Help! Algae or bacteria bloom?

Do you guys think this is an algae or bacteria bloom? Pictures attached. It’s a 75 gallon tank. I had an angel fish die and found the ammonia to be between 1.0ppm and 2.0ppm so I did a 50% water change and the next day the tank looks like this and is just getting worse. Ph is at 8.0 right now, ammonia is even higher between 2.0 and 4.0, nitrites are at .25, nitrates are at 10ppm. Nothing I’m doing is lowering the ammonia. I even have the fluval ammonia gravel in the filter. I have put in seachem prime. I don’t know what else to try. Another water change? Help before I lose all the rest of my fish.
Whichever you think it is, what is your recommendation?

 

You need to get the ammonia and nitrite down to save your fish. Do another 50% water change now. Test the water afterwards. It should be 50% of what it was before the WC. Do it again tomorrow. Keep doing WCs until you get the combined amount of ammonia and nitrite down to .5ppm

What other fish are in your tank? How long has it been set up? Did you cycle it?

So the ammonia was 1-2 and you did a WC. The next day the ammonia is at 2-4. There has to be a source of the increasing ammonia. Has something else died in the tank?

 

Okay I will do another water change now. There are no other dead fish, we checked for them all, they’re all still alive. The only thing that’s new is the large tree you see in there, I don’t know if that’s causing the rise in ammonia. I have two angel fish, two gouramis, a pictus and 5 Cory catfish. The tank has been set up for just under 2 months. Everything was fine until the angel fish died that I rescued. We did cycle it.
Do you think the ammonia test could be faulty? I’m using the API master kit and I just bought it, but I tested the ammonia in my 10 gallon tank that I’ve had forever, no problems with it, and the ammonia in that came back at 2.0. I usually use the strips on that one and they always come back with 0 ammonia.

 

Probably something wrong with the test kit. If the Cory Cats are eating and otherwise acting normally, the water parameters are likely acceptable. Cories are relatively fragile & very sensitive to adverse water parameters.
Considering it's a new setup, probably a harmless bacterial bloom. How big is the tank?

 

Okay I will do another water change now. There are no other dead fish, we checked for them all, they’re all still alive. The only thing that’s new is the large tree you see in there, I don’t know if that’s causing the rise in ammonia. I have two angel fish, two gouramis, a pictus and 5 Cory catfish. The tank has been set up for just under 2 months. Everything was fine until the angel fish died that I rescued. We did cycle it.
Do you think the ammonia test could be faulty? I’m using the API master kit and I just bought it, but I tested the ammonia in my 10 gallon tank that I’ve had forever, no problems with it, and the ammonia in that came back at 2.0. I usually use the strips on that one and they always come back with 0 ammonia.

Prime could detoxify a lot of ammonia (up to 5ppm), so depends on how much you put in, that might be saving your fish at the moment.

I am surprised ammonia could hit this high. Yes a fish died, but presuming you took it out and with the water change, it should not have resulted in higher ammonia.

Could yeah, also be a faulty ammonia test kit.

Two questions.
1. Can you measure ammonia of your tap water and let us know what the reading is?
2. Do you dose Seachem Prime every time you do a water change?

 

Prime could detoxify a lot of ammonia (up to 5ppm), so depends on how much you put in, that might be saving your fish at the moment.

I am surprised ammonia could hit this high. Yes a fish died, but presuming you took it out and with the water change, it should not have resulted in higher ammonia.

Could yeah, also be a faulty ammonia test kit.

Two questions.
1. Can you measure ammonia of your tap water and let us know what the reading is?
2. Do you dose Seachem Prime every time you do a water change?

Okay so I did a 50% water change and then tested ammonia right after, not sure if I should wait longer, but it’s still between 2.0 and 4.0. I know it’s not the kit bc I tested tap water and that’s sitting at 0 ammonia.
I just got seachem prime for the past two water changes, but I have been using it for the past two. I used it this time as well.
I’m not sure what else to do. I attached a picture of the ammonia reading.
Should I wait a few hours and test it again, or should it have dropped immediately?

 

Okay so I did a 50% water change and then tested ammonia right after, not sure if I should wait longer, but it’s still between 2.0 and 4.0. I know it’s not the kit bc I tested tap water and that’s sitting at 0 ammonia.
I just got seachem prime for the past two water changes, but I have been using it for the past two. I used it this time as well.
I’m not sure what else to do. I attached a picture of the ammonia reading.
Should I wait a few hours and test it again, or should it have dropped immediately?

It should have dropped immediately. There is no reason why it should not drop immediately. Sounds weird to me.

By the way, so did you at any time add water to the tank without dosing Prime or some type of dechlorinator?

 

It should have dropped immediately. There is no reason why it should not drop immediately. Sounds weird to me.

By the way, so did you at any time add water to the tank without dosing Prime or some type of dechlorinator?

Yea I’m completely at a loss. I tested it again to make sure it wasn’t a fluke and same result.

I used a regular water conditioner before, I’m not sure if it’s the same as a dechlorinator, it was the api water conditioner.
I will try another 50% water change tomorrow, but do you have any other suggestions?

Do you think I should take my fish out of this tank until the water situation is sorted out?

 

You need to get the ammonia and nitrite down to save your fish. Do another 50% water change now. Test the water afterwards. It should be 50% of what it was before the WC. Do it again tomorrow. Keep doing WCs until you get the combined amount of ammonia and nitrite down to .5ppm

What other fish are in your tank? How long has it been set up? Did you cycle it?

So the ammonia was 1-2 and you did a WC. The next day the ammonia is at 2-4. There has to be a source of the increasing ammonia. Has something else died in the tank?

Okay so I put my fish in a quarantine tank overnight, they are all doing good. Today I completely emptied the water, cleaned the whole tank, gravel etc., I know this will cause another cycle but I didn’t have a choice. The water coming from my hose is reading 0ppm. I filled the tank up, nothing in it but gravel, filter, bubblers and heater and ammonia is reading .25ppm. What gives??? I don’t know what to do. I put seachem prime in. Ill take another reading in an hour.

 

Okay so I put my fish in a quarantine tank overnight, they are all doing good. Today I completely emptied the water, cleaned the whole tank, gravel etc., I know this will cause another cycle but I didn’t have a choice. The water coming from my hose is reading 0ppm. I filled the tank up, nothing in it but gravel, filter, bubblers and heater and ammonia is reading .25ppm. What gives??? I don’t know what to do. I put seachem prime in. Ill take another reading in an hour.

The 0.25ppm can come from really just anywhere, even if you give a tank a good clean, there can be ammonia remaining somewhere and/or produced immediately. Could even be a much lower concentration than 0.25, but on the API test kit anything above 0, even if just slightly, could seem to read 0.25 anyways.

How's the ammonia in the quarantine tank?

 

Take that new piece of wood and put in a bucket of 0 ammonia water. Test for ammonia in 24 hours.

There was another thread here today or yesterday where someone had the same problem. Turns out the ammonia was comong from the new wood, or rather, the surface of the wood. It was a commonly used wood that every fish store sells, but I can't think of the name of it.