Very curious, how much was it to use the Erythromycin? How did you use it? Did you find any evidence that it was not systemic? Could use it with a grow and have the plant matter tested!
I bought a bulk container of it for $85 that treats 3750 gallons I think. It's the same process as the ABX you would take for a human bacterial infection (it's actually used for humans who are allergic to penicillin), 4 days, one dose per day of 0.25g/gallon, and you need to complete all 4 doses or the bacteria might build a resistance to it just as they would inside us, which is why your prescription directions say "always finish this medication even if you feel better".
The directions are for fish tanks so they tell you to do 25% water changes on doses 3 and 4, but we are not trying to save the good bacteria needed in an aquarium so I opted for no changes. (another brand of EMycin just says 4 doses no water changes so I knew it was cool)
I did the same prep as before using tea, just emptied and sterilized to the best of my ability (using a spray bottle of 40ml/gal Physan 20) then rinsed system twice, wiped down dry. Did the same root prep also, rinsing roots under the tap, getting anything dead or easily pulled off out of the root ball and net pot.
Filled with fresh water, 120 gallons in my case, put the plants back in, added the 30 grams of ABX, then the nutes. Proceeded to add another 30 grams every day for the next three days. The ABX adds about 70ppm per dose, 280ppm total, and from the MSDS I could find, I'm not sure what most of that 280ppm actually is, because for every 5 grams of powder there is only 0.4 grams of actual erythromycin. The website for the product says there is some vitamins to help the fish, and I know there is sodium in it...which worried me because our plants are pretty sensitive to sodium in the solution and I knew 200+ ppm would kill them, but they didn't die so I can't say for sure what the actual makeup of the 280ppm is. If I had decided to risk using it full time I would contact the company and ask for a break down of the solutes in the product.
After about 7 days (3 days after last dose) I saw the same results as successful Tea users saw...bright white roots poking from the net pots, plants returning to rigid upright position with green color...the slime was obviously dead.
I could not find any evidence as to whether it was systemic and it's not made for edible plants of fish so there probably isn't any readily available. I only spent about an hour on google though so a more thorough search would probably tell you since it's a widely used antibiotic for humans. I know we take it internally but it's a little different if the plant assimilates it and stores it in foliage that is then heated and inhaled which is why I chose not to flower those plants. I did veg them for 20 days just to see if the slime would return and it did not.
Something I noticed also is the label states this ABX is selective and does not kill the "good" bacteria in the aquarium so there is a possibility it could even be used with the Tea as a real nuclear solution, pending it's systemic properties I suppose.
My story is just so similar to so many others and has me wondering, almost conspiracy theory tin foil hat style, why everyone's story goes "so I've been getting awesome harvests for years and suddenly 2 years ago, or 1 year ago, bam, I got it. There has to be a reason for that. Like there was an outbreak in all the water tables and reservoirs around the world or something (since I see we have international slimers in here also) I've been growing DWC and RDWC for about 6 years and have had about 1 harvest per month, every month, and all without root issues other than a little pyth here or there that was easily eradicated with Aquashield...until about 6 months ago when one plant in a 8 plant system wilted overnight, then every single plant I've tried to grow in any of my RWDC systems has gotten slimed and bad. It seems to have appeared to everyone a few years ago and all at the same time, and is now trickling though the grow world like the new norovirus us humans are dealing with. Has me freaked out and this tea is my last shot before going to the horrendously labor intensive (compared to a well designed RDWC) coco setup.
I've noticed a few people, out of the many that have success, that have me really worried in this thread, who said even with the tea they get slimed just as bad, or worse, and it appears they are doing everything right and following all my spark notes I've taken as follows
Ancient Forest is REQUIRED for fail-proof results.
Myco Grow Soluble is REQUIRED for fail-proof results.
Do NOT add too much molasses.
Brew for 48 hours at the temp your res will be kept.
Add tea to WATER ONLY for 12 hours, THEN add nutrients, and ONLY chem nutes, NO Organics, NO exceptions.
Reinoculate every 2-3 days, especially at root crown/directly into net pots.
You might see slime, but don't freak out and add any sterilizers etc. and let the tea work for at least 10 days before decided it's not working.
I originally got my hopes up quite a bit because every failure I would read about as I read page after page would eventually be sorted out to user error, usually with the ingredients.....Scares me that there was a few people who I saw follow all those rules and made the "perfect tea" and still got slimed worse than or equal to without the tea, and that would only leave the ABX route IMO which I'm not willing to take at this point.
it's coming into the height of summer here in Western Australia..cooking! My plants are showing great vigor in water that must be over 30c because the ambient room temp is about 37c.. peakin..I must say that we have really clean water in my town, pumped from limestone aquifers, treated, no fluoride, either I got the best Bennies ever or it was that bottle.
