Hypo works / Foggy tank question

[fishman]

Steve AND Quarry
The first part of this is a thank you to both of you for helping me with my hypo. If anyone wants to see dedication from these 2, go to the sick forum and see my questions on hypo. I stayed with the hypo treatment vs copper and had a lot of trouble..most of it my doings Im sure. I was doing 2 water changes a day and for 8 weeks. It was worth it. Im ick free!!
My fish have been back in the main for 4-6 weeks now and doing well. So thanks to both of you!
Secondly, I saw a post of Steves the other day regarding someones tank looking like it had "snot" in it. After my fish went back in the main, I cleaned the tank well and reset it again to eventually get new fish for my main. I refilled it with water and had the heater and 2 HOB filters going with a small PH. I used new water and just wanted to make sure I didnt have any leaks. After a week or so I turned on the light to the QT tank and saw strings of what I call snot everywhere. I had nothing in there. Well I syphoned off this stuff and did a 40-50% water change and put 5-6 krill in there to start the cycle. Before I did the water was getting really cloudy. Now 2 weeks later the water is so snotty and cloudy, I cant see the heater in the back of the tank. So I cleaned it all out again tonight and will let it dry out. What did I do wrong? Im sure it was an algea bloom of some sort...how can I avoid this now?
Also do I just fill the QT tank with new fresh SW then throw the krill in there to rot? When I was pulling all of the water out tonight the krill was all slimy...is this normal? It wasnt in one peice but just slime.
Help me start my QT tank off right this time.
Thanks for all the help and time.

 

[Phyl]

Hey, I just added my hypo treated purple to my tank after 8 long weeks. Well worth it though. So rewarding to see an ich free fish. I really felt like I wanted to give back to the site for all the help that they gave me so I made an extra donation to the site in honor of the "Steve-S & QuarryShark Fan Club"

My main went through a really cloudy phase during the ammonia phase of the cycle. I did have some strange clear globs during that part of the cycle (now that you mention it maybe it did look like snot). If you're cycling the QT I don't think there's any way to avoid the "cycle". It's nasty. Period! LOL! I think that the krill was doing just what it was supposed to be doing.

 

[fishman]

Also I forgot to add. I think I have two problems...one is the clear slimy "snot" that appears to string from the heater and from the walls of the tank. It has no color. Secondly the tank being cloudy. It got so cloudy at times couldnt see the inside of the tank. NOW I didnt add the small PH (and by the way this is a 30 gallon long tank) until later in the process the first time. Also I fill up the tank all the way to the brim as it makes a lot of noise running from the HOB filters and splashing. Its in my room at night so I dont like it to sound like a river...Hope all of this helps.

 

[steve-s]

If it clear and resembles a jelly like substance, it will be from a bacterial bloom. The cloudyness in the water is the bacteria, the jelly like substance is typically an abundance of bacterial waste AFAIK. It can be cleared up by a series of water changes and repeated carbon use. It will eventually abate once the nutrient it's feeding from has been used up. It's not a big concern usually.

"Snot algae" aka dinoflagellates are a brownish colored jellylike filamentous algae. Usually caused from low pH and high nutrient. Much harder to be rid of and usually requires alot of buffering/kalk use to bring up and maintain the pH above 8.5 24/7 for a few weeks. That along with manual removal is about the only means of erradication. Since it's a QT, I would simpley break it down, bleach everything (10:1), and set up using new media and re-cycle.

Cheers
Steve

 

[stusclan]

Congrats Fishman, glad to hear the surviving fish are back in the main. Pretty nice feeling after all that work.

Terry

 

[quarryshark]

Glad to hear it all worked out for you!!

 

[fishman]

Yes hypo DOES work and Im must say I was not confident it would! So thanks again.
As far as the "snot" as I described...It is clear in color and whats weird is I cleaned the tank as well as the contents when I put the QT fish back in the main. I even let it air dry for 2-3 days before filling it back up. Then I filled it up, started the heater and HOB filters and like a week later turned the light on for the first time and this was when I noticed the snot stuff. I went ahead and placed the krill in there after doing a 50% water change. Then it went from the snot stuff to just pure cloudiness to where I couldnt see. So I decided to dump and start all over. I have let the tank dry our now for 3 days so Im hoping when I start this over, all will be well. Going to start it up again this weekend.
Also will 3-6 small krill be enough to start the cycle?
Lastly will the krill turn to mush? Is this normal?

 

[steve-s]

Also will 3-6 small krill be enough to start the cycle?
Lastly will the krill turn to mush? Is this normal?

The krill will eventually disintegrate. How well the amount you use to cycle with will depend on their size. If the larger frozen kind, I would use 6ish. If dried, I wouldn't use them at all.

Cheers
Steve

 

[fishman]

Yeah I knew they would disintegrate but just didnt know the process..Mine were starting to get real slimy and just mush...really nasty.
The ones I have are of the small nature and frozen. Maybe I will just buy some big ones from a LFS that are big. Have to drop by there anyway for something else.
Thanks!