Cloudy water and dirty glass! Help!

[J.Serrano]

Guys, i noticed my water is cloudy since yesterday and i can see something in the inside of the tank. Seems to be white-ish... What is this???

Is it algae growing? Fungus?

My goldfish are sick... Wonder if this has anything to do with it, or its an issue with water temp...

 

[J.Serrano]

bump

Help please!

 

[gemach7]

bump

Help please!

What are your readings as far ammonia, nitrite and nitrate this looks like a bacteria bloom. Normal for while cycling a tank but means one of your values is too high and dangerous to your fish, if i had to guess id say ammonia.
A water change is needed and would suggest a bacteria additive like seachem stability.

 

[J.Serrano]

Thanks! I dont know the reading for those as i take the water to Petco for testing. Ill take a sample today and do the water change.

Last water change was saturday... Maybe i cant afford to lower the water change frequency yet?

 

[Fresh2o]

Your water parameters will help you decide how frequently and how much to change regarding water changes.
Not that I don't trust others doing the testing, reasons such as not having to leave the house and being able to test whenever you want as well as getting accurate numerical results are strong reasons for getting your own test kit.

 

[Caliban07]

Bacterial blooms usually occur when a tank is at the beginning of its cycle (like a new tank) or if the balance in the tank as far as the bacteria are concerned has been disturbed.

Throwing filter sponges or other medias away and replacing with new or washing filter media or ornaments in tap water will cause this.

Also changing the substrate or doing a very big water change (>50%)

 

[J.Serrano]

I did a big water change (~85%) on saturday cause i had a power outage and my tank was without circulation or oxygenation for 6-7 hours.

 

[J.Serrano]

So I showed this pictures to the people at Petco and they basically said that if its not green (like algae) it could be a bacterial bloom, cause fungus doesnt stick to the tank like that. However, I feel I kinda led them to that conclusion by telling them someone mentioned it in a forum. When I asked them what to do about it they said to scrub the tank... And I wonder what you guys think... Should I scrub it away? Or is this something that will fade away on its own?

If its blooming like that its probably cause the tank needs extra bacteria to deal with the ammonia and nitrites and nitrates. So I dont want to take that bacteria away and have my ammonia spike again. What do you think I should do?

Regarding the water parameters, they told me that the nitrates and nitrites are fine, ammonia is safe although there is some there. Chlorine was perfect. They also said that my water was a little acidic and that the alkalinity was low. What does this mean though? How do I fix it?

 

[UABsleeperSRNA]

How long has your tank been up and running.. If your tank is not cycled completely as others have said then it's probably elevated ammonia unstable bacteria population in the water eating ammonia.. You also may have shocked your tank with the large 85 % water change if your tank has cycled.. And a power outage can be very harsh on your bio system.. If you can't afford the big test kit I would recommend 100 % go get an ammonia test kit cost like 7 or 8 dollars at petco check it daily and water changes accordingly

 

[J.Serrano]

Tank has been up and running for about 5-6 weeks now... So it's still cycling really, but I had gone past the big ammonia spikes part of the cycle... I still have some ammonia in there but no big spikes over time. I have been using Seachem Prime and more recently AmQuel Plus for ammonia detoxifying. So I should have quite a bit of ammonia, although it should be non-toxic ammonium, and not free ammonia which is toxic. So im assuming that the bacteria will eat the ammonium as well as the free ammonia and thats why theres a lot of extra bacteria growth to try to process that. Does this sound right?

 

[UABsleeperSRNA]

Yes Bacterial Bloom typically is due to organics like ammonia in the water.. While products like Prime and AmQuel are great b/c they don't impact your cycling by allowing the ammonia to still be consumed by beneficial bacterial it should be noted that Prime i know for sure only detoxify's ammonia for 24 to 48 hrs and dissipates.. thus if you still have ammonia in the tank or your biosystem is not quite adequate to handle your bioload you will still have ammonia both free and ionized amQuel which i have never personally used from what i found on their website is effective for the first 5-10 min and may have some benefit up to 24 in detoxifying ammonia thus any produced after that can also be toxic to your fish.. not sure if it makes the compound inactive completely or not..?

