Bacterial Bloom

[tin_tin26]

Hi,

I set my tank up about 3 weeks ago and everything was fine. The water was crystal clear until a few days ago but now there is a white cloud/haze through the water. I was advised that this could be a bacterial bloom??

Can anybody advise me what i should do? - or if the problem could be something else?

Here is my tank information -

tank size - 180L
filter - Fluval 205
fish - 2 suckermouth catfish, 4 red plattys, 2 tiger barbs. (i think thats what they're called )

Test kit - API freshwater master test kit.
Amonia - 0
Nitrate - 5
Nitrite - 0
PH - 7.3

Thanks for your help.

 

[waterdrop]

A milky white haze (really looks just like when you get a little milk in a glass of water) is usually a "bacterial bloom" and it is harmless and normal in new tanks. In old tanks it can be a sign of trouble but that is not your situation.

You have a good test kit and your test results, for a one-time set of results, look perfect, but of course a single set of test results means nothing out of context. The context we need to understand is where you stand with respect to "cycling." If you are familiar with this term, did you "fishless cycle" your tank prior to fish introductions? Did you do something you understood to be a "Fish-In" cycling of your tank?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[tin_tin26]

i set my tank up and let it run for 9 days before introducing my fish. after reading this forum (which i wish i had found at the beginning!) i should have left things alot longer but now i need to try deal with my situation.


is there anything i need to do or will this sort itself out? - i can hardly see the back of my tank...but my fish seem to be doing well. - is this nomal?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

you can be doing water changes, lots and lots of them!!!!

have a read of the link in my sig 'whats cycling?' which will explain it all to you.

 

[tin_tin26]

thanks very much for the advice....im off to do that water change right now!! - how much should i take out?

 

[Corleone]

Since your water stats are 0 where they have to be, 20-30% with a gravel vac should be sufficient, I'd do that daily until the bloom clears up and then step back to weekly.

Monitor ammonia and nitrite through the process, as well. If you get any non zero readings, treat them as described in Miss Wiggle's "What's Cycling?" thread.

 

[tin_tin26]

excellent...thanks very much!!


Miss Wiggle really knows her stuff eh! - ive been reading lots of her posts all day! - they are superb!

cheers for the advice! - fingers crossed this works!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Miss Wiggle really knows her stuff eh! - ive been reading lots of her posts all day! - they are superb!

thankyou very much

 

[backtotropical]

There is a good link in my sig below which will tell you more about bacterial blooms, including why increasing water changes isn't likely to help at all.

BTT

 

[Miss Wiggle]

am i just a cynic, i don't believe for one second that ammonia and nitrite are actually 0, i think the tank's not cycled which is why water changes are needed.

Could be wrong of course and perhaps leaving it running for 9 days did miraculously cycle the tank, but you guys know how likely that is.........

 

[backtotropical]

am i just a cynic, i don't believe for one second that ammonia and nitrite are actually 0, i think the tank's not cycled which is why water changes are needed.

Could be wrong of course and perhaps leaving it running for 9 days did miraculously cycle the tank, but you guys know how likely that is.........

I wasn't referring to your post MW. I (as always) agree with you about the water changes in an uncycled tank.

I was referring to water changes in order to handle a bacterial bloom, which generally don't help at all.

Sorry for the confusion.

BTT

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no, no problem BTT, just when you said that I thought I should clarify about the reason I recommended water changes.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, I agree, very unusual. If it were only a week and a half or something I'd think it hadn't even started on anything yet, but 3 weeks of that many fish in a 180L I would think should be showing ammonia and nitrite. If the next couple of tests still show zero then it would be good practice to take water samples to the LFS and request numerical results as a double-check on the test kit. The nitrates might be from the tap water, we don't know what the tap stats are.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[tin_tin26]

Thankyou for all the advice folks!! - its a tricky business this fishkeepng!

I've taken another set of readings as follows -

Amonia - 0
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0
PH - 6.8

I also tested my water with a neighbours test kit and got the same results.

After reading some of the posts im guessing this is not normal for a 3 week old tank...Have i done something wrong? - or do i need to do anything?

(BTT - your post on bacterial blooms was very informative and good reading! - thanks!)

 

[tin_tin26]

Hey folks....another stupid question about my 'bloom'!!

i've taken all the advice on board so far but the bacterial bloom just seems to be getting worse...is this normal? (that has been about a week now with no improvement?)

Cheers again!