Bacterial bloom

[THXMark]

I have been fighting bacteria bloom in a 2-year-old, 55gal. Malawi Cichlid Tank, canister filter, for over a month now. I haven't done anything other than top off the water and add some SeaChem Prime (which I read was supposed to help).

Fish are fine, they don't seem affected, but I'm getting really tired of it. Everyone who talks about this issue seems to say it should only happen on new tanks, or to leave it alone and do nothing.

I REALLY want to rinse out the filter, but I have a feeling that will make it worse. But doing nothing and staring at a white fishtank is getting really old.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Aiken Drum]

My experience of battling cloudy water in established tanks that otherwise show no signs of poor water quality has delivered 2 methods of resolving it.

Reduce bioload, ie take out fish. Or

UV steriliser.

 

[Amazonian]

Sounds like the cycle got damaged and is rebuilding. It can happen for many reasons other than new tank but it is harmless. I would test all Parameters first. If everything is good, I’d do a large water change although it only sometimes helps. It’s safe to rinse your media as long as it’s only rinsed gently in dirty tank water. The substrate holds enough of your cycle. If you have another sponge filter or air stove, I add that to oxygenate and move the water. If you don’t already have one, I’d add a massive sponge filter going forward. I have Uv sterilizer wand that fits into most hobs so I plug it in, put it in the black covered hob and run it if ever there is a problem but I don’t run one constantly.