Water Color

Question
Hi this morning I left and when I came home 4 hours later the water had turned red, but the night before I had treated the water with Erythromycin I have live rock and live sand.  It has been running for eight months and we have had some sort of red something growing on the sand, tank, and live rock.  After consulting a local expert and trying other ways to get rid of red growth we were forced to use the Erythromycin can you tell me why the water is red.

Answer
Hello Zackery,

I can not explain why the color is red, but suspect it maybe a color associated with the erythromycin.  (is the tablet or powder a specific color?)

BUT, i believe you may have made your problem MUCH MUCH WORSE.

you probably killed off every bit of good bacteria, and biological organism with the use of an antibiotic.

You really needed to remove all the rock, and maybe most of the sand.

I really would not and have never suggested the use of an anti-biotic for a bacteria problem, which from the sound of your description, I believe is what you have, (cyanno bacteria).

The method to cure that is not the use of antibiotics.



So, to address your question, I can not explain the red color, please contact the distributor or manufacturer of the Erythromycin, and please let us know what you find out.


Good luck.


Mr. Bill