of Matrix bio-media = 8.5G Change 2G water +
add 40oz R/O to keep 6.6-6.8 Ph and to replace for evaporation. Do you think this is enough or should I change more ? 
Thanks for your input on this...


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Most who dose ferts do 50%+ wc weekly.Then they dose again.Sounds funny,but I do the same.The ferts alone should give you reasonable nitrate readings.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

No need to get overly technical. Using dry ferts is as easy as measure and dump. No need to mix with water and then dose a small part of the water. Just add the powdered fert directly as most people do.

I have a 29 tank that has about 10 shrimp in it and it gets no ferts and is planted. I still change 50% per week. I don't use any website to tell me what I need to change and you shouldn't either. Dosing ferts and not changing water is not good as the nutrients continue to build and will be especially so when you start dosing phosphates.

A phosphate test kit may help you.


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## Arthur7 (Feb 22, 2013)

I also had this alga at restart in 07. The water was different than before, and the plants did not grow. But the blue-green alga spread. It looked terrible. In my old aquarium magazines I found a recommendation from Dr. Dieter Hohl. He suggested to increase the redox potential. By the addition of hydrogen peroxide. 3% solution, 30 ml to 100 l
I did that. After a week still was not a success. Since I can still swim in it Ceratopteris. This plant grew more strongly with me. It should be against the competitor for food alga. After another 2 weeks, then the algae was gone. I was happy. but I do not know what has helped. Since I had no blue-green algae again. Maybe it's a starting problem?


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

Arthur7 said:


> I also had this alga at restart in 07. The water was different than before, and the plants did not grow. But the blue-green alga spread. It looked terrible. In my old aquarium magazines I found a recommendation from Dr. Dieter Hohl. He suggested to increase the redox potential. By the addition of hydrogen peroxide. 3% solution, 30 ml to 100 l
> I did that. After a week still was not a success. Since I can still swim in it Ceratopteris. This plant grew more strongly with me. It should be against the competitor for food alga. After another 2 weeks, then the algae was gone. I was happy. but I do not know what has helped. Since I had no blue-green algae again. Maybe it's a starting problem?


Now that you mention it, every tank I've had got this within a few months after start. Usually after 6 but less than 12 months.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

If you plan to use Peroxide be sure to read how to do. There are numerous threads that have been started on the internet on the best way to perform. It will kill ALL bacteria but there are ways to spare your filter. You can add to the entire tank like a med or treat affected areas with a turkey baster. Just be sure to read.


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## jccaclimber2 (May 6, 2012)

jccaclimber2 said:


> On the BGA note, I get it in my floating riccia in my 75 because it grows densely enough that the top is nutrient starved. I flipped the island over a couple days ago and 80% of it vanished in the first 24 hours. That was a day and a half ago, so we'll see what it looks like come Monday when I flip it back over.


Never thought I'd quote just myself. Anyways, when I flipped the riccia patch over Monday it was BGA free. It still is five days later.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Figured I'd report the chemi clean did NOTHING.So for $4 I have a gallon of h2o2 that I have poured in larger bucket to soak larger pieces.All the wood that got treated is clean as a whistle now,so onto some of the bigger pieces!


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

A progress report...sort of...
I blacked out this tank once before so I'm reluctant to attack the BGA in yet one more way that may allow it to return
as it did when I blacked out the tank as many have said it to be a symptom rather than THE issue.
I recently got part of my Macro ferts in and now have done the second dosing of Micro/Macro ferts Sun. when I changed
the water. A small(very)amount of pearling has been seen but only on two plants which had their tops trimmed so
the gas had a place to escape from. But after this second dose Sun. it became a much better amount of the pearling
by a couple of hrs after I dosed the tank. The dosing was about 9:00A.M. and but 3:00P.M. there was pearling from
several plants(all regular baby tears). So apparently the tank is heading towards better health...finally.
I made an effort to get the stuff for the basic Macros cause this site/link said a deficiency in it can cause the BGA
and list it as a "cure"(one of). That's the Nitrate which they list as a "cure". No I don't trust it completely but since
the Nitrate is a big part of the Macro, first it needed to be there and then the overall health of the tank by use of a
much more complete fert dosing can never by discredited as part of the cure.
Algae in the Planted Aquarium-- Guitarfish
But yes the "sort of" means it's still there even though at a reduced level. There is no plant "mass" to speak of in
this tank and that is changing now that the ferts are better.
And yes jerman83 the Dwarf Sags are now growing faster day by day...sending off runners in directions I don't want
them to of course...LOL...funny how a little correct ferts can help. Day by day, inch by inch, but the journey is part
of the fun


