Woke up to cloudy tank with a white film on glass.

[Pauliex77x]

This morning i noticed the tank looked cloudy. There is a clear/white film ln the glass and the water is cloudy. My cycle was going slow so i added a bottle of bio spira on friday. That and switching from feeding 1x a day to 2x a day are the only chamges ive made. Livestock is two small clowns and 5 nessarus snails. The snails have spend most of their time in the substrate but they seem to be all out and roaming this morning. What could this be. Picture doesnt show much sorry.

 

[Bossman]

I take it that the tank is fairly new?

It's not uncommon to go through some bacterial blooms with a new tank. They usually subside pretty quickly.

 

[IKD]

Seems like a bacterial bloom. I would oxygenate and reduce the feeding and watch for a day or so as they can clear up on their own. If it doesn’t clear up, then water changes would be my next step.

 

[miyags]

My guess is a bacterial bloom. They never hurt anything in my tank,but look bad.I cleared mine up with a uv sterilizer.took 3 days.

 

[Pauliex77x]

Tank is just under 3 months old. The cycle stalled i think because of too many water changes. UV sterilizer isnt an option. Tank is a im 25 lagoon. Adding an air pump with some limewood should help? Gonna do a full battery of tests today as ive only been testing nitrites the last two weeks or so waiting for them to hit 0. They were at 1ppm friday. This morning they were .1ppm

 

[Katrina71]

Simple solution is water change, add and airstone. Skimmer if you have one.

 

[Pauliex77x]

Simple solution is water change, add and airstone. Skimmer if you have one.

Have 5g of saltwater ready. I run an Eshopps nano skimmer. Ill get the airstone in today at some point. Guess its nothing too crazy to worry about. Thanks everyone .

 

[Katrina71]

It will kill your fish. Oxygen is URGENT. If you have additional powerheads, use them quickly. Algae consumes your O2.

 

[Pauliex77x]

I get to go home for lunch so ill add the airstone ASAP. ill also do a water change as i have it mixed already. I was waiting for nitrites to hit zero before doing it. Will it stall my cycle again? Guess i have no choice either way.

 

[Katrina71]

No choice.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Hey Paulie a five gallon water change will be a good idea. An air stone or get a power head agitating the water surface will help. Tank looks good, you have a good start. At the three month mark you should not have to add any more bacteria.

 

[IKD]

i would add he air stone first and watch the fish behavior carefully. Not sure you have to do the water change ASAP.

 

[Pauliex77x]

I upgraded my return pump to 2 sicce sincra pumps. One i have facing up with constant surface aggitation. Ill add a fluval powerhead for a few days as well. I added the bio spira because for 3 weeks i had zero ammonia reading but a 1 ppm nitrite reading. Tank already went through the diatom bloom and within 2 weeks it was gone on its own. Ill run the full battery of tests today (minus phosphate as i dont have the kit yet) as well as doing the WC and adding the airstone/powerhead.

 

[Katrina71]

@Dom this is it

 

[CuzzA]

A water change will do nothing for a bacterial bloom. I don't know why this myth persists. You would be wasting money.

A UV sterilizer, heavy skimming or patience are the only solutions. The latter risks hypoxia.

 

[Bpp124987]

Water change won’t help, will clear momentarily then bloom again.

Get the water moving, get o2 into the water. That’s the real risk.

then try a UV if need be

 

[vetteguy53081]

Water change ineffective with this. What would help and at a low cost is an economy Hang on back power filter , even one from Walmart (under $20) which will break up the surface, add oxygen and also skim/trap sediment and particulates and trap them with filter insert which should be washable a couple times and it has carbon with those filters to polish water

 

[Dom]

@Dom this is it

@Dom this is it

Oops... serves me right for not reading from the beginning. Will I ever learn??

 

[Pauliex77x]

UV really isnt an option for the moment. Is there anything i can dose to help?

 

[Katrina71]

Oops... serves me right for not reading from the beginning. Will I ever learn??

No worries.