Subject: Re: Sparkling clean rotovap baths!
From: [email-masked] (Ian Russell Ollmann)
Date: 14 May 1994 20:38:33 -0700
Newsgroups: sci.chem,bionet.plants

-Trying gallantly to recall biology 106 (botany):
-
-  Cu2+ inhibits bacterial growth because (surprise) it is toxic
-to bacteria.  I don't know the mechanism, but I conjecture Cu2+ 
...
-swimmer's itch in Michigans inland lakes.  Unfortunately, the croaked
-bacteria all simultaneously spill their innards, which releases toxins
-in a high enough concentration to kill the fish.  The bacteria involved
-is one of "Anny, Fanny, and Mike", nicknames for Anaebeana, ???, and 
-Microcystis.
-
-warning!  Any or all of the above my be incorrect, incomplete, or a 
-figment of my last-week-of-class-adled imagination.
-
-Jeff

I wrote in to bionet.plants to ask for help for eliminating algae, which were
suspected to possibly be the bacteria spirochetia or cristispira, due to their
shape and size. One person recommended adding a solution of copper to the tank.
The fish-store dude concurred, so I tried it. All-but-one-fish-dead-later, I can
tell you that your memory is indeed somewhat correct. However, I am unsure if the
death of my fish was due to an oversupply of bacterial innards or the reduction of
my fishtank to an anaerobic swamp due to the decay of said innards. In any event,
the grim-reaper cut a mighty swath in my living room. Only my favorite angel-fish
and I live to tell the tale. 

				IO