Sudden Algae Bloom

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Sorry... I am using the Penguin Power Filters for the BioWheel .. and the carbon is inside the filter material. The only way I could take the carbon out would be to leave out the entire filter since they are a unit, carbon inside the filter pack... Won't it damage the filter/pump if I run it without the filter pack in place? Everything I read about this unit says not to run it without the filter in place... am I understanding it wrong??? thanks!!
 
I would advise against any antibiotic treatments(or any for that matter) for a while, until the new filters can have some time to create new bacterial colonies. If you do chose to treat, make sure what ever you use doesn't harm the biological filter.

You can buy a whole roll of filter material and just cut your own filters to size. It's much cheaper.
 
That's an interesting idea... I thought we needed to have the carbon in there???geez... the more I learn about all this, the more I learn how little I know!!! lolol
 
Do yourself a favor and stop using chemicals unless necessary. The more you artificially change things, the harder it is on everything else to find balance. You would be amazed at what simple water changes can provide for just about any issue.

You ideally want to create a situation where the tank keeps itself in balance. Artificially changing the parameters will result in you having to constantly monitor conditions adding and subtracting remedies and never attaining a sustainable balance. This is extremely hard on the fish, who would be forced to continually adapt to a forever changing environment.

Carbon is good for removal of medication and clearing the tank of tannins produced by the introduction of real wood to the tank. Otherwise, it isn't really needed and you would be better served using that space for additional biological media or more fine mechanical filtration.

I'll use carbon on a brand new tank just to mitigate any ambient chemicals for a week or two. Then, you can substitute other filter media and save some money. I keep a little on hand in case I need to treat a tank, but otherwise don't use it. Although, I currently have some in to clear the water from some new driftwood I put in.

Good luck.
 
Driftwood?? hmmm... I am running a fresh water tank.. and everything in there is "fake".. except for the betta, algae eater, snails and ghost shrimp... well, and the gravel on the bottom but that is aquarium stone.. lol... My 15g is in great balance.. never an issue.. it is just this 10g that seems to be having a cyanobacteria issue, rather than an algae issue which was my first thought. Will frequent water changes stop that??? I'm afraid of killing my livestock in there if I change the water too often.... my critters are all living in perfect harmony.. just the cyanobacteria is out of control.... It was a new bio-wheel that went into the filter system but I had moved all the gravel, silk plants and decorative stone from the old tank to the new tank so I thought I would have enough biologicals to make it work.... yes?
 
Mine is a fresh water tank as well. However, comparing two tanks is probably counter productive. Each has its own ecosystem and the variables between the two separate any reasonable conclusions you could reach in the comparison. (ie: comparing your 15g to your 10g)

Water changes will not resolve anything. However, they will provide a consistent stable clean source that will beneficially affect what is going on, while removing some of whatever-it-is that is causing concern.

From what I can piece together, you have a newly set up tank with some bio moved from an existing tank. However, that will definitely NOT guarantee a cycle from happening or a biological function from running through the tank.

I recently set up a 20g long with bio material transferred from an existing tank and never had any issues with ammonia or nitrite, but still experienced an algae bloom, or more appropirately a bacterial bloom, which I consider to be absolutely normal. It is simply the tank responding to equalization. I never introduced chemicals and performance water changes daily. After noticing a skim of yuck floating on the tank water, I introduced air bubbles to increase surface agitation and break up the skim and within a week to 10 days I now have crystal clear water.

The issue surrounding assuming you have a bacterial breakout, and treating it as such, is that medication does not differentiate between good and bad bacteria. You will kill off beneficial bio-load and throw the tank into, at minimum, a mini-cycle. At the least, you will cause an imbalance and stress the fish, which can lead to health issues for the fish and then having to deal with more medications to try to stem the tide of other things brought on by the initial issue.

As long as no one is in danger, you have time on your side. Performing some daily water changes while vacuuming debris from the water and allowing any imbalance to stabilize may not solve anything. However, it won't hurt anything and may resolve everything. You don't know if you don't try.

If you try and it works, there will be less stress, healthier fish, better biological balance, and really not much downside.
 
Sparky74 said:
Out of curiosity, when you upgraded to the larger tank/filter, did you start off with brand new filters? Did any filter from the 5 gallon make it to the 10 gallon?

If you started the 10 gallon with a new filter and did not put any of the old filter material inside the new one(or run old one in new tank), you are probably going through a mini-cycle. If you used the old gravel/etc you may have had enough to handle some of the bioload, but if old filters were discarded, you lost a large amount of beneficial bacteria.

Plus, if you are treating with antibiotics(like erythromycin), you will further damage the beneficial bacterial colonies.

