ok. So my tank started out rough. I got a used tank from a friend with rocks and decorations and a filter and heater... all used. Set it all up and ran it with good declornated water for 24 hours(the tank was a cloudy white color)...then bought two goldfish and stuck um in. They died overnight and the cloudyness had gotten worse. So i drianed the entire tank and ran everything under hot water. Then repeated to proses. The water was cristal clear now. I though all was well and so i added two more goldfish... one died two days later but from the reserch ive done it might have just been a bad Walmart fish... anyway I let the other little gold fish have some fun for the next couple of days (his name is pedro) and i now have added 8 ish medium size convict ciclids. The past owner took very poor care of them and they have bad dicoloration and he said the tank he has was overstocked and they would bite eachothers fins( they have lacerations all over the fins). Everything was going good. I bought ciclid food and “tetra cleaning bacteria” and added some of that aswell... this is the problem. Im haveing. Another bacteria bloom. I assume its the tetra stuff but what do i do. Im on a regular schedual of 25% water changes once a week and just did one as soon as the bacteria bloom happend. I dont want these fish to die, they have gone through enough. Ps i do not have a test kit as of yet and im not sure of the exact perameters of the filter. It takes the large blue size filter cartridges.. thats all i know... i also anded a bubbler and a 6” stone to the back of the tank. How do i help create good bacteria now that i already have the fish in the tank. I dont want to make them suffer
Cannot control the bacteria blooms
- Thread starter Garrett
- Start date
Hi and welcome to the forum 
If the water is going milky cloudy it is caused by too much food and not enough filtration, or a filter that is not established. In your case I would say too much food and a filter that is not established.
Reduce feeding to once every second day and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day until you get some test kits or get the water tested at a pet shop.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Basically anything that breaks down in water, (fish food, fish waste, dead plant, etc) produces ammonia. Over a period of about 2-3 weeks, the filters develop colonies of beneficial bacteria that eat the ammonia and convert it to nitrite. Over the next few weeks the filters develop more bacteria that eat the nitrite and convert it into nitrate. When the filters have all these good bacteria, it is considered cycled and you can increase the feeding to once a day. However, until that time, the less food going into the tank, the lower the ammonia levels will be, and the less stress the fish will be under.
Do not add any more fish to the tank until the filter has cycled.
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If you can tell us what make/ model the filter is we can tell you how to clean it. If the filter doesn't have any names on it, take a picture of it and post it on here.
----------------------
If you want to buy some test kits, buy liquid test kits because they are more accurate than paper test strips. Check the expiry date on any test kits and don't buy them if they are kept in a warm fish room or in front of a window because ehat damages the chemicals in them. When you get the test kits home, keep them in a plastic container with a lid and keep that in the fridge.
*NB* do not let children or animals get to the test kits because the chemicals are poisonous. Rinse the test phials out under the tap and wash your hands with soapy water after doing a test.
The test kits you want are: Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate & pH. If you want more test kits get general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH), but they are not really necessary.
If the water is going milky cloudy it is caused by too much food and not enough filtration, or a filter that is not established. In your case I would say too much food and a filter that is not established.
Reduce feeding to once every second day and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day until you get some test kits or get the water tested at a pet shop.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Basically anything that breaks down in water, (fish food, fish waste, dead plant, etc) produces ammonia. Over a period of about 2-3 weeks, the filters develop colonies of beneficial bacteria that eat the ammonia and convert it to nitrite. Over the next few weeks the filters develop more bacteria that eat the nitrite and convert it into nitrate. When the filters have all these good bacteria, it is considered cycled and you can increase the feeding to once a day. However, until that time, the less food going into the tank, the lower the ammonia levels will be, and the less stress the fish will be under.
Do not add any more fish to the tank until the filter has cycled.
----------------------
If you can tell us what make/ model the filter is we can tell you how to clean it. If the filter doesn't have any names on it, take a picture of it and post it on here.
