Algea or Bacteria??
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Algea or Bacteria??
We have an established 55g w/ an Aqua-Tech 60 HOB. In it are 4 Clowns, 2 Yo-Yo's and a Polka-dot. Everything has been clicking along for about three years and last week there was a white milky film covering one corner of the gravel. We did a 25% water change vacuumming it out, and it seems to have made it go crazy! It is slimy to the touch. The PH has skyrocketed. We have done 25% water changes every other day for four days and today I did a 50%. The Yo-Yo's and the Polka Dot are in high distress. Heavy panting, spasms, and wild trips through the length of the aquarium. Right now the Ph is at 7.5. The temp is 80. The nitrites are 0.5 and the nitrate is at 40ppm. The slime is floating everywhere and is attached to everything. Any ideas on what it is and could it be affecting our babies?
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mickthefish
- Posts: 3281
- Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2006 7:20 pm
- Location: manchester, england
it sounds bacterial.
have you put anything in the tank recently to cause this.?
i've never had this in all my 46 yrs of fish keeping, but i did see it once in a friends tank where his child had been feeding the fish unbeknown to my mate.
but he had to completely overhaul the tank.
i hope it clears up soon for you.
mick
have you put anything in the tank recently to cause this.?
i've never had this in all my 46 yrs of fish keeping, but i did see it once in a friends tank where his child had been feeding the fish unbeknown to my mate.
but he had to completely overhaul the tank.
i hope it clears up soon for you.
mick
That is wht's so frustrating..... nothing has been added or changed. If it was a result of increased bioload, It would have showed up in nitrates. The only thing that gets changed in this tank is the water every two weeks. We use well water and I have been testing that before the change. My wife is taking some pictures I will try to load.
Has the pH in the well water been rising? Or had the pH in the tank been dropping?
With nitrites showing I would add a small amount of salt (sodium chloride). 1 teaspoon per 20 gallons is all it takes to protect the fish from Brown Blood Disease. The presence of nitrogen products may be what is bothering the fish. It is also a sign that something is going on with the nitrifying bacteria. The ones that remove nitrite are more easily stressed than the ones that remove ammonia, so a spike in nitrite is often the first sign that something is wrong with these bacteria.
The goo sounds bacterial, to me, also. Look into slime flux. While I do not think that it is the same, I think it is the same type of thing. Slime flux is a group of bacteria and fungi that will feed on excess sap oozing from a tree. There may be something in the tank this stuff is feeding on. (there has to be, if it is alive at all) Algae has chlorophyll, so this stuff is not algae.
If the well water matches the tank water for pH, KH, GH and temperature, then I would be doing more frequent water changes, perhaps daily.
To see that the nitrate is this high after all the water changes you have done suggests that there may well be other wastes accumulating, too.
Emphasize gravel vacs with every water change to really work over the tank and remove all sorts of stuff.
You can try a few things that are safe for the fish, and MIGHT kill the goo:
Excel, by Seachem, is a carbon substitute for plants. Read the label carefully, and dose up to double (start with a single dose, since the fish are stressed) but the secret is to dose it with an eyedropper or turkey baster right into the mass, not just add Excel to the water. Eventually the Excel will get spread through the tank, but if you are dosing just a single dose, this is not a problem, and if you are doing daily water changes you are getting rid of a lot of it.
Try Hydrogen Peroxide. Again, dose it right into the mass, not just turn it loose in the water. Try 1 teaspoon per 20 gallons. Same comments as about he Excel: Even though you are squirting it right into the goo, it is also ending up in the water. Do a water change before dosing a second dose.
You might also try squirting it with salt water. Who knows what might work?
Here is how I would dose salt water:
1) figure out how much salt is the maximum I would want in the tank. 1 teaspoon per 20 gallons is a very low level, and is safe for fish and plants, but is just enough to protect the fish from Brown Blood Disease. Since you may be adding this much every day for a while (well, several days at least) lets stick to the small dose.
2) Put the full amount for today's dose in a coffee cup and add just barely enough boiling (or at least very hot) water to dissolve the salt. It might be just an ounce or so of water.
3) As soon as it has cooled enough to handle, squirt this into the mass.
If you do a significant water change, scooping up as much of the crud as you can, then squirt a few drops of something (Excel, H2O2, salt water) directly into the remaining bits of goo you might be able to slow it down enough to get rid of it. With daily water changes you are also diluting whatever it is that you have added. Hydrogen peroxide also breaks down when it is exposed to light.
