Rotting Roots-Bacteria Bloom

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tackful

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Mar 15, 2007
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Hello,
Recently my tank water went from crystal clear to that milky haze that signals a bacteria bloom. Having considered and eliminated all of the usual causes, I am now thinking it may be a decomposing root problem. When I trimmed and replanted the tops of my wisteria a few weeks ago, I simply cut off the old stems at the substrate but didn't remove out the root system. They have a pretty good grip on the substrate, so I just left them in rather than cause a big disturbance by pulling them out. I imagine they're rotting pretty good by now, but before I go in there and dig them out, I'd like some feedback. Could this be the cause of the bacteria bloom? Thanks.
 

ROYWS3

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The roots should not be rotting. The tops you cut will of course sprout new roots and the roots already in the substrate will sprout new leaf growth (if there was a bit of stem left). That the cool thing about most stem plants, they double their density every time we trim them.

So short answer, your roots are not the cause of what you say is a bacterial bloom
 

tanker

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I too agree, the roots are not the cause of the "Cloudy" water.
 

tackful

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Mar 15, 2007
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Sausalito, CA
The roots should not be rotting. The tops you cut will of course sprout new roots and the roots already in the substrate will sprout new leaf growth (if there was a bit of stem left). That the cool thing about most stem plants, they double their density every time we trim them.

So short answer, your roots are not the cause of what you say is a bacterial bloom
There really wasn't any stem left. I cropped them right off at the surface.
 

Byron Amazonas

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I would carefully pull up one of them to see what they look like; doing this during the water change with the water changer tube right at the spot will help prevent a mess.

A bacterial bloom can suddenly occur due to one of several factors.

Byron.
 

tackful

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Mar 15, 2007
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I would carefully pull up one of them to see what they look like; doing this during the water change with the water changer tube right at the spot will help prevent a mess.

A bacterial bloom can suddenly occur due to one of several factors.

Byron.
I tried but was not successful. My wisteria is so densely planted that I was unable to find the cutoff stems. Very likely I might have uprooted a healthy plant.
Attempting to find another possible cause of the bloom, I did a fish count and could account for everyone except the white clouds. I have seven, but could only account for three. However, right now visibility is very poor, and they've always been a little bit difficult to find.
Now I have had very large trumpet snail population for quite some time. Is there any possibility that this could be a factor?
 

Byron Amazonas

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I tried but was not successful. My wisteria is so densely planted that I was unable to find the cutoff stems. Very likely I might have uprooted a healthy plant.
Attempting to find another possible cause of the bloom, I did a fish count and could account for everyone except the white clouds. I have seven, but could only account for three. However, right now visibility is very poor, and they've always been a little bit difficult to find.
Now I have had very large trumpet snail population for quite some time. Is there any possibility that this could be a factor?
Highly unlikely on the snails (I assume you are meaning that if they suddenly died off or something?).

Bacterial blooms can occur from various things. New tanks obviously, because the high level of organics in tap water (chlorine does nothing on organics) cause the bacteria to multiply so rapidly due to the food source that it clouds the water. And the bacteria we are considering here can multiply very rapidly by comparison to nitrifying bacteria which are much slower. The nitrifiers take from 9 to 20+ hours, whereas the heterotrophic bacteria connected with this bloom can multiply within 20 minutes or less. Heterotrophic bacteria cannot synthesize their own food so they need organic material such as fish waste, dead bacteria, fish and plant matter, and so forth. And while some are aerobic (requiring oxygen), many are faculative anaerobes, meaning that they can survive in either the presence or absence of oxygen.

I also see a bloom every time I clean the canister filters, mild usually, for a couple days generally. Any sudden increase in organics can trigger it, such as increasing the fish load massively, or overfeeding. Not being regular with water changes and (if needed) substrate cleaning. Generally, anything that affects the tank's biology. Once an aquarium is established, the biological system tends to remain fairly constant. But because we are dealing with a closed system which biologically is very un-natural and artificial, it is easy to impact the biological equilibrium in a negative way.

Byron.
 
Last edited:

tackful

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Hi Byron,
Several months ago I tore down the tank, replanted, increased the dosing, and since then have had clear water and no algae at all. I thought I'd leave well enough alone, and limited my water changes to about 20% every three weeks or so when I clean the filter. I don't gravel vacuum because the substrate looks clean and there are very few open, unplanted areas that I could get to anyway. I thought there were some folks who believe that their planted tanks do better without it.
 

Byron Amazonas

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Hi Byron,
Several months ago I tore down the tank, replanted, increased the dosing, and since then have had clear water and no algae at all. I thought I'd leave well enough alone, and limited my water changes to about 20% every three weeks or so when I clean the filter. I don't gravel vacuum because the substrate looks clean and there are very few open, unplanted areas that I could get to anyway. I thought there were some folks who believe that their planted tanks do better without it.
Water changes should be weekly at minimum. And volume should be 30-50%. There are many reasons for water changes, and absolutely nothing can replace them. Filter cleaning depends upon the tank and filter. My Rena XP3 on the 115g needs cleaning every 2-3 months, whereas my Eheims on the 90g and 70g easily go 3-4 and even 5 months sometimes. I do do much in the substrate, and again it depends upon the tank and fish.

Regular significant water changes is the only way to ensure stable water conditions, and that goes a long way to preventing what you are experiencing now.
 
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