Biopellet Bacteria Bloom Depleting Fish Oxygen, or Something Else?...HELP!!

[jmaneyapanda]

In theory, yes. We are speculating wildly how much bacteria is there and how much more than normal. Reducing the carbon source (in the bio pellets) and increasing oxygenation should certaianly help. Again, this is all assuming oxygen depletion was the issue. Which we wouldnt know without a DO measurement.

 

[ripped tide]

jmaneyapanda;911999 wrote: In increasing an aerobic bacterial population (by adding the biopellets), yes, you are going to eat into the O2 availability elsewhere. There are dissolved Oxygen meters which can measure this, but if all else checks out, thats a distinct possibility. Im not sure dosing h2o2 will be a "solution", rather than a diagnostic bandaid.

Also, ORP really isnty a good measure of oxygen content at all. It measures the biochemical "activity", not oxygen levels.

agreed. The ORP was a relevant red flag for me, though.

Since ORP is basically the "battle" between oxidizers and reducers- you can get an idea whether there are excess reducers lowering the level of oxidizers. No, it isn't any way to measure actual oxygen levels- it can be an indicator of a problem.

 

[newbie20]

Anybody out there have a dissolved oxygen meter?

 

[ralph atl]

add some airstones........please.

 

[newbie20]

mysterybox;912047 wrote: add some airstones........please.

Per my original cry for help, I had 4 of them running on it yesterday, 3 in the DT, 1 in the sump. The 3 in the DT are battery powered, and I turned them off at 3am when going to bed as they were running pretty low. The one in the sump is still running.

FYI - wife reports that the fish are looking what she considers to be "normal". That's a good sign, since I thought she was calling to tell me one had died. However, I'll have to be the judge of what's "normal" since she's not obsessed with it like I am and may not be picking up on some subtle signs of stress. But, she did say that it doesn't appear as if their breathing is labored anymore. So, if there are only subtle signs, then that's a heck of a lot better than what I witnessed yesterday. Fingers still crossed!

 

[ripped tide]

Good to hear that they are looking "normal"- per the wife.

When you did the water change and got the skimmer running, that probably put you in the clear.

 

[ralph atl]

Oops! Missed that!!

Great to hear that things seemed to have improved!