----------------------
If you want to buy some test kits, buy liquid test kits because they are more accurate than paper test strips. Check the expiry date on any test kits and don't buy them if they are kept in a warm fish room or in front of a window because ehat damages the chemicals in them. When you get the test kits home, keep them in a plastic container with a lid and keep that in the fridge.
*NB* do not let children or animals get to the test kits because the chemicals are poisonous. Rinse the test phials out under the tap and wash your hands with soapy water after doing a test.
The test kits you want are: Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate & pH. If you want more test kits get general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH), but they are not really necessary.
The filter is a hang on the back (HOB) style of power filter, and possibly a Top Fin brand.
These filters work by sucking water into the filter case, letting the water flow through the filter media (the blue and black plastic thing with the black sponge), and the clean water flows back into the tank. The beneficial filter bacteria live on the black sponge. There might be a small mesh bag container ceramic or plastic beads that also holds beneficial filter bacteria.
The black sponge in the blue and black plastic thing might container carbon (black granules). Carbon is used to absorb chemicals from water and after a period of time it becomes full and should be removed and replaced if you want to replace it. However, most aquariums do not need carbon and it will absorb medications and plant fertilisers if you have it in the tank. I do not recommend using carbon unless you have chemicals in the water that need to be removed.
You can usually make a small cut in the top of the black sponge and shake the carbon out and throw it away. If you want to add new carbon then buy a box or bag of Activated Carbon or Highly Activated Carbon from a petshop, rinse some off under the tap to remove any dust. Then add it to the black sponge via the small hole you make in the top to remove the old stuff.
To clean these types of filter you turn them off at the power point and unplug them from the power socket. Take the filter materials out of the filter and squeeze them out in a bucket of tank water. When they are reasonably clean, get another bucket of tank water and squeeze them out in that. Put the filter materials in the tank. Pick the filter up and carry it outside and pour the old water onto the lawn or garden. Remove the intake pipe and then rinse the filter and intake pipe under some tap water.
--------------------------
On most HOB style filters, you can separate the motor from the case by holding the motor (under the bottom of the filter case), and gently turning it 90-180 degrees and then carefully pulling the pump away from the case. Rinse the case where the motor joins it to remove any gunk, and wipe the motor down where it fits in the case.
In the motor is an impellor. It will be a thin magnetic cylinder about 2 inches long x a bit less than 1/2 inch in diameter, and have a plastic bit on one end with 3 or 4 plastic blades that stick out evenly around the magnetic bit. There might also be a small plastic fitting that sits on top of the impellor and that should have a rubber bit that goes on the end and a thin steel rod (impellor shaft) that the impellor sits on.
Remove the plastic fitting (if it has one) and the rubber end bit and grab the plastic blades and carefully pull the magnetic impellor out. It should be a little tight but will come out. The magnetic impellor will be pulled into the motor by the coil inside the motor. You can't see the coil because it is sealed up in the plastic part of the motor, but it is there and will try to pull the impellor back in. The impellor shaft might also come out (depending on the particular brand), some do some don't.
Once you have removed the impellor (and impellor shaft if it comes out), check it for small plastic washers and any rubber bits on the end of the impellor. Put these bits on a table where they won't get lost. Rinse the impellor, shaft and the inside of the motor under tap water. Then put the impellor, washers (if there are any) and rubber bits back into the motor.
*NB* The electrical components in the motors on aquarium power filters are normally sealed in a plastic resin and that is covered in black plastic, so they are usually safe if they get water on the outside.
Smear a thin layer of Vaseline on the o-ring (rubber seal) on the top of the motor and put the motor back in the filter case, turn and twist to lock it into place.
Put the filter case back on the tank and put the filter materials in the filter. Fill the filter with water from the aquarium and plug the filter into a power socket and turn it on, (make sure the plug is dry before plugging it into the power socket). Make sure the water level in the aquarium is higher than the motor on the filter. The filter will spend a minute or so sucking water into it before it starts flowing back into the tank. Check the filter for leaks around the motor.
--------------------------
You can add a round sponge (from an internal power filter) to the intake tube on the HOB filter for additional filter media. You can also add sponges from other brands of filters to the HOB filter. If you buy a sponge you can easily cut it to fit your filter with a pr of scissors.
