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Title: bacterial bloom?
Description: in my fry tank


dmarie04 - December 4, 2007 12:55 PM (GMT)
I did a water change Sunday night in my fry tank and fed them, as usual, yesterday. This morning I switched on the light in there and about fell over. The water is so cloudy I could hardly see anything. It looks like someone poured some milk in the tank. The water is a milky white color and there is white residue on the wood, heater, and filter. I immediately did a 3 gallon water change (it's a ten gallon tank) but it didn't really help too much with the cloudiness. Is this a bacterial bloom? How can I treat the tank? Do I just keep doing water changes. I can only see 5 fry in there and I want to keep them alive. Should I just set up one of my smaller tanks and move them into it? I could set up a 5 gallon, a one gallon, or could even put them in my 29 gallon with my Endlers (at least I know that is a healthy and established tank). The fry are one month old today.

Greentetra - December 4, 2007 04:31 PM (GMT)
Do water changes. Are you sure nothing fell into the tank during the night? I would do a 50-75%+ water change and take everything out and bleach or vinegar any decorations. Just be sure to rinse everything really well before putting it back in. :)

LaBella - December 4, 2007 10:05 PM (GMT)
That sounds like a bloom to me.
I would pull the fry and put them in something smaller.
One of the issues with feeding fry in that large a tank when you have so few fry, is you are tempted to over feed to make sure the all the fry get food.
By putting them in a smaller tank, you can monitor what they eat better, not over feed, and prevent blooms like this.
In the meanwhile, water change, water change water change..
You can put some clear water in it which will kill the bloom, (postasium pomegrante, something like that, but it turns the water brown, and also, I don't know what effects it may have on the babies.)
Oh, when I have blooms, it is always after a water change as well. I don't know why though.

dmarie04 - December 5, 2007 01:04 AM (GMT)
Thanks so much for the advice. I was able to net out 9 fry and put them in a 5 gallon tank. I am not going to take down the ten gallon until I'm absolutely sure there is no more hiding in there, but I"m pretty sure I found them all.

LaBella - December 5, 2007 05:14 PM (GMT)
This is long and convoluted, but if you have a baby brine shrimp net, you can scoop, and pour into the net. It takes forever, and I hold the net so that it is suspended above and partially in the water, and not hanging all the way above it, just in case there are fry.. They take a little less battering that way, or so I like to believe




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