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Sounds like things are getting better,YEA!
Now just remeber to be patient.I'm still seeing improvement and changes from my 180 with the addition of co2 ,ferts and lights.
Nothing good happens fast and only the persistent get rewarded.Keep on track and don't change your methods for a couple weeks to see the real effects,then change only 1 thing at a time,if necessary or desired to see the effect.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

coralbandit said:


> Sounds like things are getting better,YEA!
> Now just remeber to be patient.I'm still seeing improvement and changes from my 180 with the addition of co2 ,ferts and lights.
> Nothing good happens fast and only the persistent get rewarded.Keep on track and don't change your methods for a couple weeks to see the real effects,then change only 1 thing at a time,if necessary or desired to see the effect.


Not that I follow it 100% but learned that change one thing at a time issue from cooking. Found a measuring spoon set
which has a 1/64th sized spoon included...LOL... Now if only my Potassium Phosphate would get here.
Speaking of change, I've been eye balling those Dwarf Sags but haven't a clue what I'd replace them/w. Want(if any
such thing exist in a ten) a more natural setting. Only a couple of types of plants. In "the wild" you seldom see anything
like those aquascapes/w the 98 variety of plants. Usually one type covers a fairly large aria/w sprinkles of others in there.
Just thinking out loud I guess really.
Was thinking of going to a procrastinators annonimous meeting but can't decide if I have enough patience to sit through 
a whole meeting...


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Raymond S. said:


> Was thinking of going to a procrastinators annonimous meeting but can't decide if I have enough patience to sit through
> a whole meeting...


Just about the only I don't procrastinate about is water changes.Almost everything else can really wait till tomorrow or whenever I get "around tuit".I searched and yet to find the "elusive round tuit".Maybe I'll look again later!LOL!


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

Well the Potassium Phosphate came yesterday. So now I should have a reasonable amount of the proper ingredients of
the Macro/Micro ferts to use. Hadn't enough R/O water to do a change on both tanks so I did the one/w the BGA as
I've been watching it more closely. Tomorrow is good enough for the other one.
So really this is the third time I dosed but only the fist time the Macro has both of it's main ingredients in it.
And every now and then I look over at it as if that one dose is supposed to kick off a visible change in a few hrs...LOL...
Been dosing daily doses of Poly-Ox for two week prior to this fert got started as it was suggested that I stop the ferts
while dosing the Poly-Ox.
So starting on the second week of Dec. it now has a fert schedule and I'll know if it's fairly good by about the second week in Jan.
Patience is not one of my strong points in most cases so we'll see...
This whole routine has been to up-grade the overall health of this tank so that when I kill the BGA it won't come back this time.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

Well now that I've followed that suggestion to use the Poly-Ox for a while, I have finally bought the erythromyacin.
I had been given three suggestions on things to use that should work and wanted to try the Chemiclear I think it's
called but they only had this API version of erythromyacin when I went there yesterday. No time to go to every shop
so I just got that one.
Put it into the tank at the suggested half dose around 3P yesterday. Suggestion from an "Algae guide" chart as in what
causes it/what to do about it type chart. The light just came on in this tank. A large part of the BGA is no longer there.
This is after only 18 hrs of use of the erythromyacin. The chart said to manually remove the dead BGA after the treatment
kills it. But the part which was there is no longer. Just vanished without leaving any "dead stuff" that I can see.
There is still some in there which is stuborn and I suspect it's the parts which were thicker mostly.
The directions on the product say to add one pack for each ten G and then wait 24 hrs and add another pack of the product
and then after another 24 hrs do a water change and repeat the treatment for a second time. I guess it would be best to
follow it exactly to help insure all of it is dead.
Hopefully by using the Poly-Ox first it won't have the type of environment it needs in this tank for it to come back.
Raising the Nitrates was also listed on that chart as part of a "cure". Since I have just started a fert schedule which includes
KNO3, I think that one is covered. If someone see's a discrepancy in this let me know.


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