You might also add an ultrviolet sterilizer to the tank. I have no idea how much of this stuff is actually drifting in the water, but ultra violet will kill most single celled organisms that go through it.
The next step up in aggressiveness is to treat the tank with antibiotics. Have a source of nitrifying bacteria ready to add to the tank as soon as the antibiotics have been cleared from the water. I would make a valiant effort with the other methods, first, though, as they can kill several different things (fungi, bacteria, algae) and we really do not know what it is at this point.
With nitrites showing I would add a small amount of salt (sodium chloride). 1 teaspoon per 20 gallons is all it takes to protect the fish from Brown Blood Disease. The presence of nitrogen products may be what is bothering the fish. It is also a sign that something is going on with the nitrifying bacteria. The ones that remove nitrite are more easily stressed than the ones that remove ammonia, so a spike in nitrite is often the first sign that something is wrong with these bacteria.
The goo sounds bacterial, to me, also. Look into slime flux. While I do not think that it is the same, I think it is the same type of thing. Slime flux is a group of bacteria and fungi that will feed on excess sap oozing from a tree. There may be something in the tank this stuff is feeding on. (there has to be, if it is alive at all) Algae has chlorophyll, so this stuff is not algae.
If the well water matches the tank water for pH, KH, GH and temperature, then I would be doing more frequent water changes, perhaps daily.
To see that the nitrate is this high after all the water changes you have done suggests that there may well be other wastes accumulating, too.
Emphasize gravel vacs with every water change to really work over the tank and remove all sorts of stuff.
You can try a few things that are safe for the fish, and MIGHT kill the goo:
Excel, by Seachem, is a carbon substitute for plants. Read the label carefully, and dose up to double (start with a single dose, since the fish are stressed) but the secret is to dose it with an eyedropper or turkey baster right into the mass, not just add Excel to the water. Eventually the Excel will get spread through the tank, but if you are dosing just a single dose, this is not a problem, and if you are doing daily water changes you are getting rid of a lot of it.
Try Hydrogen Peroxide. Again, dose it right into the mass, not just turn it loose in the water. Try 1 teaspoon per 20 gallons. Same comments as about he Excel: Even though you are squirting it right into the goo, it is also ending up in the water. Do a water change before dosing a second dose.
You might also try squirting it with salt water. Who knows what might work?
Here is how I would dose salt water:
1) figure out how much salt is the maximum I would want in the tank. 1 teaspoon per 20 gallons is a very low level, and is safe for fish and plants, but is just enough to protect the fish from Brown Blood Disease. Since you may be adding this much every day for a while (well, several days at least) lets stick to the small dose.
2) Put the full amount for today's dose in a coffee cup and add just barely enough boiling (or at least very hot) water to dissolve the salt. It might be just an ounce or so of water.
3) As soon as it has cooled enough to handle, squirt this into the mass.
If you do a significant water change, scooping up as much of the crud as you can, then squirt a few drops of something (Excel, H2O2, salt water) directly into the remaining bits of goo you might be able to slow it down enough to get rid of it. With daily water changes you are also diluting whatever it is that you have added. Hydrogen peroxide also breaks down when it is exposed to light.
You might also add an ultrviolet sterilizer to the tank. I have no idea how much of this stuff is actually drifting in the water, but ultra violet will kill most single celled organisms that go through it.
The next step up in aggressiveness is to treat the tank with antibiotics. Have a source of nitrifying bacteria ready to add to the tank as soon as the antibiotics have been cleared from the water. I would make a valiant effort with the other methods, first, though, as they can kill several different things (fungi, bacteria, algae) and we really do not know what it is at this point.
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.
Happy fish keeping!
Happy fish keeping!
Thank You Diana and Mick. We went to the LFS and got a Rena 55 Smart filter HOB, to add to the Aqua-Tech, and a UV sterilizer. Several more massive water changes and fired up the Q-Tank just in case. On checking our records, the well water PH has been rising and the goo and nitrate is the result of hard water Iron bacteria. Apparently our well has become contaminated with iron bacteria. The fix for the well is a chlorox flush for 12 hours and the fix for the tank is distilled water in small changes, so as not to shock them, and looking at a distiller. Can you recomend a good distiller? Thank You Again for all your help.
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starsplitter7
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