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Bacterial Bloom Questions
>
>Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 03:54:37 -0500
>From: mason.163 at osu_edu (Matthew T. Mason)
>Subject: Bacterial Bloom Questions
>But, it has been over a week and
>still I find the bacteria doing quite well. The fish are fine, the algae
>is dying (yeeeehaaa), and the hobbiest is getting worried. In taking with
>various plant people and experienced fish people, I am finding a wierd
>composition of suggestions. These range from chemical treatment (not my
>plan in the least) to waiting. My questions are the following:
>
>1. Is the bacterial cloudiness the nitrofication bacteria that have become
>free-floating or is it another bacteria that has bloomed and is feeding on
>the nutrients in the water (i.e., E. coli, salminilla (humor here)?
>
>2. I have increased the temp to 78 F and have stuffed the canister filter
>with more material for the bacteria to colonize on - what else can be done
>to decrease the bacteria?
>
>3. Some have said to squeeze a sponge, from a "stable" tank, containing
>colonized bacteria into the tank to help the process - sounds
>counter-productive to me. Is this incorrect thinking on my part or will
>this help?
>
>4. If the bloom does not disappear in another week then what is my next
>move; i.e., tear the tank down and start over, massive water changes,
>particle filtration?
>
>5. The exact names (latin) of the bacteria?
>
>6. Other suggestions and info would be great too.
>
>Thanks for the help
>
>=======================================================
>Matthew T. Mason "Does a fish know that
>Doctoral Student it is wet?"
>
Hi Matthew,
I don't have all the answers for you but I have had similar
problems before. If you feed less and wait long enough the
problem would go away. But somehow, the cloudy water problem
would come back again quite frequently even if you increase the
material for bacteria to colonize. In the end I put in another
filter unit with the same capacity (double the total filter
capacity) and the cloudy problem improved just after one day
and disappeared completely after a few days and would remain
that way for as long as you want it to be (provided you don't
add more fish, do regular maintenance, the fishes do not breed
too fast and you do not do anything unsensible). Someone would
say the bacteria would need longer time to colonize in the new
filter before you see any result but I have used this method
on differrent tanks and I always get clear water in a few days.
I always put in activated carbon in the new filter (for the 1st
month only) and seed the new filter with some material from the
old filter. How important are these factors I don't know.
Regards
Casey Huang
yhplsing at singnet_com.sg