Massive bacterial (or algae?) bloom immediately after changing to Co-op's Easy fry fish food

[rob_dixon]

HI peeps!

First, I certainly am not calling out this product as bad - its obviously well reviewed, but understand I just need assistance and why this may have happened.  My planted tank is very well established - although I can provide parameters as needed to troubleshoot, but basically they are all the same - certainly the exact same they have been for the past 2 months.  Ammonia, Nitrite and even Nitrates are 0 (or negligible) with this bloom.  I also track KH, GH, and PH - all normal.

I bought Easy fry fish food, switching from Tetra Tropical Flakes (and occasional bug bites).  I feed every other day.  After just 2 feedings, ~3 days) my tank has EXPLODED in a bacterial bloom.  It is crazy cloudy now.  I will also say it could be an algae bloom, but i have almost none on the glass and rocks and TBH i have never had an algae issue. It certainly tints more "cloudy" versus "green"

So I can state with 100% certainly the only change was switching food. 

My theories are there 2 possibilities here but i am looking to your expertise on more:

1) Because the food is much smaller, its possible I simply added way to much.  However, note i deliberately try NOT to do this so I would say "wow" to that and want to say I did not do this!  BUT i am new to this tiny form factor food. Maybe it packs a huge punch compared to tetra flakes.

2) ELSE, there is some different ingredient in this food that either triggered the bacteria, or creatures to poop more - (but again Ammonia is 0).

My current solution was to do a water change, and certainly not continue to use this food until i stabilize again.  So now i am looking for advice on this.  I am typically very good at having a learning mindset with the hobby but this time around I must admit I feel at least a little annoyed.

 

 

 

[ScottieB]

Well I wish I had a better answer for you and hopefully you get to the bottom of it. I’ve been using the coop fry food for a long time, never seen anything like what you’re describing. I use a couple “puffs” in a bare bottom/planted twenty long a couple times daily raising about 50 cichlid fry. What kind of fish are you feeding? And how big is the tank? Are the fish still acting normally?

My only experience even close to this was when we had some painting done inside our house last year and they used an alcohol based paint thinner and a sprayer. A day later my 300g reef tank looked like skim milk. The airborne carbon source triggered a bacterial bloom and wiped out most of the corals and some fish as the whole tank was essentially hypoxic. 
 

I know you’re already indicating the food as the only variable but even something more environmental may have happened unbeknownst to you. I agree with your reasoning though, let’s hold off on the fry food. Do a couple water changes and see how things go. 
 

Hopefully others will chime in with their experience with the fry food. 
 

edit: And a super warm welcome to the forum! 

Edited May 14, 2023 by ScottieB

[Guppysnail]

Luckily when I tried coop food I had fry food experience. Small or powdered/partially powdered does deteriorate very rapidly “pack a big punch”. 
Easy fry also seems to have a high protein content compared to other brands. 
For a feed guide take what a normal pinch of flake would be and crumble to particle size. It will crumble to what seems almost nothing. A palm full of flake ends to be  dime size in r less. Even with experience I tend to over do the fry food. 
 

[Biotope Biologist]

Can you post a picture of the water column? 
 

Itd be easier to get to the bottom of this. Note correlation is not necessarily causation.

[Ken Burke]

I used Easy Fry for my angel fry.  I gave a couple puffs 3-4 times daily over the first several weeks. I did not have any issues with cloudy water until they were dime sized. But I’m growing out angels and BNP. 

 

What kind of fry are u feeding?  

[Galabar]

I haven't had an issue with the Easy Fry good (mostly guppy and platy fry).  However, I only feed a small amount of it along with flake food.

I do notice the water getting a little cloudy if I overfeed (various foods in general).  This seems to be more common on smaller tanks for me.  To keep my water crystal clear I really need to balance the amount of all food entering the tank. 

Edited May 14, 2023 by Galabar

[rob_dixon]

I am not actually feeding fry.  I am feeding small fish - 10 tetras and 8 chili rasporas in a 20 G. .  The product said fry "and small fish"  Sorry for the glare.

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by rob_dixon

[DaveO]

I think you accidentally overfed. It takes practice with that bottle to squirt a small amount of food. I use it for small fish also and have had to learn to be very gentle with the squeeze. Your tank will adjust to your feeding. It just takes a little time.

[rob_dixon]

On 5/15/2023 at 4:22 AM, DaveO said:

I think you accidentally overfed. It takes practice with that bottle to squirt a small amount of food. I use it for small fish also and have had to learn to be very gentle with the squeeze. Your tank will adjust to your feeding. It just takes a little time.

Most likely then.  I will wait for it to get back to normal, feed with my old flakes for a bit and then try again with just a tiny fraction of what i used previously.

[Guppysnail]

Your plants look amazingly healthy! Great job. 

[rob_dixon]

Sorry to revive this from a few weeks ago but it has been 12+ days now and my water is still cloudy as can be.  I have of course read extensively "just give it time" and we are certain its a bacterial bloom so i guess i am posting to get an idea on how much time shall i expect before it does clear?  ELSE maybe something is going on. 

I am feeding "2 fish eyes or less" to my fish every other day, I have an Oase 250 on a 20 gallon - so very well filtered, well cycled and its decently planted, so I am perplexed why it is taking so long to clear.  I am now tempted to buy API accu clear to see if that does anything, i figure for $10 it cant hurt?

