So my 180 gallon freshwater tank has been running for a few years now and obviously it is (or at least was) fully cycled. Over the summer both of the 2 fish that inhabited the tank died. The tank has been running without fish for about 3 months now. Are the bacteria still alive? Is the tank still cycled?
Did the bacteria die?
- Thread starter messesb52
- Start date
Yes you would. The bacteria feed off the ammonia and nitrites per say, and without those in your tank there would not be a supply adequate enough to house fish at the moment.
How do you know the fish died from a bacterial infection? From what I know, fish are exposed to bacteria all the time. With food, poop, maybe plants, etc all decomposing in the water. With proper maintenance Fish are able to tolerate this.
In an empty tank, you could've kept feeding your BB with either pure ammonia drops or fish food/shrimp. then you wouldn't have to start recycling all over.
I never said the fish died from a bacterial infection. One fish tried eating the other and the small fish got stuck in the big ones mouth and they both died
This is interesting because i’ve read online in some places that the bacteria can live up to a year without a food source.
There is a greater chance of them not being there then are at this time. The best way would be to test your water and check, however it looks like you have other tanks currently. I would just take some of that filter media from those filters and add to your 180 tank filters and seed it.
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BB could possibly survive for some time in a filter with a large load of unprocessed gunk inside to feed BB. but for a year? that filter would have to be grossly overloaded,.. if that amount of time is even possible. I don't know.
