Can a bacteria bloom harm/kill newts?

[Lertsch]

I've had what appears to be a bacteria bloom in my main newt tank (notos) for a few days now. White milky looking stuff dripping down from the top of the water column and a smell sort of like sulfur.

I think some of the newts are spending more time out of the water and up on floating plants more than usual, but it could just be me focusing on that more than usual.

Anyway, my question is whether anyone know if these conditions can be harmful to newts, and what action I should take?

 

[CatSpit]

Hi, depending on the type of bacteria, it could be depleting the oxygen in the water which would affect your newts. Have you tested your water parameters? The following information is from a site (see link) with regards to a freshwater aquarium bacterial bloom. How to Fix Cloudy Tank Water | RateMyFishTank.com

"In order to completely solve a problem with cloudy tank water (the correct way) you need to improve the water quality in your tank and remove the built-up waste from the substrate. Start by siphoning the gravel in your tank using an aquarium gravel vacuum and perform a 25% water change using tap water that has been treated with an aquarium water conditioner. By siphoning tank water from the substrate you will be collecting and removing accumulated detritus that might be contributing to poor water quality in your tank. It will also serve to remove the organic material on which bacteria and algae may be feeding. When you perform a large water change, the cloudiness of the tank water may not go away immediately but, as the water quality in your tank goes up, the bacteria should eventually settle down. Keep an eye on your tank over the next few hours to see if the cloudiness starts to go away – if it doesn’t, wait 24 hours then perform another water change. When you refill the tank, make sure you treat the new water with a water conditioner to remove chlorine and heavy metals that could be harmful for your fish."

I just want to add that you don't want to change too much of your water at a time as this is also stressful for your newts. From what I've read, it can take some time to get rid of a bacterial bloom so as suggested above, I would stick to partial water changes of no more than 25%, regular cleaning and frequent testing of your water parameters to ensure nothing else is going on.



Hope this is helpful.

 

[Lertsch]

Thank you for the reply. The water parameters seems normal, with ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates at zero. Water is slightly acidic.

I forgot to add that this is an established tank set up over 2 - 3 years ago. Walstad method heavily planted with mostly stem pants.

I'm not the most experienced aquarium keeper. What affect would low oxygen levels have on the newts if they're not gilled/neotonic and breathe air?

 

[CatSpit]

Can you post a picture of your tank setup? Sounds nice, and that's good you don't have ammonia, nitrite or high levels of nitrates in your tank. Interesting that you have 0 nitrates, what kind of water changes do you do?

The depletion of oxygen by some types of bacteria was the only ill effect I found when I was looking for information on bacterial blooms. I don't know how it would affect your newts unless it is the reason they are not going in the water as much as usual... as your parameters otherwise sound good.

 

[Lertsch]

Here's a picture of the tank. The lighting is weird in the corner of the room I have the tank in so it's not a great picture.

I do a 10% - 20% water change about once a month. I don't do water changes that frequently because I use a wire mesh lid and there is a lot of evaporation so I add new water frequently (once the tank loses an inch or so of water). For the last several months the tank temperature has been around 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

[CatSpit]

Hi, thanks for posting a pic, that's a nicely planted tank! I have never attempted the Walstad method, so hopefully another forum member would have more experience with this. Having said that, I did "google" the subject and one of the suggestions on a forum about established Walstad method tanks having bacterial blooms noted that:

"Heterotrophic bacteria grow when there is food. They eat organic matter. Anything small enough that is in the water. They usually grow for a week or so, then die off, if there is just a small supply of food. But in a tank with soil, there may be more food for them. Mineralizing the soil may help."

Another suggestion was to add carbon to the filter to minimize the food for the bacteria - i don't know if you use a filter but if you do, that isn't a bad idea.

I hope that your 'bloom' clears up soon, however you treat it. Keep us updated as to how it's going.

 

[Lertsch]

I ended up moving all the newts in the tank to a 10g spare tank. I took 2 gallons from my 20g established planted tank (filled the tank with new water after that), along with a tank ornament to make sure there was some good bacteria in there and threw in some healthy stem plants and floating plants. They were acting much more like normal once I moved them.

In the tank with the bacterial bloom I lightly vacuumed the bottom until 10% of the water was gone (refilled and repeated 2 more times). I did find some of my pants were starting to melt. I'm not sure if they were the cause or a result of the bacterial bloom. After I got out most of the dead/dying plant matter I ran a powerhead filter on its max setting for a day and a half.

Water parameters stayed the same the so far. As of yesterday the bacterial bloom seems to be over, only one type of plant at the point where the bloom started died off, and some algae was starting to grow on the sides of my tank disappeared. It appears that the tank recovered, so I'm planning on reintroducing the newts gradually this week.

 

[CatSpit]

Sounds great. Glad your newts have been happier and that your main tank is looking good for their return.