My dismay of course is i thought i was being patient. I spent a lot of time and money on my tank (6 months in the making), and it looks gorgeous otherwise but the super cloudy water is driving me insane and really is taking the wind out of my sails here.  Note, as shown we are not even talking "dull" water.  This is crazy white cloudy to where I can visually see the white stuff circulating around in the right light. 

Please help guide me my fishy lovin' friends.

[Guppysnail]

Bacterial blooms can last from 1 day to I had one once that hung around for 2 months. 
You could try adding a bottle of Tetra safe start plus. It may help speed the process. 
 

[RennjiDK]

On 5/22/2023 at 12:16 PM, rob_dixon said:

Sorry to revive this from a few weeks ago but it has been 12+ days now and my water is still cloudy as can be.  I have of course read extensively "just give it time" and we are certain its a bacterial bloom so i guess i am posting to get an idea on how much time shall i expect before it does clear?  ELSE maybe something is going on. 

I am feeding "2 fish eyes or less" to my fish every other day, I have an Oase 250 on a 20 gallon - so very well filtered, well cycled and its decently planted, so I am perplexed why it is taking so long to clear.  I am now tempted to buy API accu clear to see if that does anything, i figure for $10 it cant hurt?

My dismay of course is i thought i was being patient. I spent a lot of time and money on my tank (6 months in the making), and it looks gorgeous otherwise but the super cloudy water is driving me insane and really is taking the wind out of my sails here.  Note, as shown we are not even talking "dull" water.  This is crazy white cloudy to where I can visually see the white stuff circulating around in the right light. 

Please help guide me my fishy lovin' friends.

Add a UV filter and if it's a bloom, it will be gone the next day. Other than that, I wouldn't mess with it except making sure you have adequate gas exchange happening.

[jwcarlson]

It's exceedingly easy to overfed fry food.  Not just the Co-Op variety, but anything of powder or almost powder consistency because it's so much more dense than what you're probably used to. 

[rob_dixon]

ok so I determined 2.5 weeks later after my last 2 week update it is 100% the Small fish fry food causing this cloudy horrible water. 

SO weeks ago I got so frustrated I bought a UV clarifier which cleared the water finally while I fed my tried and true old food- the tetra tropical flakes.  2 days ago I feed the Aqua-co-op food and BOOM.   Massive bloom.  Exactly a repeat of last time.  

If what I am doing is "overfeeding" this stuff is nuclear and a very questionable product.  Because I am NOT overfeeding.  IN fact, I fear some of my 19 small fish arent even getting any food the last time i fed them.

I bought it because it has a higher crude protein content than my standard flakes.  I know this.  I also got it BECAUSE of the squeeze bottle feature, BUT in order to deliberately go out of my way NOT to overfeed after last time I can't even use the squeeze feature because i cant trust the "puff" of food.  SO i have to puff it into a bowl and then feed a reasonable eye size amount from the bowl.

I get it, "it worked for you."  But I run a pretty tight ship with my tank and can say for me..... this stuff is going into my compost bin and never again in my tank.   My worms will LOVE it.

 

 

Edited June 8, 2023 by rob_dixon

[Biotope Biologist]

How old is your tank? Fresh aquascapes really suffer from nutrient imbalances more than others. It can sometimes take a few months
 

UV sterilizers despite their claims only really effect free floating algae and bacteria but do little to tackle the source of the problem. Therefore I can’t recommend them as a permanent solution to your bacterial blooms. 
 

Whatever the case, fish food does make great compost starter. I just don’t think it’s quite accurate to pin it to the specific fish foods. Your problem is best solved with time and patience. Most aquascapes you see on the internet are temporary displays or ones that have been maintained for years. They never show you the griddy annoying and tedious im between.

 

btw that is a beautiful scape! If that is your first time you are a natural

[Jackson]

What kind of grass is that in your tank ? Looks great !   Sorry to hear about your issues with food .  I use tetra with no issues . Always looking for better food as I have posted , asking about better foods for my community .

[rob_dixon]

On 6/7/2023 at 8:49 PM, Biotope Biologist said:

How old is your tank? Fresh aquascapes really suffer from nutrient imbalances more than others. It can sometimes take a few months

Tank was first "online" 2 months ago (4/6) (after a long dry start).  Indeed it is my first Aquascape so thanks, but it certainly is frustrating to have a nice tank you worked so hard on and have ugly cloudy water months later = all other parms being perfect.

 And thanks, I have read repeatedly time is indeed key.  Certainly this food packs a punch I think its best to step away from it.

Note i am posting the update for one reason - these are the kind of community posts that helped me learn, so just want to give others the heads up in the event they experience the same with this food.

 

On 6/8/2023 at 5:47 AM, Jackson said:

What kind of grass is that in your tank ? Looks great !   Sorry to hear about your issues with food .  I use tetra with no issues . Always looking for better food as I have posted , asking about better foods for my community .

Eleocharis Parvula, Eleocharis Vivipara, and Ludwigia Repens "Super red"

The grass is crazy thick from trimming and i did a dry start.

Edited June 8, 2023 by rob_dixon

[rob_dixon]

(deleting a double post glitch)

Edited June 8, 2023 by rob_dixon