With that said i would not dose medications like amquel or other ammonia meds except prime without knowing my specific ammonia level and also doing Whater changes..While on the subject of water changes.. They are the single best tool you can do for decreasing your ammonia levels and and other organic levels in the water.. a 50% water change will roughly cut your ammonia level in half +adding prime and your fish will be a lot happier.. personally when i have a cycling tank i do water changes about every other day.. usually around 25 % but with higher ammonia i would push that closer to 50% but would not perform anymore than 50% as this can could sometimes do more harm than good. Water changes will also decrease the bacterial bloom.. Also how much and how frequently are you feeding.. if you have increased your feedings this will also increase the bioload acutely thus raising ammonia and bacterial bloom

 

[Caliban07]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/your-guide-to-ammonia-toxicity-159994.html

Bacteria blooms are caused by heterotrophic bacteria that are suspended in the water column. They are trying to colonise a surface. Since you have been set up for 6 weeks I would suspect that you are cycled or very close to being cycled and there is little area for these to settle.

Large water changes can cause these bacteria blooms. The small amount of ammonia may have been caused by the excess heterotrophs being consumed by the already colonised ones. This is just a theory though so don't quote me on that. You may have also stirred the substrate which can apparently cause ammonia spikes. I would test you tap water for ammonia also just to see that it's not coming from there.

I wouldn't worry too much about ammonia readings of <0.5ppm as this is the combined total of both ammonium and free ammonia. Use the like at the top to match your ammonia reading against your ph and temp. This will give you the actual free ammonia reading. If you're in the green the fish will be fine. According to studies, fish start to suffer from free ammonia levels at 0.05ppm and above.

These ammonia detoxifying chemicals may be unnecessary in this case.

A power outage for a few hours will do very little to harm the bacteria. The filter flow just ensures that the water and nitrogen waste are being supplied to the nitrifying bacteria in the filter media. The bacteria are everywhere in your tank so as long as there is oxygen and an ammonia source the bacteria will be fine. In fact studies have shown that the nitrosomonas can go months without an ammonia source and they continue with little decrease efficiency one supplied again.

The danger of a power outage is of course a temperature decline ( slow of course) and a decreased efficiency of carbon dioxide/oxygen transfer which may see a ph decline. This can be easily controlled during a power outage by small water changes that will break the surface and replenish buffers.

 

[UABsleeperSRNA]

I Agree except the for the fact that Your Benificial Bacteria Need a Large Supply of Fresh water and OXYGEN flowing past them in order to grow or survive as they are oxidizing bacteria.. depending on your filter if like mine when turned off mostly drains back into the aquarium thus drying out my filter media the filter and potetionally killing your bacteria if prolonged.. or if it does not dry out their no longer being supplied with oxygen they need?.. couldn't find studies that said how long bacteria can live with out fresh oxygen supply Caliban07 if you had that article i would be interested in reading it.. but if you were to have a power failure like you did for six to 7 hours in a newly establishing aquarium i would think it could be enough to through off the nitrogen cycle..?

 

[UABsleeperSRNA]

from what i found online
"All species of nitrifying bacteria have limited tolerance ranges and are individually sensitive to pH, dissolved oxygen levels, salt, temperature, and inhibitory chemicals. Unlike species of heterotrophic bacteria, they cannot survive any drying process without killing the organism. In water, they can survive short periods of adverse conditions by utilizing stored materials within the cell. When these materials are depleted, the bacteria die." and nitrosomonas tend to be more sensitive thus with no flow through filter i would think they would use their stored materials and possibly die i guess depending on the length of time required to deplete their stores which i couldn't find?
From bioconlabs

 

[Caliban07]

I Agree except the for the fact that Your Benificial Bacteria Need a Large Supply of Fresh water and OXYGEN flowing past them in order to grow or survive as they are oxidizing bacteria.. depending on your filter if like mine when turned off mostly drains back into the aquarium thus drying out my filter media the filter and potetionally killing your bacteria if prolonged.. or if it does not dry out their no longer being supplied with oxygen they need?.. couldn't find studies that said how long bacteria can live with out fresh oxygen supply Caliban07 if you had that article i would be interested in reading it.. but if you were to have a power failure like you did for six to 7 hours in a newly establishing aquarium i would think it could be enough to through off the nitrogen cycle..?

