Probiotics & cichlids

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R

Reaper13

Gambusia
MFK Member
Feb 13, 2013
430
5
18
Southeast
I went fish at a buddies place awhile back & I noticed he tossed rid-x into all his ponds. Well we got to talking & now I put in my tanks. 1st started with a community now it goes into all my tanks (firemouths, jag, etc etc). Over the course of 6 months or so the results have been very surprising.

First my canister intake/discharge tubes are clean slong with impellers etc. Next gunk in my tank (fish crap etc) is practically turned to dust & is really easy to vacuum up especially with gravel. No negative effect whatsoever with my fish. Growth & conformation have seem to have improved with the bigger cichlids showing the most noticeable changes.

1 tbsp per 55gals every 7 days. Mix with tank water & after 4-5 Hrs dump the water in.
WC Schedule: 75% or down to the back of my fish 1x per week (nitrate level is around 10ppm or lower can't get a more exact reading with a liquid test)
Rid-X powder (all organic) $6.54 walmart.
Fish: Firemouths, Convicts, Freddy, Jag, & old dovii so far (would work with other fiish, but I have cichlids).

Thought I would share my experiences with this. This is by no means a wc replacer, but it does help a lot IMO. I can't tell if it lowers nitrates, because my stock/wc schedule keeps them low anyway.
 
It works now. The only problem I can think of the rid-x killing off BB before it has a chance to convert the ammonia. That gunk on the filter is bb I know it looks horrible but it is beneficial to your system and doing 75% wc will definitely kill off any surviving bb and forcing a mini cycle. I would continue to use it and test water parameters frequently to make sure parameters are not out of whack.

A simple solution to your problems is pothos. They do exactly the samething with less work on you.


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RD. said:
The Use of Probiotics in Aquaculture

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...-Use-of-Probiotics-in-Aquaculture-(1-Viewing)




Probiotics do not kill off BB, nor do pothos do the same thing as probiotic bacteria. Probiotics do far more than a plant will, but the two actually can work in synergy with each other. I suggest you read the link above.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link and clear it up for me. After reading your thread I want to try it on my tanks


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I have a thread in the health issues section, where I document (with some regularity in photos)
using Rid-X for a couple months to combat a cyanobacteria outbreak.
From my experience so far, I do not think Rid-X use is a substitute for water changes.
But I do believe however, its use is appropriate as a method to stack the deck in favor of beneficial/non-pathogenic bacteria as opposed to others that may be disease precursors.
I have been using it in an approximately 300 gallon connected chain of 3 tanks with a planted sump, and an equipment sump, containing Central and South American cichlids throughout the summer.
When I first added Rid-X, I slowed my water change routine to allow the new bacteria a chance to get a foothold, and see if I could get away with less frequent water changes.
I did not like the excess mulm buildup for aesthetic reasons, and at times there was a bit of a septic tank odor.
So after about a month I went back to my normal water change routine, and have been very pleased with the results.
The normal nitrate average of 2-5ppm in my tanks whether in the probiotic chain or non-probiotic has not changed, so this was not a my main focus.
But I see maintaining an overpopulation of non pathogenic, aerobic bacteria that squeeze out the bad guys as the real upside.
Some shots from the probiotic line of tanks


 
From my experience so far, I do not think Rid-X use is a substitute for water changes.
Click to expand...


No one has ever suggested that using septic powder such as Rid-X is a substitute for water changes.

Can these probiotic bacteria assist in keeping a system (including filtration media) cleaner, longer?

Absolutely! No question about it - that's exactly what they were designed to do, and what they are marketed and sold for. If one adds some pothos plants to an otherwise non-planted tank, then you can get the best of both worlds by also reducing nitrates to the point of reducing water changes to half of what one was doing prior. Obviously everyone's tanks are going to be different and all of this is largely based on water volume and bio load, but for most of us water changes are always going to remain a key component of a healthy and well balanced system.
 
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