Hundreds of little particle things in the water!

[FlareBettaGuy]

It started with cloudy water. Now, I see little puffy bits of stuff everywhere. Some are tiny, and some are big. Like a centimeter. They are flooding the whole one gallon tank with my betta. No filter. No nothing. Just gravel, plants, and a hidey hole. I cleaned the whole tank out once, which I mentioned in my other post, and it killed out all the beneficial bacteria. But, it also killed the fuzzy stuff. So I had to make a sacrifice. But now it's comming back. They are floating around in the water. They are everywhere, and they look like little tiny dots in the water. Never had this problem before with my last betta. A lot of it is floating on the surface, too. And when I felt the side of the tank, it felt very slippery. I change the water partially everyday like I was told, and added some Tetra Aquasafe, but it looks like the stuff in the water is multiplying at a rate faster than my water changes. In other words, there are still so many, and there are more new ones made every day than the ones I take out during the water changes. So I think that they are steadily increasing in number, and my water changes are just slowing them down a little. And soon, i'm sure something bad is going to happen once there are enough of them. Betta is eating fine, and makes bubblenests, but i'm still worried. I heard that beneficial bacteria can help. How? And how long until they get here and come to the rescue?

 

[bgraber]

You only have one betta in the tank? Take it out and put it in some Dechlorinated water.. Empty your 1gal and clean it out good.. No soap! Maybe even use a little bleach but be sure to rinse many times to make sure none is left.. refill with De-chlorinated water and start over.. Make sure you do the same to anything that's going to go back in the tank.. Everything! Hope that helps..

 

[aquamanis]

Hi, I responded to your other post but I see what the problem is now. You say no filter and no heater? Well two things bacteria need to grow is warmth and oxygen. Without at least a filter or airstone you wont be able to grow bacteria. I suggest either a small sponge filter or the very least an airstone. You might get away with no heater but it could make all the difference too. Plants can use ammonia directly too so I would remove the plant untill you establish a bacteria colony. (If the plant uses the ammonia before bacteria has a chance to convert it you will not get a cycle going).

 

[FlareBettaGuy]

Hey, can I just get some gravel from my LFS? And I mean the gravel from a fish tank, not the ones in the boxes. Maybe there will already be some bacteria in there. Then, I put some in, and they will multiply, right? Do I still need to take the plants out for that? Also, I already cleaned everything VERY WELL already a week back. It was getting too serious at that time, so I had no choice. But then, it was growing back. Oh, and I said I have a one gallon, so a filter would not fit.

 

[MAM]

actually, you can fit a filter in a one gal tank, depending on its shape. penn plex makes a great little filter that fits well in 1 in and 2 gal tanks. lee's aquarium supplies (sold at petsmarts, petco, and some walmarts) make ugfs for round fish bowls even. check out www.thatfishplace.com, and look under filters for a description of the pennplex little filter, and www.leesaqpry.com for a listing of filter types they make. then call around and see if anyone inyour area carries them.
as far as getting gravel from the tanks at the lfs, you'd be taking the chance of introducing possible diseases to your tank that could be present in the lfs tank

hope this little problem clears up soon. its strange youre having such problems. maybe its a water problem..........................

 

[Cian McLiam]

The glass will feel slippy because of the bio film growing on it and algae, its not something to wory about, it just looks unsightly. The floating 'things' sound like planarian worms, which can be very tiny and just look like specks whereas some can be bigger and you can see them wriggle in the water. They are extremely difficult to remove and doing water changes is just scratching the surface. They are usually nocturnal and come out of the gravel at night. What I think is happening is a population explosion of these critters due to an excess of nutrients and decaying plant matter or more likely food. I will usually see these if a catfish or some anti-social fish dies unnoticed, they feed of the fish body and multiply at amazing rates. They will go away when the food source goes away.
They dont do any harm and are actually doing you a favour, they are telling you to clean the gravel or investigate whats feeding them. With no filter in the tank, there is loads of waste to feed on so Im sure they will be quite happy to stay where they are.

How deep is the gravel?

How do you clean it?

Ken

 

[FlareBettaGuy]

They sure don't look like worms to me.....just white fluffy chunks. Well anyway, the plants are rotting, yes. I can't keep the gravel that clean because the plants will get unrooted. And the cause for that is because you can't have that much gravel in a tank, cause it's not good. I always moniter the betta's eating. I feed him half a pellet cause one is too big for him to chew, and he eats that one. Then, I give him the other half, and he eats that, too. I do it again. Then again, until he gets three pellets. The gravel is around half an inch, I guess. But if I put any less in, the plants will have nothing to root them.

 

[aquamanis]

Hey, can I just get some gravel from my LFS? And I mean the gravel from a fish tank, not the ones in the boxes. Maybe there will already be some bacteria in there. Then, I put some in, and they will multiply, right? Do I still need to take the plants out for that?

You can get gravel but the thing is you wont be able to keep the bacteria alive without filtration or an airstone. The way I see it, you basically got two choices. Keep doing regular water changes to get rid of the toxins or put a filter in there and try to grow good bacteria. If removing the plants is going to disturb the gravel I would say know leave them in then. But like I said the plants can short circuit the nitrogen cycle by using ammonia directly. In planted aquarium forums they call it a silent cycle because the plants use all the ammonia before any bacteria can convert it to nitrites.

 

[FlareBettaGuy]

What exactly is an "airstone"? Does it create air or something? I'm picturing a small rock that dissolves into air, but I think i'm wrong. What do the they look like? Is my one gallon container too small for one? And how much do they cost?

 

[juliethegr8t]

An airstone is a porous type block that is hooked up to airline tubing, which is of course attached to an air pump. The air pumped into it comes out of the stone in little bubbles. So you'd need more than just an airstone if you decide to go this route. Usually the ones you see (around here at least) are blue - the smallest ones are cylinders and an inch or so long, and the larger ones are more of a blocked shape, and of course longer. They're not expensive, and usually the other stuff isn't either, unless you want to invest in quite a good air pump. One gallon might be to small, depending on how much your betta likes a current. They can generate quite a good one, unless you get an air pump with an adjustable flow, which might be helpful.

 

[aquamanis]

I don,t think a one gal is too small for a air stone. You only need a small air pump so it shouldn,t be too expensive. One trick is to let the plant leaves catch the bubbles and hold them underwater thereby helping to disolve the oxygen into the water. I,m sure your betta would like it too.

 

[lizard]

They sure don't look like worms to me.....just white fluffy chunks.

I noticed tonight that I have the same thing in my 10 gallon tank. It has a heater, a filter, live plants, etc. I've had it for awhile, just never made the connection between the white "fuzzy" stuff in my tank and this post. Hmmm... I haven't really done anything about it though...

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[FlareBettaGuy]

Wow...and even WITH the filter, extra space, and heater, you still get it...

 

[dwhite93]

You can add bacteria to your tank by adding a product like "Cycle" or "Stress-Zyme". It IS beneficial bacteria. I add it everytime I do a water change or add new fish. I have a Betta in a 1 gallon fish bowl with no filter. I change his water completely once a week and rinse the gravel. Make sure you declorinate the water though with a water conditioner. He has been happy that way for a year now. I change his water on sunday and on Wednesday I add a few drops of Cycle.
Bettas don't need filters because they are surface breathers. As long as you keep the water clean & don't overfeed them, they should be OK. Is your tank in direct sunlight?

 

[FlareBettaGuy]

Nope.