HELP Aquarium Cloudy After Too Much Carbon Dosing. Fish Dying and Worse With Water Change. HELP

[Doctor Faust]

Hello,

I am in dire need for some help, and any advice will be appreciated!
I dosed carbon (as vodka) last night, but I put way too much. Wayyy too much. I have a 55 gallon with 11 gal sump and a 43 gallon with 10 gallon sump. In the morning I saw that the water was cloudy in both tanks. A couple fish that were weak before, were dead. Around 3 pm I did a 20 gallon water change on the larger system and 15 gallons on the smaller one. After the water change the cloudiness got worse in both tanks. Towards 10pm, the larger, older tank became less cloudy and the fish don't seem as stressed as they were a few hours before. The smaller, younger tank is way too cloudy to even see anything. All my fish are falling over and I had to move some of them, while some died.
All fish are exhibiting signs of lack of oxygen. I did point all my pumps towards the surface to create maximum surface disturbance and have skimmers running on both.

Towards 10:30 I added some Clarity and Pristine by SeaChem. Seemed to have helped the larger tank a bit, but by its color and fish dropping to their sides, it's not helped the smaller tank.

From forums I read, I am thinking its a bacteria bloom, and I have no idea how to fix it. Should I do more water change tomorrow? Should I change a substantial amount of water as in 80% or so? Please help. Thank you!

 

[Robert (Bearclawws)]

You are doing right by increasing oxygen first, then what works for me in my salt water during a BB (Bacteria Bloom) is turn off the skimmer and dose Seachem Prime as recommended. You don't want the skimmer on or it will remove the prime..

Do 25-30% water change. Add Prime to lock up the ammonia spike. Keep plenty of oxygen going and wait 48 hours before turning the skimmer back on so it can process out what prime took care of. You may get more foam than normal. Your water will most likely be clearing up within the first 24 hours.

Quoting a post by Deisel, "When the heterotrophic bacteria bloom into the water column and switch to their aerobic state, this is a big drain on the oxygen content of the water.

To help you to understand why bacterial blooms occur, overfeeding ,dead fish or dead plant matter will cause a rise in the reproduction of the heterotrophs in order to break down the organic waste, they re-produce too quickly to be able to attach themselves to a surface and this causes a bacterial bloom. As the ammonia production increases due to the increased mineralisation, the nitrifiers are slow to catch up (as i said above) and so you see an ammonia spike until the autotrophs reproduce enough to take care of it. Contrary to popular belief, bacterial blooms cause an ammonia spike, not the other way around."

What triggers a bacterial bloom?

Been seeing a few threads lately on cloudy water and bacterial blooms being the cause, but what is actually triggering the bacteria to bloom? Could it be changes in weather and air temp, having Windows in the house open, having the heat come on? I have also had 3-4 days where my water seems to...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Doctor Faust]

Thanks, Robert.

I'm still holding out for more advice. This may be a severe case and just riding it out or increasing oxygen supply might not be the solution. Unless it is?

Since I've started upping oxygenation (by surface disturbance), the cloudiness has gone up. As Diesel had pointed out, the water change made it much worse. Wish I had read that before panic changing. At this point I don't know if I should do more water change, or if that will make it worse?

By the way, I've tested for ammonia, and it is. 0 in both tanks. Nitrates are same, somewhat reduced.

 

[HWEP]

Thanks, Robert.

I'm still holding out for more advice. This may be a severe case and just riding it out or increasing oxygen supply might not be the solution. Unless it is?

Since I've started upping oxygenation (by surface disturbance), the cloudiness has gone up. As Diesel had pointed out, the water change made it much worse. Wish I had read that before panic changing. At this point I don't know if I should do more water change, or if that will make it worse?

By the way, I've tested for ammonia, and it is. 0 in both tanks. Nitrates are same, somewhat reduced.

Firstly, i'm sorry this is happening.

I'm 99.99% sure that's a B/Bloom for one reason and one reason only- it got worse with a water change.

I've learned this through my own experience, but when you expose a sudden, severe bacterial bloom to fresh new water, it rapidly takes over that lovely new oxygentated water...making it worse. But unfortunately is necessary.

Ensure you consistently check your ammonia if you have dead fish, that can quickly spiral out of control.

I wouldn't do another change yet if you've not long done one, anything left alive will die. If you have coral you can access easily, bag them up in a 60/40 bag of old/new water and gradually increase fresh as if you're acclimating. Fish can be the same if they are continuing to perish. Replace your carbon possibly with an absorbing one such as rowaphos. This being A for actual bacterial absorption and 2 it'll clear your tank. I've overdosed NOPOX before and wiped my tank out. WC, massively increased water agitation (almost turbulent with excessive airation).

Prime, air and *actual* physical carbon (not meant in a snarky way) is your best friend on this. Try to push the water current towards your pipework/ AIO filtration as it'll shift it faster

 

[HWEP]

Firstly, i'm sorry this is happening.

I'm 99.99% sure that's a B/Bloom for one reason and one reason only- it got worse with a water change.

I've learned this through my own experience, but when you expose a sudden, severe bacterial bloom to fresh new water, it rapidly takes over that lovely new oxygentated water...making it worse. But unfortunately is necessary.

Ensure you consistently check your ammonia if you have dead fish, that can quickly spiral out of control.

I wouldn't do another change yet if you've not long done one, anything left alive will die. If you have coral you can access easily, bag them up in a 60/40 bag of old/new water and gradually increase fresh as if you're acclimating. Fish can be the same if they are continuing to perish. Replace your carbon possibly with an absorbing one such as rowaphos. This being A for actual bacterial absorption and 2 it'll clear your tank. I've overdosed NOPOX before and wiped my tank out. WC, massively increased water agitation (almost turbulent with excessive airation).

Prime, air and *actual* physical carbon (not meant in a snarky way) is your best friend on this. Try to push the water current towards your pipework/ AIO filtration as it'll shift it faster

To add, i'm sorry i slightly mis-read the timetable of events, i would do a WC every 6-8 hours with ideal parameters at the correct temp.

 

[Koigula]

I have the same issue currently.

The BRS 1.1 ml doser failed to go off and dumped 200-300 cc of a carbon source. I would urge anyone with this device to toss them today. It is second time it happened so I should not have allowed it. If tank survives I am done with carbon sources too.

My am doing what I can here. If it survives out goes more equipment.

 

[Koigula]

I am closing this account today.

 

[vtecintegra]

The BRS 1.1 ml doser failed to go off and dumped 200-300 cc of a carbon source. I would urge anyone with this device to toss them today. It is second time it happened so I should not have allowed it. If tank survives I am done with carbon sources too.

Iggy may be gone, but the BRS doser does not have any self control and can not fail to go off. It's like a light bulb. You give electric and it turns on, you remove the electric and it goes off. Failure is with the operator or the controller. Nothing wrong with the BRS dosers except the 50ml is somewhat noisy. I've used the 1.1ml for years.