Bacterial bloom?

[futurestep9169]

Ok, I give up.

My 55g won't clear up. Water is so cloudy no matter how many water changes I do or how many times I clean the rocks. It's about 5 months (20 weeks) old, so it's completely cycled. Numbers are good. Plenty of filtration - an Aqueon 75 and Emperor 400. I am overstocked (but this problem has been ongoing for 2 months now, and I have only been overstocked for 5 days) - I have a 4" Tiger Oscar, a 2" Firemouth, and an active Pleco who does a great job. I am trying to find a home for the Oscar - LFS won't take him. My tank, up until 5 days ago, was just the Oscar.

I have attached a pic. This is how it looks even right after a water change. Help!

 

[Scottyhorse]

If you are completely washing or vacuuming the gravel, you are getting rid of a lot of BB so then you get a bacterial bloom, hence the cloudy water. Could you post the exact water parameters from a liquid test kit? Just because a tank is 5 month old, doesn't mean it is cycled.

 

[armymp327]

adding to what scottyhorse said, even though its my personal opinion that the majority of BB lives in your filters and not the gravel, do you replace the cartridges in the filters? or do you wash them in old tank water during a PWC?

also did you wash that gravel before putting it in the tank the first time?

and current ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels would be helpful

taking a second look at the pictures, it looks like the water has a green hue to it. can you tank the water and put it into the white cup and tell us if the water is greenish or clear/white

 

[ashleynicole]

Your probably cleaning too much. Try not cleaning and only feeding very small amounts of food once every 3-4 day for a couple of weeks. Do a water change but skip the gravel vac and see what happens. When I leave my tank alone and don't feed for 3-4 days the water is pristine.

 

[futurestep9169]

adding to what scottyhorse said, even though its my personal opinion that the majority of BB lives in your filters and not the gravel, do you replace the cartridges in the filters? or do you wash them in old tank water during a PWC?

also did you wash that gravel before putting it in the tank the first time?

and current ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels would be helpful

taking a second look at the pictures, it looks like the water has a green hue to it. can you tank the water and put it into the white cup and tell us if the water is greenish or clear/white

Held up against a white door I would say a tiny bit greenish/yellow.

 

[futurestep9169]

Your probably cleaning too much. Try not cleaning and only feeding very small amounts of food once every 3-4 day for a couple of weeks. Do a water change but skip the gravel vac and see what happens. When I leave my tank alone and don't feed for 3-4 days the water is pristine.

I will try to do water changes every other day with minimal to no feeding and see if that helps. I appreciate the feedback. I don't know if I'm cleaning too much, as I only clean once or twice per week with a 30-50% water change each time. I do vacuum the gravel every time I do a water change too.

 

[ashleynicole]

First do nothing for 3-4 days, no water change, no feeding, nothing.

 

[armymp327]

Held up against a white door I would say a tiny bit greenish/yellow.

looks like algae to me, how often are the lights on, and is the tank in direct sunlight at anytime during the day?

 

[futurestep9169]

looks like algae to me, how often are the lights on, and is the tank in direct sunlight at anytime during the day?

I don't see any algae. I had really bad brown algae until the Pleco came along. The lights are on from 7 am - 9 pm. No direct sunlight hits it, as it is in between my patio door and a window along an outside wall, and there are no other so windows in the room.

 

[armymp327]

the algae is in the water colum, thats why your water was a greenish tent to it in the glass

look up algae bloom.

and its because you have the lights on for 14 hours, that is way too long, even for live plants. 8 hours is the average recommendation

 

[futurestep9169]

the algae is in the water colum, thats why your water was a greenish tent to it in the glass

look up algae bloom.

and its because you have the lights on for 14 hours, that is way too long, even for live plants. 8 hours is the average recommendation

So if I leave the lights off for a few days will it clear up? I'll look up algae bloom.

 

[armymp327]

leave the lights off, and blackout the aquarium using whatever you can to cover it. like a blanket. 3 days of that should do the trick, and afterwards only leave the lights on for 6-8 hours.

 

[futurestep9169]

leave the lights off, and blackout the aquarium using whatever you can to cover it. like a blanket. 3 days of that should do the trick, and afterwards only leave the lights on for 6-8 hours.

Thank you!!! I will do this and report back in a few days.

 

[armymp327]

oh i almost forgot, if using a blanket just keep an eye on the temp to make sure the extra insulation does not cause it to rise too much, or may need to lower the heater for the time being.

 

[futurestep9169]

oh i almost forgot, if using a blanket just keep an eye on the temp to make sure the extra insulation does not cause it to rise too much, or may need to lower the heater for the time being.

Good advice! Thanks a lot!

 

[katiekelsey]

Bacterial Bloom

I have a 46 gal fresh water tank and I had a bacterial bloom a few months ago.
My local fish store said I was cleaning out too much of the good bacteria. They told me to do a partial water change every other day for several days and don't feed for several days. The water cleared up after about a week. The fish store said to follow this schedule. First week do a partial partial water change, the next week vacuum only the right side, next week do a partial water change and the next week clean only the left side. And now I change filter media only on weeks of a partial water change.
My tank has been doing great since I started this schedule.

 

[futurestep9169]

Well it's been 3 days and I unveiled the aquarium from its covers. No progress at all. See pictures below. Any tips on what to do next would be appreciated. Chemicals??

 

[ashleynicole]

Uv sterilizer. ...

 

[armymp327]

did you peak during those 3 days? i forgot to mention that even a small amount of light for any amount of time would have thrown of the blackout.

but if you have the money you can pick up the green killing machine, its a submersible uv steralizer. i think petsmart has them for around $50. they are not great, and are only good for getting rid of algae (some people get it for parasites or virus killing but that uv steralizer is no were near adequate) i think this might be your best bet seeing the placement of the aquarium next to the windows

so try that, or do the black out again, ensuring there is 0 light entering the aquarium for the entire 3 days, that means your fish will not be eating during that time, unless you try to feed them in the dark at night lol.

 

[futurestep9169]

did you peak during those 3 days? i forgot to mention that even a small amount of light for any amount of time would have thrown of the blackout.

but if you have the money you can pick up the green killing machine, its a submersible uv steralizer. i think petsmart has them for around $50. they are not great, and are only good for getting rid of algae (some people get it for parasites or virus killing but that uv steralizer is no were near adequate) i think this might be your best bet seeing the placement of the aquarium next to the windows

so try that, or do the black out again, ensuring there is 0 light entering the aquarium for the entire 3 days, that means your fish will not be eating during that time, unless you try to feed them in the dark at night lol.

I only peeked at night when it was dark.

I will pick up some of the stuff you mentioned, thanks. I thought between the windows would've been the best bet cuz it's not in direct sunlight. Guess I was wrong!