Bacteria

[leafs]

I was just curious. How long doe's it take for bacteria to die off? I ask this because when I rinse my sponges out in the tank water to clean them I tend to put it aside for a bit out of water while I'm cleaning my filter. I'm assuming that the bacteria should survive for a while, I hope.

 

[sylvia]

I seriously doubt a few minutes out of water will kill them

 

[Discomafia]

I think I read somewhere the number was 2-3 hours. Anyone else read the same thing perhaps?

 

[FishDan]

Generally speaking, all bacteria are fairly hardy organisms. A few minutes out of water will not harm the bacteria in your tank, nor will a few hours. Depending on their health, many bacteria will not die off right away, but enter a state similar to hibernation. Then, when conditions return to ideal they will "wake up" again. This will be a fraction of your total bacteria count of course, there will be plenty of die off if they are left for too long. Some of the bacteria will survive for probably about 24 hours in all actuallity, though you will likely experience significant die off as well, so it is best not to leave them out of their element for so long.

\Dan

 

[a1wonder]

You can keep bateria longer if you store it in a zip lock bag that way it doesn't dry out. I'm not sure how long it will hold out of but I know it helps (that's what we did when we were moving tanks from house to house.

 

[catwoman]

sometimes my bio-wheel stops spinning and it may be days before I notice so I was always curious how much bacteria dies off in that situation.

 

[leafs]

Interesting stuff. Thanks for the info everybody.