Holy Bacteria Bloom

[Wenrl]

I’ve had a 40 gallon freshwater for 2 months and I’m making mistake after mistake (not for lack of trying).

So, I THOUGHT my tank had cycled before I added fish (you see where this is going...) For the past two weeks I had 6 Serpae, 1 betta (bad combo, different story, but as long as there is a school of Serpae all is well) and 4 otos. These were not added at once. On Friday I added a school of 6 phantom tetra.

The next day, ammonia was rising, water was cloudy. I vacuumed and did a PWC. I used Ammo Lock.
Woke up in the morning to the smokiest water I have ever seen. Tested water and ammonia was worse. Went to pet store and had them test it and it was better (but at a 3). I got ammonia reducing media cubes for my filter. I did a 50% water change.

I can barely see my fish unless they come up to the glass. They are acting like always. Serpae chasing each other. Betta hanging out where he does and exploring occasionally. Otos are running around sucking on things. I’ve seen 4 phantoms, but since all of a breed need to be visible at once and these guys hang out in the back where I can’t see them, I’m wanting to assume they’re okay. I didn’t feed yesterday and fed minimally this morning mostly to check on them. They look fine. Their gills look like always. Changed 10% water. Also, I have real plants and an air stone, if this makes any difference.

Anything else I can do here? How long will this last?

 

[Autumnsky]

One thing which happened way, way back to get me involved in modern fish keeping, was a massive bacterial bloom (before knowing about the nitrificaton cycle) which lead me to change the filter pads over and over. An no one around me (lfs) being able to tell me about the reason why.

I had pearly white water for 3 weeks after calming down and reducing ammonia (and stop changing my filter pads [almost ever])


Fish were fine after getting the ammonia in check and doing only necessary water changes.

That was around 9 years ago.

FF to now and I have learned so much and share what I can to further safe and best practices for the fish tanks.

Getting the ammonia back to basically 0 would be a big goal.

Then just know that a bacterial bloom could take about 21 days to run its course.

Feed enough to keep the little guys alive, maybe split the feeding to 1/2 as much 2 times per day.


Also feed just what they will eat in a minute. It is a bit more difficult to see sinking food, just estimate what they need and let it be.

A friend told me to consider the amount of food needed in a day to be as much as the size of the fish's eye. Then split the amount into 2 feedings.

This kinda keeps them hungry and towards the purpose of eating all the food without there being leftovers to turn into ammonia.

Do not change your filter media. You need to get to the completion of the cycle on the tank as well.

You may see the cloudiness clear up sooner - it might just depend the type. In mine, just one day around the end of the time period, the tank was all cleared up, like overnight!

Check out the article / last line of my signature. This will link a few useful articles as well.

But in the interest of ease, here are the 2 other major ones.

I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice

Fish-in Cycling: Step over into the dark side - Aquarium Advice

 

[Wenrl]

Thanks so much. I hope I can see ALL my fish soon. I can wait for the clouds to clear as long as I know there’s not a dead one lurking and making it worse in there.

 

[Leeatl]

I would change at least 50% of the water as needed to get and keep ammonia down to less than 1ppm and you can use Prime to detoxify the ammonia . If you can get some old filter material/sponge from another hobbyist or a fish store , that will help as much as anything .

 

[Autumnsky]

Thanks so much. I hope I can see ALL my fish soon. I can wait for the clouds to clear as long as I know there’s not a dead one lurking and making it worse in there.

It will be harder to see a dead one for sure. A flash light might help at least see their shadows.

Checking the parameters will also help you know the water is safe. If it is safe, the fish just go about their day like it is no big deal.

Checking for the "floaters" in case of death is a good idea. But you will be able to see if ammonia levels are off when checking parameters and know to look around for a dead one /time to change water.

Everyone usually wants to see their fish, not weird milky water. When mine happened I was shocked that I was just supposed to wait for it to get finished. There is the option of buying expensive UV light system for water processing / bacteria killing.

My understanding that the cheap ones (many found online) do not really take care of disease type bacteria, which is as an investment purchase for what you might need the UV system for. If you do consider a UV system, do a lot of research to make sure your money is well spent.

 

[SkinnyKirby]

I would highly recommend that you use a clay based water treatment. Google happy life/easy life filter medium. Its soo good, it doesnt contain any bacteria, just some kind of clay that binds bad stuff and also binds ammonia for 24 hours

 

[Wenrl]

I don’t believe it, but water cleared pretty well about three days after this and even better, every fish survived! A week later, it was crystal clear. I’m still needing to treat for ammonia, but so far, we’re all okay!

 

[Autumnsky]

Hey!!! that is great news.

So nice to be able to see your fish!