Where Did My Bacteria Gooo?!?!?!

So I have had this tank running for almost 9 months. The only occupant is my 8" Albino Oscar. He was originally feed on Cichlid Gold, then he grew tired of that, so on to shrimp, then he became tired of those and just played with them. So now I feed him Earth Worms from my backyard. They are actually A LOT healthier looking then the worms from the LFS. As for the mess I tend to mechanically remove it with a brine shrimp net I purchased, this helps to remove a lot of the soil that the worms contain.

There was originally gravel and a large slate slab but with him eating so much the gravel became over whelming to vacuum and he began banging himself against the sharp slate slab occasionally. I assumed that the over compensated Fluval305 would be able to handle the bio-load without the gravel colonies in place. I admit I slacked a bit and the last time I did a 30% water change was about 3 weeks ago with treated tap water. I had since ran out of SeaChem Prime and I suppose that lead to being slightly unmotivated. I feel that my water treatment system though is partially to blame, the pH is semi-consistent but I just have to assume that the Caustic Soda just isn't helping the situation.

I did a 30% water change yesterday and with store bought Spring Water(distilled) so as to not worry about the water. The pH of the water was 6, the pH in my tank is about 6.2 so that was nice. My water stats today are as follows:

Ammonia - 2
pH - 6.2
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20

I am going to be doing another water change today after class with another 14 gallons of Spring Water(around $13) and will be doing so until my ammonia is back to 0.

My main questions are these:

- Are there any negative effects of having no substrate?
- Is mechanically removing some of the waste harmful to the bacteria?
- Are caustic soda systems harmful to aquatic systems?
- Any idea why my ammonia spiked?
- Are the darkened fins signs of ammonia poisoning on my Oscar?


No I guess I didn't clarify, my house's water treatment system utilizes the pH balancing properties of caustic soda to adjust my tap pH properly.

I am wondering if these systems have a history of being harmful to aquariums when the tap water is treated with one.

What purpose does caustic soda serve in an aquarium? I would have thought that it did more harm than good.

No I guess I didn't clarify, my house's water treatment system utilizes the pH balancing properties of caustic soda to adjust my tap pH properly.

PLEASE READ ENTIRELY!!!!!!!

Thats not my concern I have stopped using my tap water, I NEEEEEED to know if mechanically removing matter is hurting my tank PLEASE!!!!

Hey I just asked a question, to try to clarify what's going on, to try to answer the question as to what caused your ammonia spike. There is no need to use caps-lock, or larger fonts to try to make a point.

Since your bacteria live in your filter, removing stuff by hand from the substrate would have no effect whatsoever.

Sorry if that came across as scornful, I was just trying to emphasize the fact that I am no longer using my tap water, and I was by no means saying I put the caustic soda into the tank.

Also, the reason I am asking whether the manual removal is harmful to the bacteria is, do you think I may be removing too much matter and they have nothing to eat? Thus having the tank loose it's initial colony.

Also, thanks for the replies, any knowledge is helpful knowledge.

OTIS said:

Sorry if that came across as scornful, I was just trying to emphasize the fact that I am no longer using my tap water, and I was by no means saying I put the caustic soda into the tank.

Also, the reason I am asking whether the manual removal is harmful to the bacteria is, do you think I may be removing too much matter and they have nothing to eat? Thus having the tank loose it's initial colony.

Also, thanks for the replies, any knowledge is helpful knowledge.

Click to expand...

I would have said that over 9 months, the tank would be completely cycled, and that the filter bacteria are feeding sufficiently from the ammonia form the Oscar. I don't believe that caused your spike.

Thanks, was just wondering because the manual removal is a new trend that I have been doing since I have begun feeding worms, they just have a lot of castings inside of them and it makes a bit of a mess. I figure I just got lazy and this spike is just a build up. From now on I'm purchasing my water and setting reminders all over the place.

The problem may be in the fact that you're using bottled water. Just like tap water, bottled water has stuff in it to keep it fresh, and this may involve chemicals that your dechlorinator won't nullify.

The water is steam distilled with no additives (sulfates of any sort) listed so I can only imagine that there is nothing in the water, otherwise the FDA would have to put it on there.

I find it hard to believe that there are any domestic water softening systems that use caustic soda...there are many that exchange calcium ions for sodium, which makes the water behave as if it's softer, and lowers the pH, but not the total dissolved solids.

Those systems aren't suitable for drinking water though, so there should be at least one tap that's not connected to it. I'd get a plumber to come out and have a look and advise you.

Manually removing waste won't have affected your filter colony; they feed mostly on dissolved wastes in the water, and not the solids anyway.

Worm casts are just soil, so shouldn't affect your water quality, apart from visually!

fluttermoth said:

I find it hard to believe that there are any domestic water softening systems that use caustic soda...there are many that exchange calcium ions for sodium, which makes the water behave as if it's softer, and lowers the pH, but not the total dissolved solids.

Those systems aren't suitable for drinking water though, so there should be at least one tap that's not connected to it. I'd get a plumber to come out and have a look and advise you.

Manually removing waste won't have affected your filter colony; they feed mostly on dissolved wastes in the water, and not the solids anyway.

Worm casts are just soil, so shouldn't affect your water quality, apart from visually!

Click to expand...

Well, talk to Phelps, because I regularly refill my tank with the recommended 6 gallons of 13% caustic soda, which then is added to 30 gallons. There is also another unit on the system, but I believe that is a giant micro-filter.

I am with you though, I never felt that the system was healthy for my fish, and I never was into the idea of drinking it either, seeing as sometimes the water drys out my girlfriends skin.

The water is Spring Water from Walmart and is labeled with the following as Filtration Process: Flash Steam Distillation, Ozonation, Micro Filtration.

So no chemicals went into the treating of this water as of what I can tell so it should be good right?