The following link shows an Aquaclear brand HOB filter being disassembled. Virtually all HOB filters are cleaned in the same way.
The second link shows you how to modify a HOB filter to increase the filter media in it.
These filters work by sucking water into the filter case, letting the water flow through the filter media (the blue and black plastic thing with the black sponge), and the clean water flows back into the tank. The beneficial filter bacteria live on the black sponge. There might be a small mesh bag container ceramic or plastic beads that also holds beneficial filter bacteria.
The black sponge in the blue and black plastic thing might container carbon (black granules). Carbon is used to absorb chemicals from water and after a period of time it becomes full and should be removed and replaced if you want to replace it. However, most aquariums do not need carbon and it will absorb medications and plant fertilisers if you have it in the tank. I do not recommend using carbon unless you have chemicals in the water that need to be removed.
You can usually make a small cut in the top of the black sponge and shake the carbon out and throw it away. If you want to add new carbon then buy a box or bag of Activated Carbon or Highly Activated Carbon from a petshop, rinse some off under the tap to remove any dust. Then add it to the black sponge via the small hole you make in the top to remove the old stuff.
To clean these types of filter you turn them off at the power point and unplug them from the power socket. Take the filter materials out of the filter and squeeze them out in a bucket of tank water. When they are reasonably clean, get another bucket of tank water and squeeze them out in that. Put the filter materials in the tank. Pick the filter up and carry it outside and pour the old water onto the lawn or garden. Remove the intake pipe and then rinse the filter and intake pipe under some tap water.
--------------------------
On most HOB style filters, you can separate the motor from the case by holding the motor (under the bottom of the filter case), and gently turning it 90-180 degrees and then carefully pulling the pump away from the case. Rinse the case where the motor joins it to remove any gunk, and wipe the motor down where it fits in the case.
In the motor is an impellor. It will be a thin magnetic cylinder about 2 inches long x a bit less than 1/2 inch in diameter, and have a plastic bit on one end with 3 or 4 plastic blades that stick out evenly around the magnetic bit. There might also be a small plastic fitting that sits on top of the impellor and that should have a rubber bit that goes on the end and a thin steel rod (impellor shaft) that the impellor sits on.
Remove the plastic fitting (if it has one) and the rubber end bit and grab the plastic blades and carefully pull the magnetic impellor out. It should be a little tight but will come out. The magnetic impellor will be pulled into the motor by the coil inside the motor. You can't see the coil because it is sealed up in the plastic part of the motor, but it is there and will try to pull the impellor back in. The impellor shaft might also come out (depending on the particular brand), some do some don't.
Once you have removed the impellor (and impellor shaft if it comes out), check it for small plastic washers and any rubber bits on the end of the impellor. Put these bits on a table where they won't get lost. Rinse the impellor, shaft and the inside of the motor under tap water. Then put the impellor, washers (if there are any) and rubber bits back into the motor.
*NB* The electrical components in the motors on aquarium power filters are normally sealed in a plastic resin and that is covered in black plastic, so they are usually safe if they get water on the outside.
Smear a thin layer of Vaseline on the o-ring (rubber seal) on the top of the motor and put the motor back in the filter case, turn and twist to lock it into place.
Put the filter case back on the tank and put the filter materials in the filter. Fill the filter with water from the aquarium and plug the filter into a power socket and turn it on, (make sure the plug is dry before plugging it into the power socket). Make sure the water level in the aquarium is higher than the motor on the filter. The filter will spend a minute or so sucking water into it before it starts flowing back into the tank. Check the filter for leaks around the motor.
--------------------------
You can add a round sponge (from an internal power filter) to the intake tube on the HOB filter for additional filter media. You can also add sponges from other brands of filters to the HOB filter. If you buy a sponge you can easily cut it to fit your filter with a pr of scissors.
The following link shows an Aquaclear brand HOB filter being disassembled. Virtually all HOB filters are cleaned in the same way.
The second link shows you how to modify a HOB filter to increase the filter media in it.
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