Milky substance in water and filter

[Bob S]

Still a newbie to this, and need more help. 30 gallon tank still in
it's first month.

Last night we noticed the water was cloudy so we added some clearer to
it. Shortly after that, the water became REALLY milky and this morning
I noticed the filter was covered with this white milky substance. I
washed the filter and mechanics, but now need to get rid of it. Any
ideas out there? The fish are a little lethargic, but we were told
that was the pH level and we got a product to clear that up.

Thanks in advance,
bob

[Bob S]

"Gail Futoran" > wrote in message >...
> "Bob S" > wrote in message
> om...
> > Still a newbie to this, and need more help. 30 gallon tank
> still in
> > it's first month.
> >
> > Last night we noticed the water was cloudy so we added
> some clearer to
> > it. Shortly after that, the water became REALLY milky and
> this morning
> > I noticed the filter was covered with this white milky
> substance. I
> > washed the filter and mechanics, but now need to get rid
> of it. Any
> > ideas out there? The fish are a little lethargic, but we
> were told
> > that was the pH level and we got a product to clear that
> up.
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> > bob
>
> That's a bacterial bloom and will go away eventually.
> It is annoying but a natural part of cycling. You can
> vacuum some of the excess out but don't feel you have to
> have perfectly clear water for the water to be healthy.
>
> Here's one link I found by searching on "bacterial bloom":
> http://www.totallyfish.com/tips/cloudywater.html
>
> Be careful about adding stuff to change the pH. pH tends to
> stabilize and if you're constantly changing it to meet some
> "standard" (like the usual 7.0 for community fish), all
> you're doing is stressing the fish. I did that for years
> (adding Proper pH 7.0), finally stopped and let the water
> stabilize at about 7.6. High, I know, but the fish seem to
> adapt. Any fish that won't adapt I don't try to keep.
> ::shrug::
> Here's one link on pH:
> http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-chem.html#altering
> You can find a lot more information by searching google
> groups.
> http://groups.google.com/
>
> Gail

Thanks for the help. We had the water checked and they said it was
very high (around 8.0 I think). So we added the pH balance to reduce
it.

Should we just let this "bloom" go away or should we do a water
change. We are getting ready to do a change within the next week, but
if it'll help, we could do one tonight. Also, will this bloom hurt the
fish?

Bob

[Gail Futoran]

"Bob S" > wrote

[snip]
> Should we just let this "bloom" go away or should we do a
water
> change. We are getting ready to do a change within the
next week, but
> if it'll help, we could do one tonight. Also, will this
bloom hurt the
> fish?

I would just do regular water changes, on whatever schedule
you planned. Eventually it will get better. I cycled a 20
g and a 30 g a few months ago and it took a couple of weeks
for the dead bacterial to completely disappear.

No, it won't hurt the fish at all.

Re pH: It's probably better to find more natural ways to
reduce pH. There are a number of good posts about peat and
other methods. Since I don't try to change my pH anymore,
I'm not really up on the best methods, but a newsgroup
search should turn up good information.

Gail