Bacteria bloom/cloudy water will NOT go away

Gareth elliott · Jan 21, 2018

Maybe while figuring it out, Do nano bubble scrubbing? Just for the sake of increasing dissolved oxygen. If doesnt help, spent $3 on a wooden air stone.

4FordFamily · Jan 21, 2018

Gareth elliott said:
Maybe while figuring it out, Do nano bubble scrubbing? Just for the sake of increasing dissolved oxygen. If doesnt help, spent $3 on a wooden air stone.

I’ve got a nice air stone already, I bought a UV I hope it works, and comes quickly.

Jeremy K.A. · Jan 21, 2018

Get a UV Sterilizer. My mom had the same issue in a 55 gallon freshwater tank, out of nowhere the tank started getting foggy looking and would seem to get worse and worse every single day even after daily water changes and filter pad replacements etc. Put a UV Sterilizer in and within a day 90% gone

Humblefish · Jan 21, 2018

4FordFamily said:
I feel like it has to be bacteria, it eats up oxygen and smells organic when it takes over, right?

Yes

Bucks149 · Jan 22, 2018

I could be way off base, but with all of the sterilization and cleaning, is it possible that you have set the tank back to day one and it’s just going through another cycle? Pull the fish and let the bloom run its course then place them back in slowly so that the tank can readjust to the bio load

FLAdaboy · Jan 22, 2018

I had a bloom that left sludge everywhere. I started with a significant water change, but not 100%. From there I ran carbon and changed filter socks every couple of hours. Due to my skimmer going crazy, I turned it down a bit. Water change again at 20% and changed out carbon. Water cleared up and I returned to normal business.

HotRocks · Jan 22, 2018

This is something that started with mature tank. It's a QT tank, so minimal equipment. Just heat, Airstone, powerhead, and marineland HOB filter (no carbon, when running medications, just media to hold beneficial bacteria). This type of bacteria we are dealing with is not the type you deal with on a cycle. It literally wrecks the whole tank in 3 days once it shows up. Like I'm talking you can't see an inch into it. Craziness

HotRocks · Jan 22, 2018

Also keep in mind that he has absolutely identical setup 10' away, same Everything as far as equip. It remains clear. We thought we had it nailed down to copper. Due to tank next to it remaining clear. (Copper is still possible culprit, just unexplainable as to why when copper was removed the bacteria wasn't.)

4FordFamily · Jan 22, 2018

HotRockTarBaby said:
This is something that started with mature tank. It's a QT tank, so minimal equipment. Just heat, Airstone, powerhead, and marineland HOB filter (no carbon, when running medications, just media to hold beneficial bacteria). This type of bacteria we are dealing with is not the type you deal with on a cycle. It literally wrecks the whole tank in 3 days once it shows up. Like I'm talking you can't see an inch into it. Craziness

HotRockTarBaby said:
Also keep in mind that he has absolutely identical setup 10' away, same Everything as far as equip. It remains clear. We thought we had it nailed down to copper. Due to tank next to it remaining clear. (Copper is still possible culprit, just unexplainable as to why when copper was removed the bacteria wasn't.)

What he said! Thanks man! Haha

4FordFamily · Jan 26, 2018

Update: over the past several days it has not worsened, it may have even receded. I turned the lights off the first day after feeding, and then used only actinics/blues since. It’s steadily improving and never worsened dangerously. Still waiting on the UV to arrive so I can run it 48 hours before adding copper to this new batch of qt fish.

Thanks everyone!

TonapahNorth · Feb 13, 2018

4FordFamily said:
Update: over the past several days it has not worsened, it may have even receded. I turned the lights off the first day after feeding, and then used only actinics/blues since. It’s steadily improving and never worsened dangerously. Still waiting on the UV to arrive so I can run it 48 hours before adding copper to this new batch of qt fish.

Thanks everyone!

Can we get another update? Did the UV solve the problem? Any further considerations?

4FordFamily · Feb 13, 2018

TonapahNorth said:
Can we get another update? Did the UV solve the problem? Any further considerations?

UV and the sterilization did the trick!

Humblefish · Feb 13, 2018

4FordFamily said:
UV and the sterilization did the trick!

This suggests you either had excessive bacteria or algae spores in the water column.

4FordFamily · Feb 13, 2018

Humblefish said:
This suggests you either had excessive bacteria or algae spores in the water column.

My thoughts exactly.

TonapahNorth · Feb 13, 2018

4FordFamily said:
My thoughts exactly.

Which sterilizer did you end up using? The one in the prior post in this thread or something else?

Also, have you turned off the UV/Sterilizer? If so, has the bloom returned? I am having the same issues, but if I end up running the UV/Sterilizer, I don't want to run it for long. I think that I've overdosed zeo to get to this point. I've tapered off significantly and I'll dial it back in, but zeo and UV aren't supposed to be compatible long term. I could just wait it out, of course.

Thanks for all your insight. I knew mine to be a bacterial bloom from the get go. I just can't decide on how patient I can be with it since it's been over a week of very cloudy.

4FordFamily · Feb 13, 2018

TonapahNorth said:
Which sterilizer did you end up using? The one in the prior post in this thread or something else?

Also, have you turned off the UV/Sterilizer? If so, has the bloom returned? I am having the same issues, but if I end up running the UV/Sterilizer, I don't want to run it for long. I think that I've overdosed zeo to get to this point. I've tapered off significantly and I'll dial it back in, but zeo and UV aren't supposed to be compatible long term. I could just wait it out, of course.

Thanks for all your insight. I knew mine to be a bacterial bloom from the get go. I just can't decide on how patient I can be with it since it's been over a week of very cloudy.

I used the cheapo on amazon in this thread. It doesn’t come with a pump or hose, but I had all that on hand. I ran it for 4 days, it stayed away!

TonapahNorth · Feb 14, 2018

Awesome

lagatbezan · Mar 19, 2018

Its weird I never had this issue on any of my qt in the past but now recently i'm having the same exact issue.
I have a 4"-5 regal angel in a 10g tank with CP and within less then 24 hours the water looks milky and has a foul odor to it so now I'm resorted to doing TTM (every 48 hours) and CP which seems like a waste just to keep the water clear. so what is the solution to this issue? Can't use a UV since it will cancel out the CP or any other meds that I might want to use. Weird, 8 years of doing qt and never ran into this before until @4FordFamily jinxed it with this thread LOL

4FordFamily · Mar 19, 2018

lagatbezan said:
Its weird I never had this issue on any of my qt in the past but now recently i'm having the same exact issue.
I have a 4"-5 regal angel in a 10g tank with CP and within less then 24 hours the water looks milky and has a foul odor to it so now I'm resorted to doing TTM (every 48 hours) and CP which seems like a waste just to keep the water clear. so what is the solution to this issue? Can't use a UV since it will cancel out the CP or any other meds that I might want to use. Weird, 8 years of doing qt and never ran into this before until @4FordFamily jinxed it with this thread LOL

Are you using instant ocean?