Algae/bacteria Bloom Or Something!

[LionessN3cubs]

First things first. Tank has been up a year. Fishless cycled and everything is spot on.

Got up this morning to cloudy sides of the tank. Water seems to be fine but there is tons of gunk growing on the sides and on the sponge filter.

2 things have been done differently. Firstly my snail died so I went and bought an algae scraper and used that about 4-5 days ago. Secondly, I bought a new (better I think) kind of food.

The stuff Im growing in there is tall..not mossy. Its growing on my spongefilter and literally is "blowing" in the current. It kinda looks like toilet paper does when it dissolves if that helps. Kinda white maybe a green tint to it.

Any ideas what it is and how to get rid of it?

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Lioness,

Good to see you on the boards again. Not seen you around for ages.

Can you get a pic of this 'growth'? A picture speaks 1000 words..........

Cheers

BTT

 

[LionessN3cubs]

[URL="http/s576.photobucket.com/albums/ss208/L...nt=100_3610.jpg"]http/s576.photobucket.com/albums/ss208/L...nt=100_3610.jpg[/URL]

You can see the white stuff floating around now that I've loosened it all...it was attached to the sides, the sponge filter and some of the plants.

When I started cleaning the tank after finding this, I pulled out the filter media and it was positively CLOGGED. I swished it in the tank water and cleaned up the filter sucker thingy because that was clogged with it too..now Im wondering if this happened because my filter media just got too clogged to filter correctly? I dunno but I need help LOL.

Im gonna move the fish to my smaller tank while I clean and empty everything...substrate and all..and wash it all down in hot water..hope thats right to do LOL.

 

[Colin_T]

there is no image to the link you provided.

don't wash the tank out with hot water because you will mess up the filter and have to cycle the tank again. Cut back on feeding and do partial water changes and gravel cleans each day for a week. Then see how it looks. If it is still there then it is probably the new food or a dead fish that is decomposing somewhere near the filter.

 

[LionessN3cubs]

there is no image to the link you provided.

don't wash the tank out with hot water because you will mess up the filter and have to cycle the tank again. Cut back on feeding and do partial water changes and gravel cleans each day for a week. Then see how it looks. If it is still there then it is probably the new food or a dead fish that is decomposing somewhere near the filter.

http/i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss208/L...x3/100_3610.jpg

try this one

 

[Colin_T]

need a bigger picture of the blue dinosaur

 

[Underwurlde]

Hiya,

How big is your tank & what filter do you use?

I see you have plants. Are they real?

What levels of lighting so you have?
How long are the lights on for?
What kind of lights are they?

Do you use a yeast-based DIY kit for CO2 for the plants (assuming they are real)?

Is the tank cycled & if so for how long?

Have you made any recent changes to the tank? Think of ANYTHING.

What is your feeding regieme: How much and how often?

All relevant questions, so help us and answer as much as you can so we can help!

Andy

 

[LionessN3cubs]

Hiya,

How big is your tank & what filter do you use? 10 gallon penguin mini biowheel filter

I see you have plants. Are they real? No real plants they're all fake

What levels of lighting so you have? ? levels I dunno...just hood lights
How long are the lights on for? few hours every day..usually evening hours
What kind of lights are they? incandescent, only 1 bulb running

Do you use a yeast-based DIY kit for CO2 for the plants (assuming they are real)? n/a

Is the tank cycled & if so for how long? fishless cycled...cycle finished last june

Have you made any recent changes to the tank? Think of ANYTHING. NO changes except the snail dying and now Im scraping algae instead of the snail eating it...and the brand of food..ONLY changes

What is your feeding regieme: How much and how often? 1 small pinch per day for 1 adult platy and a immature platy probably 8 months old

All relevant questions, so help us and answer as much as you can so we can help!

Andy

 

[Underwurlde]

Spot-on answers really. Nothing glaring there.

Low lighting so thats not the trigger.

Check levels of Ammonia, nitrite & nitirite. Temperature would be good to know too.

Algae pounce on changes / fluctuactions in the tank.

Andy

 

[LionessN3cubs]

Spot-on answers really. Nothing glaring there.

Low lighting so thats not the trigger.

Check levels of Ammonia, nitrite & nitirite. Temperature would be good to know too.

Algae pounce on changes / fluctuactions in the tank.

Andy

well I changed the tank. 100% water change which I know isn't a norm but this gunk was so thick in the water I didnt have a choice. I empited EVERYTHING out rinsed all decorations and rocks in hot water (rocks repeatedly) I swished the filter media in the old tank water so as not to lose the bacteria colony, I cleaned the filter sucker thingy well, gave the sponge filter a squeezing in old tank water, dechlorinated the new water and added it back in at the right temp (82) Now, even WITH a 100% change, the NEW 10 gallons of water are cloudy even. I dont have a clue what to do about this. I guess I'll just do water changes constantly and hope it clears up? Ammonia and nitrite readings were all at 0 before the water change btw. HELP

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Lioness,

Any time you do a huge water change like that (and nice that you did it right!) you're still going to get some -new- cloudiness from the new water, so that might be part of what you're seeing. I agree with Colin - now that you've done the big change, just continue with some daily gravel cleans that take out some smaller percentage of water, whatever kind of schedule you can work in with the kids and all. I think by preserving your working filter but cleaning it, you'll see things begin to clear up and the gravel clean partial water changes being very frequent for a bit will really help it along.

It sounds like maybe the normal monthly filter clean wasn't frequent enough on your tank if that's what you were doing.

Nice to hear from you and hope things are well.

~~waterdrop~~