I’m having an issue with white film on my plants...am I adding too much BacterAE or is this something else?

[Frozen__waffles]

Hi!  I realize this is my first post with my actual shrimp...whoops! Going to start a journal soon but life got in the way (dealing with medical stuff and driving 3hrs-one-way once a week to doctors appts while also working...)

 

i have a shrimp tank with caridina set up (I got the caridina from u/mayphly). My shrimp seem to have been doing great except for this morning when I found a dead one. I’ve noticed this white fuzz in my tank. It didn’t appear until after I started adding Bacter AE so I’m wondering if it’s just a build up of biofilm (maybe I’ve been adding too much bacter AE?) or if it’s something to be concerned about?

 

My ammonia was around .5 and nitrites around .25 last I checked before doing a water change today (after I fished out the dead bb) GH And KH should be fine as I’m using RO/DI water remineralized with salty shrimp GH+. (I don’t have those tests on me but can bring them to work tomorrow to check)

[chappy6107]

sounds like your tank is not cycled.  I would stop adding anything to the tank until it is properly cycled as you will just cause the ammonia/nitrite/nitrates to spike.

[Frozen__waffles]

I had had the cycle set up before I added the shrimp... did a fishless cycle and everything seemed to be working. Maybe adding them and the snail threw things out of whack.

[wyzazz]

1 hour ago, Frozen__waffles said:

I had had the cycle set up before I added the shrimp... did a fishless cycle and everything seemed to be working. Maybe adding them and the snail threw things out of whack.

 

Right, you're likely going through a mini cycle now.  Add some Seachem Prime, do some water changes (slowly) and ride out the storm, so to speak.  The white stuff could be biofilm, it could be mycellium (an underwater fungus), or any number of things.  Stop feeding for now and wait until the tank stabilizes.  

[Frozen__waffles]

Makes sense. I did around 15% water change today, I’ll ptobably do another on Friday. 

 

I have some fluval cycle, should I add it to help things along?

[Memphis118]

Mind I ask how long your tank was set up for?

[Frozen__waffles]

I had it running fishless for about 6 weeks (when everything stabilized) , shrimp have been in since March 10th or so?

 

[JonRon]

I use to dose Bacter AE everyday in my Aquariums. I stopped doing that quickly. It can really make a mess, even in small amounts. Especially on mosses and very thin leaf plants.

I'd suggest you cut your dosage of Bacter AE in half, and maybe 1 to 2 times a week. Even switching to Glasgarten's Shrimp Baby Food would be a good idea. I use that now instead of Bacter AE. 

However; a few days before a berried female hatches eggs I dose a tiny amount of Bacter AE. Then a few days after babies are hatched I dose same amount again. 

 

I want to also mention. Almost a year ago I set up a 60l Aquarium, that I split in half with plexyglass. Using Glasgarten Environment soil. I was trying to cycle without a heater and lights. Did not have the Money for lights at the time. And did not want to put heaters in these tanks as I wanted to experiement with it. Here in Germany many Apartments do not have AC and the temp in my Apartment during summer was 24*c at the highest. Winter time 19*c is the lowest the Aquariums got. 

For the longest time though I had a really high reading of NH4. It was not going down. I placed a few amano Shrimp in each side for a test. They survived. To my suprise the only Thing that happened was they turned blue. A really deep blue.  I placed a post on the planted tank asking how this was possible. And to my suprise I was told that the lower the pH is the NH4 in my Aquarium was not harming my Shrimp. pH was 5.9. 

www.plantedtank.net/forums/11-fertilizers-water-parameters/1189265-ammonia-ph-5-9-a.html 

Has Chart for refrence. 

As Long as you Keep an eye on your Parameters, and Keep up the water changes. You should be fine. And use an oxydator if you can. It helps a lot.

In the future though. When placing a thread about an issue. please provide all Parameters. Where you can get all the help you Need. 

Kind regards,

JonRon