I set up my 29 gal hex last weekend, I put in bio spira and added 4 small angelfish. Yesterday, I got up and found that my tank was really cloudy, it's a milky white color. Any ideas? I've never had this happen before. My other tanks were cycled with fish, so I was wondering if this was something the bio spira does?
I agree, sounds like a bacteria bloom. I would advise that you keep a close eye on the water perameters with it being a newly established tank though. Do you have a test kit for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?
I've never used bio spira, in fact it's not even available in the UK, but as far as I know bio spira is basically bacteria that you add to the tank, so you don't need to wait on the beneficial bacteria building up naturally. So, as it does appear to be a bacterial bloom is it possible that you overdosed the bio spira? So there's literally bacteria everywhere? This might be rubbish - it's just a thought.
Get a liquid test kit if you can and keep a very close eye on your amonia, nitrite and nitrate. Do frequent partial water changes if you detect amonia or nitrite as angelfish aren't a good cycling fish.
bacterial bloom, most definately. i have never had much luck using products that are supposed to boost the bacteria. good news is, a bloom usually only lasts a few days. resist the urge to change the water or mess with the filter. make sure you have adequate air circulation, a bloom will temporarily eat up some of your oxygen in the water. when i have a bloom, (has happened accidentally in my established tank once in a blue moon), i reduce feeding my fish to once a day to decrease ammonia. in really sticky situations, i use algone. (its a safe, plant based material that will clear your tank in 2-3 days)
Thanks everyone. I have been checking my levels and my ammonia levels were a little high, so I did a water change this afternoon. I also noticed that one of my filters quit working on me. It was an old filter. So I bought a new aqua clear 50 and installed that. The fish seem to be fine, so I am going to wait and see what happens. Thanks for the info! :thankyou:
Did you put your old media in the new filter? You wouldn't want to have a mini-cycle now would you...this could lead to a bacteria bloom - which might be what happened.
I use BioSpira all the time and have never had that happen, not the next day anyway. Your tank should also be ammonia free overnight. If these two problems exist, it sounds like you had a bad batch of BioSpira. Was it purchased at a reputable LFS and was it refrigerated?
If you need to get rid of a bacterial bloom (which this does sound like), lots of water changes will work, as well as Algone. Algone is a natural little packet (plant in a pouch) that you put in your filter. It works great at removing algae, bacteria bloom, nitrates. I've used it twice for bacterial bloom, and once for algae (left the light on too long!).
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Tropical Fish Keeping
597.8K posts
83.7K members
Since 2006
forum community dedicated to tropical fish owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about species,breeding, health, behavior, aquariums, adopting, care, classifieds, and more! Open to fish, plants and reptiles living in freshwater or saltwater environments.