Bacterial bloom

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Fallen Icarus

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Dec 25, 2011
Messages
23
The last 2 days has been gradually getting worse with a bacterial bloom. I gave the tank a good clean and found what might have caused it. ( not a pretty tale so I'll skip by this part for now.) I've done the clean and pwc. I've also added a few more plants because I remember hearing somewhere that they help control nitrate, nitrite and ammonia level. I done a check on all the levels and they seem fine except the ammonia was a little high but nothing out of the ordinary for a hard water area. Any suggestions of getting rid of the bloom. I don't want chemical control but will do as a last resort.
 
I wouldn't recommend anything except water changes. Does your tap water have ammonia in it? If not (or if the tank's ammonia is significantly higher than the tank's ammonia) then I'd contine to do pwc until toxin levels are lowered assuming there are fish in the tank. It should clear itself soon (also maybe check the filter media and see if it needs some cleaning in old tank water or dechlorinated tap water to loosen any debris).
 
Yep. Tap water contains ammonia but it's not very high. It's controllable. It was caused when Christmas visitors brought demon children and while I was away one of the bumped the tank while playing. The wood in the tank fell over onto the sand area and killed my two kuhli loaches. I was away for 4 days and my wife didn't know about the sand area and kuhli. When I got back and noticed the bloom, I did a tank clean and discovered what happened. The bloom was caused by two dead fish under a wood ornament. Children are now banned from that room. The tank is slowly clearing. It's taken 3-4 days but I'm starting to see the back of the tank again. The increased water and air rates have kept enough oxygen in the water so that none of the others have suffocated.
 
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