[Seadon]

I am currently dealing with a bacteria bloom caused by some frozen beefheart that was sucked into my intake strainer and hung out there for god knows how long...now my water went from pristine to hazy as am English fog in a matter of days and I would like to speed up the process. Any ideas on how I can help get rid of the bloom without killing my BB?


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[Raymond S.]

As long as you rinsed the sponge part of the filter better than normal and did a 50%water change, I don't think you can speed it up. They will burn out once you have removed their food supply. Extra water changes would but would stress the rest of the tank(fish/shrimp)also.

 

[Diana]

Not really a way to clear it up faster.
Monitor the ammonia. As protein decomposes it raises the ammonia level. I have often seen cloudy water when the ammonia level if rising.
Do enough water changes (frequency and volume) to keep the ammonia under .25ppm.

To do more water changes with less stress to the livestock you can do this:
Make a batch of new water that matches the old water (GH, KH, TDS, temperature). Make enough to fill the tank at least once. (so if you have a 20 gallon tank, make 20+ gallons of water)
Start a siphon in the tank, and start a pump in the container of new water, pumping the water into the tank. Clamp the tubing to the tank in a way that sheets the new water across the surface.
You can use the siphon to vacuum near the bottom of the tank to pick up more debris that can also contribute to ammonia, or cloudy water. Just stay away from where the new water is entering the tank.
Keep the siphon and the pump synchronized so the water level goes down very slowly.

Since you are adding new water at the same time as removing it there is some blending of the water, so you are removing some of the new water with the old.
The net result of a water change like this is roughly the same as 50%.
ie: If you use 20 gallons of new water during this, and you have a 20 gallon tank, it is like doing a 10 gallon water change.

 

[jrman83]

I never understood the use of beefheart in an aquarium. My understanding is that fish do better on water-born proteins vs land-based. Just some of the articles I have read. I know people feed to their Discus and Angels, just don't see how it ever got to the point of becoming a norm in an aquarium.

 

[Seadon]

I never understood the use of beefheart in an aquarium. My understanding is that fish do better on water-born proteins vs land-based. Just some of the articles I have read. I know people feed to their Discus and Angels, just don't see how it ever got to the point of becoming a norm in an aquarium.

I wondered the same thing as well but it is what is available and it had the highest protein content of any of the frozen foods i could find so it is what I chose I also went with frozen bloodworm cubes but they don't really sink unless you pre thaw them and even still my barbs will eat them all before they reach the bottom and I needed a food that they couldn't eat completely before it reached the substrate so that my bichir could have some, otherwise he just eats them...and that is no good...so I chose it at least because it was available and it was nutritious(almost too much so, as my fish are growing at an insane rate!) and it is very dense so it sinks rather quickly giving the bottom dwellers a shot at it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not really a way to clear it up faster.
Monitor the ammonia. As protein decomposes it raises the ammonia level. I have often seen cloudy water when the ammonia level if rising.
Do enough water changes (frequency and volume) to keep the ammonia under .25ppm.

To do more water changes with less stress to the livestock you can do this:
Make a batch of new water that matches the old water (GH, KH, TDS, temperature). Make enough to fill the tank at least once. (so if you have a 20 gallon tank, make 20+ gallons of water)
Start a siphon in the tank, and start a pump in the container of new water, pumping the water into the tank. Clamp the tubing to the tank in a way that sheets the new water across the surface.
You can use the siphon to vacuum near the bottom of the tank to pick up more debris that can also contribute to ammonia, or cloudy water. Just stay away from where the new water is entering the tank.
Keep the siphon and the pump synchronized so the water level goes down very slowly.

Since you are adding new water at the same time as removing it there is some blending of the water, so you are removing some of the new water with the old.
The net result of a water change like this is roughly the same as 50%.
ie: If you use 20 gallons of new water during this, and you have a 20 gallon tank, it is like doing a 10 gallon water change.

I like the idea of this method...It will take some time for me to gather all of the necessary equipment for this method, but seeing as everyone else has said patience is the only option I guess it won't matter if it takes a few days...what in really worried about is if this bloom will hurt my fish in any way...I haven't noticed anything yet, but is it possible for prolonged exposure to a bacterial bloom to cause a bacterial infection?


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[Seadon]

I am also thinking that reducing the amount of food that they get fed daily, and feeding them a few hours earlier in the day ( i usually feed at night before bed) will help, in that there will be less waste decomposing for the bacteria to feed on and if I feed earlier in the day then hopefully the fish will scavenge a bit more and eat the scraps...I usually feed 1-1.5 pinches of flake food, and 1-2 pinches of hikari algae micro wafers, and a cube of frozen beefheart for the big guy. I have changed this to 1 pinch of flakes, .5-1 pinch of micro wafers every other day, and a cube every other day.