There is a patch of sand in the front center of my tank that turns dark green and seems to be spreading.
To preface this, I have already had this issue before. It was so bad that the entire front center portion of my tank substrate was dark green. I threw all of that sand out a week ago and replaced it with fresh sand, but now the same thing is showing up again.
The sand is dark green, has lots of bubbles that rise when you stir it that smell absolutely awful, and kills the roots of any plants that are rooted in that portion of the substrate (the roots turn black and mushy). Stirring up the sand will cause the top mm of sand to turn back to normal after a few hours, but by then the sand at the bottom will have turned dark green.
All of the signs point to an anaerobic pocket of bacteria, but from what I’ve seen, those only live in really deep substrate. I doubt one mm of sand is enough to block out any oxygen.
It also only seems to occur in the front center of my tank, everywhere else is fine even though I have not touched those portions of the tank ever. Anyone able to help?
Posted by Soggy_Marsupial9065
1 Comment
I agree, that definitely sounds like an anaerobic pocket, but seems incredible unlikely given the substrate depth, and the fact everything was stirred up a week ago.
Is it only up against the glass? I am wondering if maybe it is Cyanobacteria instead…