Increase the water changes and wait a while to see if it helps. Adding chemicals to treat algae usually only works temporarily. If conditions for the algae still exist after chemicals are removed, it will probably come back...

Are you sure it's not blue-green algae?...Not really an algae, but cyanobacteria.
Click to expand...

Agree, I was going to ask about the filter as well. If it's a new filter then you discarded most of your beneficial bacteria. Some live on substrate and plants, which is good, but most live on the filters, so tossing them could be an issue. Is the water a milky white, or just on the bottom? Since you just replaced the filters I'm wondering if it's a bacterial bloom which is common in new tanks or tanks going through the cycle again. Your water parameters aren't bad, but with detectable ammonia I'm guessing mini-cycle, so you'll want to test the water daily and do water changes as needed until the tank rights itself again. With ammonia at .5, if it is, a 60-70% pwc is in order.

Also, you mentioned you're using RO water. Is it pure R/O you are using or mixing it with tap? If it's pure R/O are you enhancing it with minerals, such as Kent's RO Rite? If not, you should. Pure R/O water doesn't have the minerals the fish need to stay healthy; in fact it doesn't have any minerals b/c it's stripped of everything so it should be supplemented. Just an aside.... :) Good luck.
 
Hi...
Yes, it is pure r/o water but I was putting in the Betta +Plus water conditioner with its minerals. Water is crystal clear. I had run the "new" filter in the old tank for a couple of days to "seed" the bio-wheel, but maybe that was not long enough. I moved both the gravel, decorations, silk plants and about half the water in the new 10g tank is from the old 5g tank as I wanted to keep as much of the environment the same for the critters. I "think" there is detectable ammonia... the color variation between 0 and 0.5 is so slight that I couldn't guess it exactly.. thinking between isn't too bad, but after the next change tomorrow I should have a better idea.. thanks so much!!!
 
Check back in a week or two and let us know how it is going. Keep on eye on the fish and water parameters in the meantime. I'm sure it will run its course and everything will be fine. If the situation starts affecting the fish or your parameters fly off the charts, you can look at the situation again.

Good luck.
 
Only five days, but the cyanobacteria is creeping back, and now my betta is showing signs of distress on his scales and losing his color.... the ammonia is 0 everything else is within normal range. temp is correct. I am beginning to think I need to remove my critters, a small amount of water, and sterilize the rest of the tank.... what would be the best way to sterilize it??? What about the bio-wheel and filter???? will they contaminate the tank again???
 
What are your nitrite levels? What are your nitrate levels? Are you still performing daily water changes? Are you taking the levels previous to the water change, or directly after? How many hours are you keeping your light on for the tank? What kind of light?
 
I was doing the levels after the change... I just tested now before a change....gH-60; kH-120; pH-8.0; NO2 and NO3-zero.
Lights on the tanks are on 10 hours a day, aquarium light is 15 watt T8 8,000K full spectrum. However, there is light in the room for probably 15 hours in total since the aquariums sit next to my computer. I am wondering I don't have any aquarium salt in this tank, although the 15 g does, I wasn't sure how salt would affect the betta since it requires "special" water... lol.. although I am sure that the water they live in natively is not "special", but I figure what we get is captive bred and probably not as sturdy as the wild ones....
 
I might suggest testing the water before the change. Testing after the change will always be low and wouldn't allow you the information about what is happening in the tank.

If your 0 on ammonia and 0 on nitrite, that's good. I'll assume you are doing daily water changes?
 
Yes I am.. the results above ARE before a water change.... does it tell you anything I need to know.... got the green carpet on the heater and the filter tubes as well as the rocks and decorations.... *sigh* waiting for it to attach to the critters next... I am not seeing any improvement.... thanks
 
All things perfect, it would be nice to see some nitrates to confirm your tank is fully cycled. However, with daily water changes for a week or so, it wouldn't be abnormal to not be able to measure them. But, you should see a little something on one of the measurements, either ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. All things 0, you can't blame bio-cycle for anything (right now).

I would definately limit the hours on the lights. In fact, I would try turning them off for a bit. Same tank footprint, same light, with a shorter tank height and I would expect to see algae with a full spectrum light.

I have a 12 inch deep 20 gallon long and have algae forming from an Marineland LED light, so I'm pretty sure a 15w full spectrum will create it. I introduced a mystery snail and a couple Otocinclus into mine. They've been gorging for a couple days.

The Oto's should be kept in groups no less than 3, but I used to have four in my 55 Gal and two didn't make it through an ich treatment. So, I'm letting them clean this tank and then I'm going to transfer them to the 55 and have a group of 4, leaving the snail and more limited lighting to take care of the 20L.
 
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