Algae Bloom

[rosebudshoes]

I have a 30 gallon freshwater tank which, yesterday held 5 x albino cory, 6 x male Guppies, 1 x male Dwarf gourami, 2 x female dwarf gourami and 5 x Amano shrimps. Yesterday evening I added 2 more albino cories and 2 more amano shrimps. This morning I pruned my Cabomba plant and replanted the trimmings. I have quite a few plants on the tank along with driftwood. I have returned this afternoon to find the tank turning a white cloudy colour. I've turned off the lights as past experience has shown me that this helps but I'm wondering why it happened this time. My tank has been set up now for approx 3 months.

Hope someone can help??

 

[rosebudshoes]

Sorry forgot to add my tank photo although the photo makes my tank look ok. The glass seems very white just now

 

[mrvincent]

Put some tank water in a white bucket, and tell us if the water is really white, or more greenish.

Ammonia test won't hurt.

 

[rosebudshoes]

Definitely white and stuck to the glass of the tank. When I scrubbed it off this morning it disappeared into the water and has coated my coconut shell and wood but not nearly as bad as it was. What would it be if its green?

 

[mrvincent]

Definitely white and stuck to the glass of the tank. When I scrubbed it off this morning it disappeared into the water and has coated my coconut shell and wood but not nearly as bad as it was. What would it be if its green?

Green = algae bloom = too much light most of the time
White = bacterial bloom = tank probably cycling.

I would do a ammonia/nitrite test, if you can't do it, do a 50% preventive waterchange. This is possible the water white cloud again, but it won't last more than a week.

I would cut down on feeding for this period, as the water can get high in ammonia, and it's very toxic for fishs. Are the fishs gasping at the surface ? Do you have good circulation/aeration ? Bacterial bloom tend to consume a lot of the oxygen in the water.

Do you clean your filter media under the tap ? This can cause this as it kills all the beneficials bacterias on the media. Never rinse media under tap water.

I will also remove the dead floating plants of the water, as they release nutrients in the water.

 

[rosebudshoes]

The fish seem fine and none are gasping for air. Will do a test later and probably a water change too. There seems to be a lot of debray on the plants which is making them look pretty ugly. One of them looks like it's dying. Will let you know how the water is later. Thanks for your advice.