I'll dig it out for you tomorrow. It's late here. There will still be plenty of O2 saturated in the water column to survive a power cut. I left my filter off over night the other day because the o ring had split. It was no big deal. Like I said there's bacteria everywhere. Not just the filter. The filter media provide lots of cubic feet surface area which is why the majority are in there but it's all over.

 

[Caliban07]

from what i found online
"All species of nitrifying bacteria have limited tolerance ranges and are individually sensitive to pH, dissolved oxygen levels, salt, temperature, and inhibitory chemicals. Unlike species of heterotrophic bacteria, they cannot survive any drying process without killing the organism. In water, they can survive short periods of adverse conditions by utilizing stored materials within the cell. When these materials are depleted, the bacteria die." and nitrosomonas tend to be more sensitive thus with no flow through filter i would think they would use their stored materials and possibly die i guess depending on the length of time required to deplete their stores which i couldn't find?
From bioconlabs

That biocon article is probably the first one I read as it's the first thing that comes up when you research this area.

These studies were controlled experiments. Id be a little miffed if the bacteria just gave up and died if ammonia were not present for a few hours.

Even if they did die the Decline in numbers would be very slow and linear as the deceased bacteria would become food subsequently feeding heterotrophs and in turn providing more ammonia.

Not all bodies of water benefit from a mechanical filtration system.

 

[UABsleeperSRNA]

Yes i agree I would not be as concerned with bacteria dying due to lack of ammonia.

I would be more concerned with power failure personally with my aqua clear draining back into my aquarium and drying out my filter which would kill those bacteria.

This is understanding the fact that beneficial bacteria are present thurought the aquarium. However, in a newly established aquarium one in which the biofilter is just establishing a sufficient amount of bacteria to nitrify ammonia that even slight decrease in bacteria could be enough to cause elevated ammonia and affect one's fish

-I do Agree that not all bodies of water depend Mechanical filtration systems otherwise how would you have striving and functional ponds or lakes.. but my line of thought is..?which may be completely wrong..? It really depends on the environment in which the specific strand of nitrifying bacteria grew.. for example the nitrifying bacteria in a swamp have developed and multiplied in an environment with almost no fresh water flow where as the bacteria that have grown in one's filter are a type that have developed and grown in an environment with constant High Water flows with higher Oxygen Saturation

Now if you stop that fresh o2 supply constantly flowing over Bacteria that have a developed a pretty rapid metabolism due to the High oxygen rich water flow of a filter my assumption would be that the bacteria become ineffective and hibernate or die.?

If you couple that with co2 build up and secondary decreased partial pressure of o2 in the water and you have a potetional for your biosystem to have taken a hit.. i do believe that is why some people have experienced "mini cycles" after power outages of even just 8-12 hrs.. of course along with altered temp and other influences

 

[jlk]

Guys, i noticed my water is cloudy since yesterday and i can see something in the inside of the tank. Seems to be white-ish... What is this???

Is it algae growing? Fungus?

My goldfish are sick... Wonder if this has anything to do with it, or its an issue with water temp...

What size tank is? How many goldfish? What type of goldfish?

 

[jlk]

Bacterial blooms usually occur when a tank is at the beginning of its cycle (like a new tank) or if the balance in the tank as far as the bacteria are concerned has been disturbed.

Throwing filter sponges or other medias away and replacing with new or washing filter media or ornaments in tap water will cause this.

Also changing the substrate or doing a very big water change (>50%)

Can you please explain how doing a 50% or greater water change is going to affect an established tank's cycle?

If this were the case, the majority of the members of this forum would have constant tank issues, including myself. Considering I do 75-100% often, if not daily on fry tanks, perhaps your theory is lacking substantiation.

 

[Caliban07]

Can you please explain how doing a 50% or greater water change is going to affect an established tank's cycle?

If this were the case, the majority of the members of this forum would have constant tank issues, including myself. Considering I do 75-100% often, if not daily on fry tanks, perhaps your theory is lacking substantiation.

I never said it was going to affect any cycle. Just that the water goes cloudy?