ally07 Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 Well, I did it again.. I think I crashed some of my bacteria colony yesterday during a water change. &c:ry I normally do 50% weekly and top it up from the hose which is fine during summer but I keep forgetting that it's getting colder. :facepalm: My self-denial has resulted in too great a temperature change which bacteria obviously do not like. Take heed to my words, fellow fish keepers and don't repeat my mistake haha.. Smaller water changes over winter will prevent an ammonia spike. Anyway, measures have been put in place. Specifically, feeding has been suspended and 10% water changes are being done daily. I'm glad that the ammonia only spiked to 1.0 instead of an 8.0! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GZ_Loach Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 I did that onces a few years ago, and ended up with fish getting white spot. I did that once and decided not to be lazy and just did it with buckets (adding warm water as i went) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos & Siran Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Wait...the good bacteria doesn't like cold water?, so how does it work in say a goldfish tank? We've just left our external and all the media from the trickle filter working in a bucket under the porch, while I get around to repairing the tank, but all the bacteria will have died anyway and we'll have to cycle the tank again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 I would suspect that it was (more) chlorine in the water that killed some of the bacteria in the filter. Carlos & Siran, are you feeding the bacteria in the filters under the porch, without food they will die and will then need cycling or other [live] media added Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GZ_Loach Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Different bacteria in cold and tropical tanks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos & Siran Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 We're adding stresszyme every few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 I usually do temperate water changes (or up to temp) on my tropical tanks during winter. Cold water during the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ally07 Posted April 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 I think I read somewhere a while ago that temperature changes can kill off the bacteria.. So if the water in the tank is 25 deg, adding too much colder water will cause a sudden drop, thereby killing the bacteria. I usually do 40-50% without any problems during summer, so my suspicion is that it was the water temperature change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
si_sphinx Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 I would think a sudden temp drop would possibly kill them? But slow changes not so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos & Siran Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 We might be alright then as we filled the bucket with warm water and let it cool naturally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ally07 Posted April 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 We might be alright then as we filled the bucket with warm water and let it cool naturally. Might be even better if you added some fish food into the buckets just to let it rot and feed the bacteria.. Definitely cheaper than Stresszyme! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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