Legacy2005

i think im going through a mini cycle, not sure why though?

tank has been fully cycled for 4 months. current readings: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 30 nitrates.
treated the tank for ich 2 weeks ago after which a water change was performed and fresh
filter/carbon was added ever since then the tank has been cloudy. could the ich treatment have killed off my good bateria?

recent additions to the tank are 3 small green tiger barbs and eco-complete subrate.

20 gal tank
filtration:
aqua clear 100
penguin 200 with 1 bio ball floating in it
aqua clear power head with filter pad
10 bio balls floating on surface

tank inhabitants:
5 tiger barbs
3 small green tiger barbs
2 anachris
1 anubis
2 rosetta swords
1 val


any ideas would be greatly appreciated?

armadillo

Hi Legacy, if your n'ites/a'nia readings are 0, then you're not going through a mini-cycle this minute, but perhaps there has been one. What makes you think there's been a mini-cycle?

Perhaps am being ignorant, but I hadn't read anywhere that a bacterial bloom means your good bacteria are gone. Are you sure that is the case?

And yes, ich treatment (or any other meds) can, depending on the specific meds, in theory, deplenish your nitrifer bacteria count. So can a fresh filter pad.

Butterfly

If you changed all your filter media after the treatment you are maybe experienceing a very small cycle . The cloudiness is the bacteria catching up to the bioload. Since the reaadings are as they are they(the bacteria) may have caught up already and the cloudiness should be gone in a couple of days.
Carol

Legacy2005

as part of the ich treatment it said to take the carbon out in order for the meds to properly
work, so i removed the carbon/filter pads from the penguin and replaced them with normal
foam pads to remove any waste, i also removed the carbon pouch from the aqua clear. so any benificial bateria on those items would have been lost, and i assumed the water/filters was trying to play catch up which is why the water got cloudy due to the bacteria regrowing.

if not then i need to so some more searching on the cause of the couldyness.

so a bloom is not always associated with a mini cycle then i guess right?

Butterfly

In a way it is. Cycling - growing beneficial bacteria is what it's all about. BB converts ammonia to less toxic Nitrites then to even less toxic Nitrates. So if you lose some you will have a bloom(which is an effort to catch back up the the bioload needs). Evidently yours was so small it doesn't show up in the tests. Hang in there
carol

armadillo

You did right to remove the carbon, then add it again. That's what you need to do if you medicate. And you're right that it will have reduced some of your nitrifer bacterial count.

But it sounds like you've got no ammonia/nitrite. So you could either condition with Amquel + or Prime for a few weeks, or monitor your water really frequently for few weeks, if you feel you may have a mini cycle on your hands.

OK, just read a bit about it. Check this out: Cloudy Water - What Causes It And How to Clear Cloudy Water

Legacy2005

thanks for the help all. figured it was just bacteria regrowing just wanted to run it by you guys to get your ideas.

Butterfly

The bloom doesn't always show up in a cycle whether its a mini or not but it usually means the bacteria is multiplying fast enough for us to see it. In other words it's in a hurry to catch up to the bioload present
Carol