Help With Bacteria Bloom

[jimkyle]

Hi everyone,

My name is Jim. I'm new to the forum and had a question. I have a 30 gallon African Cichlid tank going for about three weeks now and have added a couple of fish. 4 to be exact. I noticed last week a milky white cloudiness in the tank. I'm going to assume it's bacteria bloom. I've let the tank run for another week with daily 20% water changes and substrate vacuuming to pick up some of the extra waste. I do not overfeed...
(only feed what the fish can eat within 3 minutes and scoop out any remainder.)

I am also running a Marineland HOT 250 canister filter.

My Water readings are as follows:

Nitrate: 0-20 which reads as safe.
Nitrite: 0-0.5
Total Hardness: Between 25-75 (Which is really soft)
Total Alkalinity: Between 180-300 more towards 300(Which is high)
PH: Between 8.0 and 8.5

Now I also have a Seachem PH Ammonia detector which is telling me that my ammonia is at a safe level. Cannot figure out what is going on??? I also included a photo of the tank in question.

Any help would be appreciated.

Jim

 

[ctsv510]

I don't know how reliable those stick on ammonia tests are, what is the ammonia level exactly? These blooms can last a week or two when cycling, just be keep up with the daily water changes of at least 20% to keep those Am & Ni levels as low as possible. It can be really frustrating, but be patient the water will clear up.

 

[jimkyle]

According to my Seachem Ammonia alert, I'm at <0.02 ppm which is in the safe zone. Again, according to that monitor. I just did a 50% water change also after my 20% daily changes this week.

This is the result of my 50% water change and treatment. Also added new dose of aquarium salt.

 

[tmh0921]

Trash the ammonia detector, I had one that was always in the safe zone, but when I used my master test kit the ammonia was actually WAY higher....deadly high (8+ on the API test kit which is off the charts (fish in cycle back in my early days before knowing better). Get a master test kit (liquid test kit) and use it regularly.

Your tank is cycling (based on your tests and the time the tannk has been up).you have fish in there so big daily water changes are now critical (40-50%). The cloudy water is, as you guessed, a bacteria bloom. It will clear in time, around when your tank finishes cycling. There's not much you can do, clarifiers etc. won't help. Just keep testing your water and doing water changes until you get test readings of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 0+ nitrATes everyday for at least a week. Then you'll be cycled and the bloom should resolve.

After that go SLOW on adding fish to allow your filter to adjust to prevent mini-cycles.

 

[Malawi MaD]

Agree with the above id only leave it another 3to4 days and then do another 50% water change, it does look slightly clearer in the other pic but keep a close eye on the tank and keep checking your water parameters. Id try to raise your general hardness to benefit your fish. What fish do you currently have .. Big malawi lover hence the name lol.

 

[jimkyle]

The tank is starting to clear so I hope all goes well... I have an Albino Maylandia livingstonii, an Pseudotropheus sp. "Msobo Deep", and two Red Jewels, and a Red Zebra....I said before I had four but was actually five fish. I also added aquarium salt after the last water change to increase hardness a bit.

 

[Malawi MaD]

The tank is starting to clear so I hope all goes well... I have an Albino Maylandia livingstonii, an Pseudotropheus sp. "Msobo Deep", and two Red Jewels, and a Red Zebra....I said before I had four but was actually five fish.

In the second pic it looks like you have a labidochromis Hongi??

 

[jimkyle]

Yea you're right it is a Hongi...LOL....So I'm actually at six instead of 4...I think my wife bought the Hongi... He wasn't there a few days ago..lol. I've been so caught up in trying to fix the tank issues I didn't even notice anything was added.

 

[Malawi MaD]

Ah right lol. Can you get hold of crushed coral? If so adding some to your filter will raise the hardness of your water keeping it consistent . Depending if your running a external filter or not?

 

[jimkyle]

Thanks for the tip, I'm running a Marineland HOT 250 canister filter.

 

[jimkyle]

Ok it's a good 5-6 hours after the 50% water change...I must say it made quite a difference! I have almost crystal clear water finally. Let's hope it keeps this up! Thanks for all the advice everyone!

 

[Malawi MaD]

Looks crystal clear, Should be ok now (hopefully) fingers crossed.

 

[jimkyle]

Keeping fingers crossed....Hey have you ever ordered fish online, is it reliable?

 

[Malawi MaD]

Keeping fingers crossed....Hey have you ever ordered fish online, is it reliable?

I have ordered fish from breeders but not actually of an online website? You planning on doing so? Im not sure, i suppose its all about the quality and standards of the websites stock/customer service. Keep a look out for reviews maybe? see if the site has been given good or bad feedback

 

[backtotropical]

It is worth reading this if you haven't already. It'll give you a better understanding of what a bacterial bloom actually is, and therefore how to best deal with it, should it ever happen again.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/246850-bacterial-blooms-explained/