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Re: Green Water
>Adam R. Novitt wrote:
>After having set up 3 planted tanks and a pond I'm beginning to wonder. In
>all the cases I had a bad bout of green water during run in. I tried a
>bunch of stuff then something "cured" it. I now don't think I actually
>cured it. On this last biggest and most ambitious project I just let the
>tank sit, it went away.
>
>One think that always strikes me is the wide varieties of green water cures
>APD list offers and the sort of lack of information generally on this
>scourge. Is it possible that green water has a just runs itself out, that
>it has a cycle in captive environments, king of like a yeast bottle? It may
>choke on it's own waste products, which don't seem to harm anything else, or
>the density may increase until a predator microbe move in a kills it. I
>think this is the case and that new tanks are especially venerable, perhaps
>because the predator microbe hasn't moved into the substrate or something.
>Tanks may "inoculate" themselves.
>
>Any thoughts?
Green water can last indefinitely. I had a 55 gallon with green water and
a bunch of well-fed platties that stayed in the pea soup stage for 3 years.
Finally, I took the fish out and introduced Daphnia, which cleared the
tank in about two weeks. I let the plants grow for around 4 months and
then reintroduced the fish. The tank has stayed clear for four years to
the present. I believe that the more dense growth of plants is the cause
for the green water not returning.
Paul Krombholz, in cool, sunny central Mississippi.