Bacterial Bloom

[cdness]

So I recently dealt with some flu and pneumonia issues and decided I would make sure the house was clean. I sealed up the tank the best I could, turned off the skimmer, and disinfected the house with Lysol. I left the skimmer off overnight and awoke to the fuzzy picture below. It fit the typical symptoms of a bacterial bloom... pH had dropped to 7.3 and the fish were breathing heavy.

I turned on the skimmer and ran the air hose outside to force in fresh air. The heater got a little workout as it was -20° that day so the incoming air was very cold. I also added a filter sock to one of my drains.

Over the course of the day, the pH returned to normal and the tank pretty much cleared up.

How have you treated bacterial blooms?

 

[Aquaph8]

Number one in my book is keeping oxygen levels up, turning the skimmer back on was key.

 

[spspirate]

Coral should benefit from feeding off the bacteria. Lower your nutrient level and agree with keeping O2 levels up....... -20 brrrrrrrrrrrrr......!!!!

 

[cdness]

Yeah the bloom is done... I figured it was caused by the lysol. However turning off the skimmer didn't help. Stopped feeding for the day and fed a smaller amount the next day. It was cleared up in less than 24 hours.

 

[cdness]

SPS pirate - -20° is pretty typical for this time of year here. We will have a heat wave later this week. It should get into the mid teens on Thursday and may hit 20 above on Friday.

 

[Aquaph8]

We wouldn't know what to do with that, it was in the 70s here today.

 

[spspirate]

I couldn't function in that cold of weather.

 

[Ladybug5234]

Wish our temps would get lower than the current 74 degrees at night and 85 in the daytime. I too just had a bacterial bloom. Took me a few days for it to clear up and it did so after adding an entire bottle of Nite Out during the course of 3-4 days. Now it's clear as a whistle!