Bacteria bloom in Brackish water

[Ron]

How do you get rid of bacteria blooms in brackish puffer tanks? I have it minnorly in my 30 gallon. I just added another puffer to it and 3 new live plants. I've cut down on feeding but is there anyway to cure it? The parameters as great, except for a little high nitrates. Thanks,
Ron

[MonoSebaelover]

Welcome to Aquaria Central! As to the question at hand, we will need a bit more info as to what type of filter, what are the occupants, how big are they, how much do you feed etc. The nitrates will be the ones causing the algae to flourish. Water Changes are the only way to make nitrates go away. So anyway, if we can get a bit more info we can help you better. Anyway, hope this helps.

[cdawson]

Just do a 50% water change and get the nitrates down to under 25 mg/l.

[Pufferpunk]

Your tank is cycling. The fastest way to fix that is w/Bio-Spira.

[Ron]

Thanks guys! I have 2 pingiun 125 biowheels for filteration. Also a under gravle filter. I have 5 live amazon swords and 6 additional fake plants. I have 2 GSP's which are both 3 1/2 inches. They get along fine. I feed them once in the morning as much as they can eat in 5 minutes. I feed them live snails, frozen blood worms and brine shrimp. I noticed the bacteria bloom begin when I added my second puffer and soem more Amazon Swords. I've cut back on the feeding since then. (that was Sunday) The white cloudiness has gotten worse today. Still not bad, but worse then this morning. I heard on one of my other forums that this will go away by itself. Is this true? Will it hurt my puffers in any way? I'm going to get some Bio Spira tomorrow. Thanks guys!
Ron

[Pufferpunk]

Yes, it will go away on it's own, but at the expense of your fish! I guarantee you your ammonia and/or nitrites are sky high! Do an 80% water change immediatly & another one before adding Bio-Spira. Add it directly to your filter. You may be surprised at how expensive the stuff is, but if you don't, I'm afraid your puffers are in trouble!

I'm also thinking your puffers are probably getting a little big to be feeding brine shrimp. I'll bet there is a lot of rotting food under/around the plants & decorations. Move it all around when you clean the gravel. Start feeding them larger foods, like pieces of shell-on shrimp, mussels, oysters, scallops, crayfish & crab legs.

[Ron]

If there was a skike (my readings say everything is in check except nirtates.) Puff and Tuff sure don't show it. They have very bright colors, and rarely have the stress line. Tonight I did a 25% water change and it seems to have help by a lot. When do you guys think it will go away? Thanks!
Ron

[cdawson]

When the ben. bacteria has taken care of all the waste and broken it down into nitrates it will go away. I would recommend doing a a large water change (50%) after it's gone to remove all the leftover nitrates.