55 gallon tank
nitrate ~7-8
nitrite 0
ammonia .25
pH 6.8
Eheim 80 gallon canister
2 hang on back filters
tank is about 2 months old, but I got it used so my cycle seems to have had a good jump start
6 dwarf gouramis (3 male, 3 female)
3 emerald cory cats (fairly small)
1 red swordtail
What I think was a bacteria bloom began a few days ago with white cloudy water. I did 50-60% water changes the last few days (not today) the water parameters have been fine, no ammonia spike.
I just removed a bunch of fish from this tank (mostly tetras). I went from about 25 fish to 10. One small tetra had died, and I had not seen it until I did a water change. I had 9 of them, learned I need to count fish each day as I did not see it nested in a bunch of floating plants. I think the dead fish caused the bacteria bloom. The bloom started one or two days after I removed the dead fish. In any case I had a bunch of plants and I removed most of them too the day after I removed the dead fish. This was because some of them seemed to be dead and perhaps rotting so I was concerned about getting rid of as much organic material as possible. yesterday the tank was very clean and the plants reduced.
I added a medium sized piece of driftwood yesterday. Today, while the water is not as cloudy as the the first day of it being cloudy, there is a white kinda cottony cloudy stuff growing on the driftwood. (see attached)
I raised the temp yesterday too to make ready for the new fish that like warmer temps. I went from 80 to 82F.
I think the raised temps persuaded two gouramis to spawn. One guy built his bubble nest and there's been lot's of spawning behavior late today. I created a partition in the tank to divide the male and female pair from the others. After the spawning started I shut down one of the HOB, thinking my canister will handle the load with so few fish now.
I did a thorough vacuum and removed more plants yesterday. I am thinking of adding some larger fish at some point later. The water looked like it was getting less cloudy yesterday.
All the fish appear fine and are eating.
So I have two questions:
What's on the driftwood, should do anything or is it just bacteria or algae?
Do I need to worry about a .25 ammonia? I don't really want to change water right now because of the bubble nest?
If I end up with fry tomorrow can I somehow "collect them" and place them into a smaller tank? How do I catch them?
nitrate ~7-8
nitrite 0
ammonia .25
pH 6.8
Eheim 80 gallon canister
2 hang on back filters
tank is about 2 months old, but I got it used so my cycle seems to have had a good jump start
6 dwarf gouramis (3 male, 3 female)
3 emerald cory cats (fairly small)
1 red swordtail
What I think was a bacteria bloom began a few days ago with white cloudy water. I did 50-60% water changes the last few days (not today) the water parameters have been fine, no ammonia spike.
I just removed a bunch of fish from this tank (mostly tetras). I went from about 25 fish to 10. One small tetra had died, and I had not seen it until I did a water change. I had 9 of them, learned I need to count fish each day as I did not see it nested in a bunch of floating plants. I think the dead fish caused the bacteria bloom. The bloom started one or two days after I removed the dead fish. In any case I had a bunch of plants and I removed most of them too the day after I removed the dead fish. This was because some of them seemed to be dead and perhaps rotting so I was concerned about getting rid of as much organic material as possible. yesterday the tank was very clean and the plants reduced.
I added a medium sized piece of driftwood yesterday. Today, while the water is not as cloudy as the the first day of it being cloudy, there is a white kinda cottony cloudy stuff growing on the driftwood. (see attached)
I raised the temp yesterday too to make ready for the new fish that like warmer temps. I went from 80 to 82F.
I think the raised temps persuaded two gouramis to spawn. One guy built his bubble nest and there's been lot's of spawning behavior late today. I created a partition in the tank to divide the male and female pair from the others. After the spawning started I shut down one of the HOB, thinking my canister will handle the load with so few fish now.
I did a thorough vacuum and removed more plants yesterday. I am thinking of adding some larger fish at some point later. The water looked like it was getting less cloudy yesterday.
All the fish appear fine and are eating.
So I have two questions:
What's on the driftwood, should do anything or is it just bacteria or algae?
Do I need to worry about a .25 ammonia? I don't really want to change water right now because of the bubble nest?
If I end up with fry tomorrow can I somehow "collect them" and place them into a smaller tank? How do I catch them?
