Troubles with cloudy tank

[Russ2123]

I got a new tank one week ago and then today I woke up and the tank was cloudy. I recently replaced my filter cartridge, added a piece of drift wood, and fed them an algae disk. So I wasn't sure what would make it like that?

I looked online and they said to get a VU Stabilizer?

 

[nic1]

Your cloudy water is a bacterial bloom. It should clear on its own in a few days.
Did you cycle your tank?
How did you cycle it?
What do you have in there?
How big is it?

 

[marcetaylor]

I am not entirely sure how to help you, but could you tell me how many fish you have (if any), what fish you have, if you disturbed the gravel, and if the filter started to "overflow" when you took out the cartridge.

 

[Russ2123]

I'm kinda new so I'm not sure what cycling your tanks is?

It's a 10 gallon tank with a plecostomus, 2 sharks one Bala and one red tail and a dalmatian molly.

 

[Russ2123]

I did disturb the gravel when I put the diftwood in the tank. But there is a clear slime on the inside of my tank now.

 

[marcetaylor]

cycling your tank is when you wait for bacteria to get into your tank that turn ammonia (the main source of ammonia is fish excrement) into nitrites which require some different bacteria to turn the nitrites into nitrates. Ammonia and nitrites are toxic to fish, but nitrates are only toxic in high levels. you can remove nitrates by adding plants or doing a water change. A tank takes about a month to cycle and you should only add about one fish per every ten gallons (one fish in your case.) The cycling process can be sped up by adding bacteria. Don't add any more fish until the tank cycles.

If you didn't wash the gravel the water will cloud.

 

[marcetaylor]

What do you mean by a clear slime?

 

[nic1]

No worries.
Please have a read of this
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/
I highly doubt that your tank is ready for any fish. You will have to keep up with water changes and buy yourself a water testing kit so you can check its progress.
As you will now have to do a Infish cycle please have a read on how to do this or your stock will be severely affected.
Especially with the stock that you have now who are massive waste producers.
The slime is also a natural process which a tank goes through,

 

[Russ2123]

Ok thanks for the info I will keep an eye on it and wait it out for a month.

 

[nic1]

Also, in my opinion others will agree, your stocking is not right for a 10 gallon.the best thing tondo here will be giving back the fish to the store, cycle your tank then get some suitable fish to match your water parameters. We can help you with this

 

[Russ2123]

I am planning on getting a bigger tank later on in the year when I do that I will let you know so I can do it the proper way thanks for the help.

 

[Byron]

The existing fish should all be returned, as they are not going to do well given the tank size, and then the cycling may well kill them. The store should realize the situation.

 

[Russ2123]

Ok well I will take the fish back. Should I empty the tank and start again?

 

[marcetaylor]

If I were you I would return the fish and clean out the tank and gravel really good and remove all the decorations and plants in it. Then I would run the tank as if there were fish in it for a month (or add bacteria to the tank) and then get one small, cheap fish that you like but are okay with it maybe dying. Record the levels of ammonia nitrites and nitrates every week and if ammonia and nitrites are at zero 2 times in a row add fish then.

 

[StandbySetting]

Instead of buying a fish which you are 'okay with dying' which may I add is inhumane, and unnecessary, return the fish to the store and resume the cycle by adding ammonia daily, this is called a fishless cycle and will allow the growth of filter bacteria without the unnecessary suffering of fish. There is an article on fishleas cycling in the new to hobby section of the forum. There is no need to clean the tank out and start again, being as it has been running 8 days, if you return the fish and resume cycling using the ammonia method, you can research suitable fish in the 21-28 days In which it will take to finish the cycle.