I Don't Know What's Gone Wrong...

[Mayu]

I usually clean my tanks 1 to 2x a month depending and that's seemed to work for this long. But one of my tanks, my blue ram tank, decided to start acting up out of no where. After one cleaning, within 3 days, the water became a crayon green... and you couldn't see through it.

I immediately tested my water... and the nitrites were 0, the ammonia was 0, the pH was a little high, but always has been. and the Nitrates were not exactly 0 (the water wasn't as bright yellow as on the card, but it was still yellow... not the next level down which was orange.)

so the water all tested as it always has.

I did a cleaning anyway. Vacuum and water change. Then I did a every other day feeding instead of a daily feeding. (I never over fed, but I thought I'd cut back more until the issue cleared up.)

Didn't clear up so the following week I did 50% water change and vacuum and by luck I suppose, my 10 gallon Japanese Trapdoor snail tank had a leak I could never find... so I took all of my Japanese trapdoors and put them into the Ram tank thinking they would help eat algae and keep the bottom cleaner. (I added 6 of them. good sized ones too.)

A week later there was no improvement. So I did another 50% water change and vacuum, replaced the filter cartridge, and added a used a water clarifying medicine the pet store suggested. (I understand this will probably not work... but I am really at my last resort here.)

I mean I've tried more water changes, less light time, not over feeding and feeding only every other day, adding snails, using a water declouder... the tank is not in direct sunlight, nor is it near heat or drafts. this is also the first time this has happened to any of my tanks.

The water is still green a day later. I tested the water again, and they're at the same levels. No nitrites, no to little Nitrates, no Ammonia, slightly higher pH, but it's the same pH since I started the tank a while back.

I saw my fish and snails today and they all look good... no fin rot, no scales missing, no discoloration, my ram is very colorful, not pale... so they're not unhealthy... it's just the flipping water.

any suggestions?

 

[Luzi]

Sounds like an algae bloom. It won't harm your fish but it's not great to look at either. Keep doing big waterchanges, but also look for some treatments. Your LFS should have some chemichals which will kill the floating algae, but it might harm live plants to check the label
Good luck

 

[Mayu]

I used some medicine that is used for clearing water cloudiness and when I woke up today there was a marked difference. I just don't know if the water change helped more or the clarifyer. it says to redose in 24 hours if issue is better but not completely gone. So what I may do is add a little more this afternoon, and then in the middle of next week, (like wed) I'll do another water change.

so fingers crossed, I may have started to get this under control.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Nitrates are a plant fertilser and can cause algae blooms. Doing once weekly water changes are the best way to keep the nitrates in check. The nitrates however should not read 0 in an established tank though (as they are the end product of the nitrogen cycle) unless it is very planted, they should read somewhere between 1-40.

I'm not entirely sure why your tank got an algae bloom all of a sudden, but;
a. Make sure you are not over-cleaning the filters sponges when you clean them. Just roughly clean them out in old water taken from the tank- the only point to cleaning the filters sponges is to keep the filter running smoothely.
b. Try to aim to do a 30% once weekly water change instead of a large once fortnightly or more water change.
c. Make sure the subtrate is being cleaned regularly enough- if its gravel it will trap a lot of waste (nutrients for the algae) and will need to be cleaned regularly. Perhaps you disturbed a load of nutrients sitting in the substrate when doing your tank cleaning session which sparked the algae bloom.
d. Having established healthy live aquarium plants will help prevent algae problems.

Doing small 10-15% daily water changes will have more effect on the algae bloom than doing a couple of large water changes v .

 

[Mayu]

Quick update... I did a second dose of this declouder medicine (It says it's safe for all fish and plants, both fresh and salt waters)... and when I checked this A.M., the water was crystal clear. Clearer than it's been in a while actually... and my Ram and the snails don't look any worse for wear, so it appears it was fairly safe. I also tested the water and levels are still where the should be.

I'm still going to do another cleaning on Wednesday and maybe add another dose of declouder so we'll see what happens then... but it's nice to be able to see the fish again. That green was so thick I couldn't see anything. It was like looking through pea soup. Still not sure how it happened since I never changed my tank keeping habits since starting the tank... and the water levels ever seemed to have any spikes in ammonia, nitrates or nitrites. It's been pretty level. So I don't know what happened. but I'm happy that it seems to be under control now.

So I'm happy at the moment...