Bacterial bloom?? What does it look like??

[Loopy]

One of our tanks is a 50L roughly 2x1x1ft tank with a sponge filter, lots of cabomba and a few other plants, drift wood and 1 male siamese and 2 females, 2 bronze corydoras and 2 whiptails. I am getting concerned though cause all through the tank is greyish white fluffy scum. I am wondering if this is a bacterial bloom. If it is, How do i treat it? If it is not, Then what could it be? And what does a bacterial bloom look like?

can someone please help me, i do not want it to get too bad that it will start killing my fish. The tank has been running fine for ages but all of a sudden (or so it seems) it has this fluffy stuff everywhere and especially on the surface of the water and round the plants.

pH and nitrate levels are fine.

Any ideas??

Thanks Loopy

[herefishiefishie]

If the tank is milky,

There are a number of causes for water not to be crystal clear. Bacteria, medications, algal blooms or dyes in solution can all cause an aquarium to have discoloured water.

Milky Water

Bacterial blooms all are a result of a population explosion of hetertrophic bacteria in the water column. Generally there are two causes.

1) New Tank Syndrome

- a newly established aquarium often will go cloudy about three days after it is set up. Bacterial blooms in this case are a result of the sterile conditions after chlorine removal suddenly able to support bacterial populations. In most cases the growth explosion is controlled by the amount of organics present in the water when it was dechlorinated. When there an excess amount, the fast replicating bacteria up in the water column explode, using the nutrients in the water supply to heavily overpopulate, so much so that the tremendous number becomes a visible cloud in the water. Heavy instances of a bacterial bloom will look like someone poured a glass of milk into the tank

2) Bacterial Bloom in Older Aquariums

- Older aquariums are often overfed, fish may die and live plants can lose leaves, in other words there are a number of nutrient sources that can unbalance the bacterial populations in an established aquarium. In most instances the most important factor is the amount of food offered to the aquarium. Excessive food addition adds nutrients to the environment that are not always used by the fish. These easy meals for bacteria promote overpopulation and the same milky cloud that is seen in "New Tank Syndrome". The only real difference is the nutritive source and the timing compared to the intallation of the aquarium.

SOLUTION - Take a look at a local pet store's remedy shelves and count the water clarifiers. They are designed to precipitate out the cloud and leave the aquarium "Crystal Clear". They work - as directed - but only address the symptom. I suggest to refrain from feeding the aquarium for three days to allow the bacterial populations to naturally remove the nutrients. When this is done, the populations die back due to lack of food and the problem - as well as the symptom - disappears. Water clarifiers are great for the symptom, but I add as few extraneous chemicals to my aquarium, I prefer to help nature take its course.

This will help if its a bacterial bloom.

If the film is thick its a complex of proteins produced by anaerobic bacteria, how good is the tank maintaneance..... You need to siphon all of it out of the aquarium. What is left after that can be removed by laying paper towels on the surface and lifting them off. This stuff is very dangerous as it can seal off the surface and deprive the tank of oxygen. If it continues to accumulate, you need to upgrade your filtration.

If slim is more white & stringy, ammonia builds up to quick in the tank.

Bit hard to tell when you cant see what is going on.

Frenchy

ps; could it be the male fighter building a nest?

[Loopy]

Well i decided to do a do a gentle vacuum of the gravel in the tank and scooped out as much of the "scum" as i could. Then i did a water change and the tank looks a lot better. hopefully it will behave its self. will do another water change in a few days.

Also i think i thought of the wrong word when trying to describe the stuff in the tank. I said "scum" but that usually implies crud that sits on the top of the water but this stuff was attaches to plants and the filter and heater and well everything as well as creating a film on the top of the water. Yes the siamese had just blown a bubble nest (his 1st one!!! waaa!! and i ruined it. it was for his own good though.) but from the pictures i have seen of bubble nests there is not supposed to be this crud.

I thought it was rather entertaining watching one of the female siamese trying to staunch up to the end of the vacuum cleaner.

Thank you for your advice

loopy

[Loopy]

oh yeah i forgot to mention that we had a newish plant that we didn't realise is only a semi aquatic plant, fully submerged in the tank. it had started rotting but you couldn't tell by just looking at it. Our LFS had told us that they have one of these plants in their tank and it is just fine. i can't remember what the name of the plant is.

so perhapes that was a contributer to the scungy tank problem.

loopy

[Caryl]

You aren't using a product like pH Up or pH Down are you? That forms fluffy stuff all over the place (or it did when I used it years ago).

[Caper]

1) New Tank Syndrome

- a newly established aquarium often will go cloudy about three days after it is set up. Bacterial blooms in this case are a result of the sterile conditions after chlorine removal suddenly able to support bacterial populations. In most cases the growth explosion is controlled by the amount of organics present in the water when it was dechlorinated. When there an excess amount, the fast replicating bacteria up in the water column explode, using the nutrients in the water supply to heavily overpopulate, so much so that the tremendous number becomes a visible cloud in the water. Heavy instances of a bacterial bloom will look like someone poured a glass of milk into the tank

Hi herefishiefishie!

I don't remember this happening in the 10 gallon :-? I'd say, almost 3-4 days my water in new tank is cloudy. I wouldn't describe it as "milky" more just cloudy. So, I'm thinking it is as you described, new tank syndrome...would you agree????

[Shilo]

It sounds like you have lots of plants. Are you using a DIY C02 bottle by any chance? If the yeast over reacts it can force its way through the tubes and into the tank leaving something similar to what you described.

Not that I don't know from personal experiance or anything :oops:

[Pegasus]

Check the driftwood you have in there... It may be leaching a whitish residue.

Bill.

[Caper]

Uh...shilo - Pegasus?

I posted the last question on this subject. First one since March. Should I have created a new one?

[Pegasus]

I posted the last question on this subject. First one since March. Should I have created a new one?

I see what you mean.... Didn't realise you had dug up an old thread

No need to start another.. the info here will help others.

Bill.

[Shilo]

Sorry Caper, I didn't click onto to it either. :oops:

But to answer your question - is Yes, the cloudy water you described would just be the bacteria growth of the new tank syndrom. Weird things can happen at these times.

[Caper]

Hi Shilo & Pegasus

Thanks!

Shilo I couldn't remember the 10 gallon being cloudy...but I do remember it being clear the first time :-? :-?

[Shelley]

I have two tanks currently looking very milky/cloudy..... I did a 25% water change on both on Friday, and by Sunday the cloudiness was pretty bad in the smaller of the two.....

No sign of distressed fish yet, but the tanks look awful. I HAD cleaned both filters of both tanks (which i dont usually do)....and the filters were filthy....i just rinsed the media in a bucket of the siphoned off water...and used tank water to re-prime the pump. COULD be over-feeding...COULD be i have cleaned the filter "too much" (thought it was the dirtiness of the filter causing the problem as the tanks had started to go cloudy. I cleaned out 2 of my other populated tanks at the same time and they are both fine.(i.e. same water used)...The smaller of the 2 tanks has been running for several months, the larger has been running again for maybe a month but the filter had been running in another tank for several weeks prior to re-setting up the larger tank. (360 litre and 180 litre tanks)...the 360 litre has about half a dozen fish in it now (gouramis, corys)