Beneficial Bacteria

[FlareBettaGuy]

Okay, this is a long story, but i'll keep it short. I have a betta. And a one gallon tank. No filter, no heater, no BIO-Wheel, no nothing. After a few days it was set up, some stuff was growing in the tank. And I can tell that they were multiplying fast. It started with cloudy water, then little fluffy white clumps of stuff floating all around in the water. A lot seemed to be attatching to the plants. Very big clumps of white stuff was floating on the surface, and whenever I stirred the gravel, a lot more would come swirling out. Then, it became worse and worse. Betta seemed somewhat unaffected. Eating fine. So I cleaned out the whole tank. Everything. Rinsed everything with hot water, the gravel, the tank, the decorations, and scrubbed the plants. The sides of the tank were very slippery, so I wiped that off too. I put new aged water in, set everything up, and put the betta back in. I realized that I killed all the beneficial bacteria. But I didn't think it really mattered back then. Water was crystal clear, and everything was fine....for a few days. Then, the whole cloudiness thing came again, and they multiplied. I did daily water changes, and bought some Tetra AquaSafe. Still, they were multiplying faster than I could change them. Grew and grew. Sides of the tank slippery again. Strangely though, betta seems unaffected. Now, I need some beneficial bacteria to help sort this out. But i'm sure that by the time they start to appear, there will be much too many fluffy stuff that they can handle. It's like a war. I'm holding off the enemy (fluffy stuff), while I wait for the troops to arrive. (beneficial bacteria) But, they won't be here in time, and soon, the enemy troops will grow and grow, and become too powerful for the good troops to handle. So I want to make my own beneficial bacteria in a seperate container. So when the fluffy stuff gets too numorous, that is when I clean the whole tank out like I did before, and then put some of the gravel with the bacteria in to prevent the cloudiness from comming back. If I were to clean the tank with the benefical bacteria in it, they will be killed along with the fluffy stuff. You know what i'm saying? So I want to know how you can make beneficial bacteria in a seperate container. I don't want to use the water from the tank, because that stuff in the tank will just multiply again. Can I just use plain old tap water? Do I have to add anything? How long until they arrive? Any other info you can give me? THANKS!!!

 

[gadazobe]

To get benficial bacteria you have to have a cycle - ammonia - nitrite - beneficial bacteria. They're not something that you can grow in a pot - they need to be fed (nitrite) and they need oxygen to live. The ammonia and nitrite come from fish and the oxygen from the filter (that's why an established filter is full of the stuff) If you do water changes daily, you're not giving the bacteria a chance to breed. If you want some, your best chance is to add a small filter and let them develop. The white stuff that you keep getting sounds like a fungus.

 

[aquamanis]

Hi FBG, I like your description of the "bacteria wars" sounds like a new george lucas film As Gad says, the only way to grow bacteria is to go through a cycle. However I have been reading lots of people are having great success with a bacteria supplement called bio-spira. Some people have skipped the cycling process altogether using this product and have noticed little to no ammonia or nitrite spikes even with a full fish load. You may want to try this if you don,t want to wait for the cycle to finish. Make sure its the product that has to be kept cool in the fridge. Other products such as cycle don,t work as well.

 

[FlareBettaGuy]

Can I get some gravel from my LFS? And I mean the gravel from the fish tanks, not the ones in the boxes. Maybe there will already be some bacteria in there. Will they multiply? Will it work?

 

[Eelzor]

Well, if you got 1 gallon of bacteria from the store tanks it will definatly work. But i have never seen or heard of a shop that would do that. Maybe you could get lucky

 

[FlareBettaGuy]

No, I mean a few pinches, cause my tank is only one gallon, and if I put a gallon of gravel in, there would be no more space. Go to my other post, please.

 

[FanOFish]

I have been following your thread of posts for the last few days and have never seen anyone have so much problem with a 1 gal. tank and a single fish ..My humbe opinion is this...

Get yourself some new gravel for the bottom of your tank and rinse it real good. Remove whatever decorations you have in your tank, boil them and set them aside. Take your fish and put him in a clean pot as a temporary home. Finally, throw away your old gravel which is probably the source of your problems, clean out the tank, (no soap) add the new gravel, water with conditioner, add the boiled decorations, let it sit 24 hours to make sure it the water clears up and add your Betta. Make sure not to overfeed and with regular partial water changes you should be ok....

Good Luck

 

[White Whale]

There's always StressZyme. It comes with the beneficial bacteria to help speed up the cycle a bit.

 

[Moe]

Why don't you get a tank with a filter? You could get a nice 5gal with a small filter for under $20.00. I'm sure your beta would be a lot happier. Better yet get a 10g and then you could put some other fish in it as well. It doesn't seem like the problem you are having would be cleaned up by beneficial bacteria. They are there to take the ammonia and nitrite out of the water. It does sound like you have some weird fungus. I'd scrap your 1 gal and start fresh.

 

[Juggernaut22988]

You can buy beneficial bacteria in a bottle