Abstract/Summary

When the toxic red tide alga Gymnodinium catenatum H.W. Graham accumulates in sediment through sexual reproduction, it provides the provenance of a periodic outbreak of red tide, a potential threat to the marine environment. In our study, the flocculation effects of four coagulants were compared. Bacteria fermentation (Ba3) broth and coagulant were combined with Ba3 to reduce the vegetative cells of G. catenatum, inhibit the cystic germination in the sediment, and control the red tide outbreak. To promote a more efficient and environmentally friendly algae suppression method, we studied these four coagulants combined with algae suppression bacteria for their effect on G. catenatum. The results show that polyaluminum chloride (PAC) is more efficient than other coagulants when used alone because it had a more substantial inhibitory effect. Ba3 broth also had a beneficial removal effect on the vegetative cells of G. catenatum. The inhibition efficiency of 2-day fermentation liquid was higher than that of 1-day and 3-day fermentation liquids. When combined, the PAC and Ba3 broth produced a pronounced algae inhibition effect that effectively hindered the germination of algae cysts. We conclude that this combination provides a scientific reference for the prevention and control of marine red tide. Our results suggest that designing environmentally friendly methods for the management of harmful algae is quite feasible.