my bacterial bllom is not going away and the ammonia levels are never below 8ppm. I cant belive the fish are still living. i can even see into the tank. It is almost completley white. Should i wait it out or what? It allstarted when i did a 20 % water change in my 10 gal tank 5 days ago. ever since then it has been nothing but trouble. i have 5 fish by the way
2006-10-13 07:44:22 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
Tank has had fish in it for about 5 weeks now
2006-10-13 07:44:53 · update #1
If it was only five days ago, it's ok to ride it out for awhile longer. You can try adding some live bacteria (purchase from the pet store) to speed the process along. A 10 gal. tank generally takes 1 month for a full cycle, but can go faster if it's just a partial one. Keep testing your water. If your nitrites don't start to to go up in a couple of weeks, then you might consider doing another water change. (Once the nitrites start to go up, you should see your ammonia go down and the tank should be completing its cycle.) Did you change the filter at the same time? Usually 20% water changes don't set a tank into a cycle, but its always possible. Avoid water changes less than two weeks apart and don't replace your filter sponge unless something catastrophic happens (this is where all your bacteria live).
2006-10-13 08:10:45 · answer #1 · answered by Stephanie H 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It can take up to a month for a bacteria bloom to clear. All you can do is wait it out. Water clarifiers will make it clear for maybe a day - but the next day it'll be worse. So don't waste you money on them.
The bacteria bloom isn't harmful to your fish.
The ammonia is. I'd do a 25% water change again, today and add an ammonia remover. Follow the directions though and do not over use it or the opposite of what you want to happen will happen.
Keep and eye on the ammonia and keep doing small water changes every few days.
Don't worry about the bacteria - it sucks to have a cloudy tank cause it isn't very eye pleasing - but it isn't dangerous.
With new tanks, it is VERY common to experience bacteria blooms like this. Especially if you added all 5 fish on the same day.
2006-10-13 21:30:45 · answer #2 · answered by Miss. Kitty 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do not start over it will take about 30 days. Do a 25% water change every 5-7 days and continue to condition the water. Try to maintain a water temperature of about 80 or upper 70s. This will help speedup the metabolism of the bacteria allowing the treatment to take affect quicker.
2006-10-17 10:48:11 · answer #3 · answered by weebles 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is no point in starting over when in a few days you will be right back at this point. Like a few others have said just do water changes. Try to get the ammonia down below 2ppm.
2006-10-13 18:50:29 · answer #4 · answered by Nunya Biznis 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
no don't start over but I would do a 10-20% water changes every couple of days or so ( often) hat should help!
2006-10-13 17:41:14 · answer #5 · answered by C live 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
one gallon every other day for five days should clean it up
2006-10-13 18:56:18 · answer #6 · answered by great white fisherman 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
you should just try another water change--- what kind of conditioners are you using?
2006-10-13 14:51:52 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
hmmm i only have one answer.
"fishy"
2006-10-13 14:46:37 · answer #8 · answered by dbiesel 2 · 0⤊ 4⤋