White Cloudiness - Bacteria or Minerals?

[Dan White]

I've googled this subject and found some things about bacteria being a
possible cause. Here's my situation:

- Did a 25% water change with relatively high pH tap water (over 7.4).
Water was clear before the change, but has gotten more cloudy over the
several days since. It is not extremely cloudy (can easily see through the
tank).
-Tank pH before change was maybe 7.1. pH after was 7.3 at most... not much
change considering the tap is well over 7.4, althought that is the top of my
pH scale.
- Tank is cycled, ammonia at 0.
- 55 g tank still with pretty low fish load, fish seem normal.
- I do not have a hardness tester but the tap is quite hard and the heater
has a white crusty precipitate on it often that comes off with little
effort. It is rock-like, not a soft precipitate. I dropped a sample in
some vinegar to see if it would fizz, but it didn't. So it is either not
carbonate based or the "apple" vinegar I used was somehow stale (I think it
came with the house 25 years ago).

I know that it might be necessary to provide hardness of the tank water and
tap but l haven't gotten a hardness tester yet. I do not overfeed these
fish (flakes), but occasionally feed extra bloodworms. I know one person
seemed to think the water with her bloodworms might be causing a problem,
but that sounds like a stretch to me.

Any thoughts?

thanks,
dwhite

[Amateur Cichlids]

"Dan White" > wrote in message
et...
By vacuuming out the
> muck, am I likely removing much of the good bacteria, which then allows
> fish
> ammonia/nitrite to build up and give cause for a bloom?
>
> Thanks for your response,
> dwhite
>

This could very well be the case. Many people only vacuum half the gravel
when they do a water change. It wouldn't matter if you had a lot of
biological filtration. If you're only running one filter and it's not
carrying the majority of the biological load, then messing with the gravel,
glass, decorations, etc. could kill off enough good bacteria to get that
slight nitrite spike. Have you measured your nitrites? Ammonia is usually
the first thing to reach zero. Nitrites could take a while longer to get to
zero. I would measure your nitrites to ensure that they're at zero. I'd also
add another biological filter. Maybe a small sponger filter run off an air
pump. This will also allow for a bit of agitation and oxygen exchange in the
tank.
Tim

[Dan White]

"Amateur Cichlids" > wrote in message
om...
>
> "Dan White" > wrote in message
> et...
> By vacuuming out the
> > muck, am I likely removing much of the good bacteria, which then allows
> > fish
> > ammonia/nitrite to build up and give cause for a bloom?
> >
> > Thanks for your response,
> > dwhite
> >
>
> This could very well be the case. Many people only vacuum half the gravel
> when they do a water change. It wouldn't matter if you had a lot of
> biological filtration. If you're only running one filter and it's not
> carrying the majority of the biological load, then messing with the
gravel,
> glass, decorations, etc. could kill off enough good bacteria to get that
> slight nitrite spike. Have you measured your nitrites? Ammonia is usually
> the first thing to reach zero. Nitrites could take a while longer to get
to
> zero. I would measure your nitrites to ensure that they're at zero. I'd
also
> add another biological filter. Maybe a small sponger filter run off an air
> pump. This will also allow for a bit of agitation and oxygen exchange in
the
> tank.
> Tim
>

I haven't run nitrites. I'll have to go pick up a test kit today. In the
future maybe I should just vacuum half the gravel at a time as you suggest.
I prefer not to have the noise of an air bubbler if I can avoid it. Of
course they probably have silent air pumps now that I'm not aware of. I
just know about the ones from years ago that have that vibration sound that
is kind of annoying.

thanks again,
dwhite

[Amateur Cichlids]

"Dan White" > wrote in message
. net...
<snip> I just know about the ones from years ago that have that vibration
sound that
> is kind of annoying.
>
> thanks again,
> dwhite
>
>

Dan,
There was a post on my forum a while back on the vibration the air pumps
make. They haven't gotten much quieter, but there were some unique
suggestions on how to silence them a bit. =)
There are other options rather than air pumps and sponge filters, sponges
attached to a power head can also be beneficial. Also, the output from a
power head can be directed to stop debris from settling on the gravel to
make your mechanical filtration work better. So there's another option for
you. There's always the option of adding filters with biowheels, etc too. It
all boils down to how much you want to spend. Again, this should all be
balanced against tank size and fish load.
Tim
www.fishaholics.org

[Dan White]

"Amateur Cichlids" > wrote in message
. com...

> So there's another option for
> you. There's always the option of adding filters with biowheels, etc too.
It
> all boils down to how much you want to spend. Again, this should all be
> balanced against tank size and fish load.
> Tim
> www.fishaholics.org
>

Hi. I got a new water tesk kit today and checked some things. It is a
color strip, so the numbers aren't very precise:

pH 7.3 or 7.4 (was closer to 7.0 before the last two water changes)
nitrate 30 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
ammonia 0 ppm
total hardness between 150 and 300 ppm (hard)
total alkalinity between 80 and 120 ppm

The water is a lot clearer now than it was a day or two ago. The 25% water
change was done last Sunday. The whiteness didn't show up for about a day,
maxed out on Thursday, and as of Friday eve is almost gone. Could white
floating bacteria have taken advantage of a nitrite spike that came from
stirring up some muck and/or removing too much beneficial bacteria from the
gravel through suckage while changing water? Then after it is under control
the white bacteria then die off??

thanks,
dwhite

[Amateur Cichlids]

"Dan White" > wrote in message
. net...
>
> "Amateur Cichlids" > wrote in message
> . com...
>
>> So there's another option for
>> you. There's always the option of adding filters with biowheels, etc too.
> It
>> all boils down to how much you want to spend. Again, this should all be
>> balanced against tank size and fish load.
>> Tim
>> www.fishaholics.org
>>
>
> Hi. I got a new water tesk kit today and checked some things. It is a
> color strip, so the numbers aren't very precise:
>
> pH 7.3 or 7.4 (was closer to 7.0 before the last two water changes)
> nitrate 30 ppm
> nitrite 0 ppm
> ammonia 0 ppm
> total hardness between 150 and 300 ppm (hard)
> total alkalinity between 80 and 120 ppm
>
> The water is a lot clearer now than it was a day or two ago. The 25%
> water
> change was done last Sunday. The whiteness didn't show up for about a
> day,
> maxed out on Thursday, and as of Friday eve is almost gone. Could white
> floating bacteria have taken advantage of a nitrite spike that came from
> stirring up some muck and/or removing too much beneficial bacteria from
> the
> gravel through suckage while changing water? Then after it is under
> control
> the white bacteria then die off??
>
> thanks,
> dwhite
>
>

Yep.