# Water conditions changing, and little white fuzzballs



## dam718 (Nov 25, 2013)

So things are starting to change a bit in my tank...

The fish seem to be doing fine... Last night I noticed these little white fuzz balls floating around in the tank... I thought maybe it was little pieces of the polishing filter in my new canister, but that didn't make sense... The more I stared at it, I realized what I was looking at was old pieces of uneaten food that had some kind of fungus growing all over them.

Somewhere on here I had read that one of the essential aquarium tools was a turkey baster... I didn't question it, I just got one... I hadn't had to use it yet, and last night I finally figured out why they come in so handy! So I used the turkey baster to suck out all the little fuzz balls... I didn't want to use a gravel vac, as I just changed out the water a day or two ago. The turkey baster worked great as a little vacuum. 

What the heck was that white stuff though? It had to be some kind of mold or fungus, I'm sure of that, but do I need to be really worried about it? Everything in the tank looks fine, fish are doing good... Just wondering if I should treat this somehow? I already fussed at my wife for feeding the two micro fish more food than they could eat in a month. I'm guessing a deep gravel clean on the next water change to get all of the garbage out and regular water changes are necessary (like always). But if there's anything special I need to do for the mold, I don't know about that.

I've noticed that my nitrite now are consistently higher than my ammonia levels. I am guessing this is the second phase of the nitrogen cycle? Also, I am getting a very slight haze to the water... Like a very fine particulate dust in the water and on the surface. Is this the beginning stages of a "Bacteria Bloom" that I hear about during the cycle when the beneficial bacteria colonies are becoming established?

Oh, and one last thing... The sprayer nozzle on my canister is generating a decent amount of current in my tank. Not enough to bother the fish, in fact they seem to enjoy it and will play around in it. But it is keeping things from settling to the bottom and it just goes round and round the tank... Most gets sucked up into the intake, but there is a lot that just doesn't get down low enough. 

Right now the intake strainer is very close to the bottom of the tank. Should I reposition the intake in the tank so it's more in the middle of the tank? Or leave it close to the bottom and try adjusting the spray nozzle to blow things down towards it?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

How high is your ammonia and nitrite? The food is contributing and overfeeding in a cycling tank can cause a lot of havoc. I would not feed for 4-5 days and if your ammonia or nitrite are over 1ppm do a water change now. It is likely to go higher on the nitrite levels as the ammonia goes down. Are you reading any nitrates yet? I would guess some, as food alone can cause that with all you report being in the tank. The cloudiness could be a bacteria bloom or it could be the extra food. Both can cause cloudiness, but if you have ammonia present as well as nitrite it probably is a bacteria bloom.

Canister filters are good that you can re-arrange setups to get it for what suits you and your tank. You can try to move things around. If it is flying around in the tank, everything eventually makes it to the bottom somehow. I would move my intake to the opposite end from the output so it sort of blows toward it, if you didn't already.

A good practice for feeding is only once per day and skip at least one day per week. And of course, only enough that they can eat in a few minutes. I actually stop my filters when I feed so I know the fish get everything. Just may practice and it is much easier on the fish to get the food as my tanks have quite a bit of flow. Breeding tanks can differ this practice. If you have fry in your tank and plants they will eat more on your plants more than likely. Shrimp do this as well.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

All food will go to rot if it sits in the tank.Simple case of over feeding.ALL food should be eaten in 2 minutes.If you don't have bottom fish none should hit bottom.If you see any extra food remove it .I would start to feed every other day or even every third due to cloudiness.When cycling the "bacterial bloom " so many speak of is unnecessary(I've never had one).Cloudy water is caused 99% of the time by over feeding.So nip it now before your tank looks like milk!Most fish will be fine eating every other or on the third day.After your tank is cycled you can feed every day ,but only what is eaten in 2 minutes(once a day).
If you think repositioning the intake will help then move it,but for now it sounds like too much food in the tank?


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## dam718 (Nov 25, 2013)

jrman83 said:


> How high is your ammonia and nitrite? The food is contributing and overfeeding in a cycling tank can cause a lot of havoc. I would not feed for 4-5 days and if your ammonia or nitrite are over 1ppm do a water change now. It is likely to go higher on the nitrite levels as the ammonia goes down. Are you reading any nitrates yet? I would guess some, as food alone can cause that with all you report being in the tank. The cloudiness could be a bacteria bloom or it could be the extra food. Both can cause cloudiness, but if you have ammonia present as well as nitrite it probably is a bacteria bloom.
> 
> Canister filters are good that you can re-arrange setups to get it for what suits you and your tank. You can try to move things around. If it is flying around in the tank, everything eventually makes it to the bottom somehow. I would move my intake to the opposite end from the output so it sort of blows toward it.


Ammonia is around .25 and Nitrite is around .5 neither at 1ppm yet. Nitrates are between 10 and 20ppm. Every time I read 1ppm on either I do a 50% - 60% water change. Should I do less of a change more frequently to allow the bacteria to get more to eat, so to speak? It would still be in the safe zone for the fish as long as I keep it under 1ppm, correct?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

For a cycling tank anything below 1ppm on ammonia or nitrite I would just let ride. It sort of feeds the cycle with putting only slight risk to the fish. If you have both, you should see an end soon. that just depends on when the nitrites started. It usually takes longer for them to dissipate or to colonize that particular bacteria.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Let it go to 1ppm or as close as you feel comfortable.You need the nutrients to make the cycle happen(you have to have ammonia and nitrite to get where you want to be).But since you have fish in you need to be concerned with them #1.This is why fish in cycling is harder and slower;you have keep changing water,and can't just let the levels climb high enough to establish the good bacteria as fast as fishless.
I agree with jr that in the old days people fishless cycled with food(some still do) but it is not as easy to know what state the decomposing food is at and tell the real results of it.The ammonia could really develope 4,5,6 days after food was added.so watch your feedings now(especially the overfeeding).Just like jr said your fish will be fine for days without food.
Watch your levels as you've been doing as extra food is very hard to know when it will take "effect".
The mold on the food is no big deal for the fishes health.It's not good for your tank in general,but is no symptom or cause of any particular disease(just a strong indicator of water quality which does have everything to do with fish health).


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## dam718 (Nov 25, 2013)

Thanks for the input guys. I've been keeping a steady eye on Ammonia and Nitrites. Daily checks on those. Nitrites are becoming more of an issue now than ammonia. The ammonia levels are staying steady from one change to the next. Well, by steady, I mean the change was expected. I went from 1PPM to .5 after a 50% change, and now .25 with a second 50% change. And Nitrites are what are going up between the changes. 

I will admit, I am using the recommended dosing of API Stress Zyme and Quick Start to boost the cycle, but having no experience in this prior to now, I can't say if it's helping things along or not. I don't believe I can hurt anything using these products, but who knows if they are really helping or not? For what it's worth, my next tank I'll be doing a fishless cycle using pure ammonia, cause this constant monitoring is for the birds! And I wanted fish, not birds! LoL!


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