Cloudy New Tank

[bryangeles]

hey guys im a noob here...actually to forums in general. sorry if these questions are sorta dumb and random.

anyway, im pretty new with keeping freshwater tropical fish as a hobby.
i had a 10 gallon tank with an odd mix of fish. my girlfriend gave me a couple of comets from her pond and they seemed to be doing well with a medium pleco and a pair of clown loaches. it was getting cramped to i got a 26 gal bowfront.

on the first day of getting the tank i went through cleaning it and putting a little bit of aquarium salt and some aquasafe. A day later i picked up a couple of gouramis and a blue botia also. they seemed to be flourishing for a couple of days but then i made a major mistake. i fed them a pretty big serving of live bloodworms. they loved it but i think some worms died in the gravel. within a day, a gourami, my pair of clown loaches and the blue botia died. i had a local store check out my water and the water was toxic.

today, about a week after the incident, i have a gourami, pleco, and the comets left. i did a 20% water change and added Prime water conditioner. the fish seem to be fine but why is my water still sorta white and cloudy? and when would it be ideal to change the filter in my tetratec Pro-II PF150?
thanks everyone, sorry again for not knowing how to post correctly in a forum =x

 

[Witch-King of Angmar]

the cloudyness will die down within the next day or two

dont worry it should be ok

you might want to check with more advanced keepers about the choice of fish tho, im quite new myself

well, i started today

 

[catxx]

you didn't cycle your new tank. it shouldn't have any fish added to it once it's been set up for at least 2 weeks. that large batch of bloodworm, combined with a huge new fish bioload (especially with goldies and a plec!) will have caused a massive ammonia spike and killed the fish.

i would invest in some water test kits (primarily that test nitrate, nitrite and ammonia) and lets us know the readings. what they SHOULD read is 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and nitrates should be under 50.

in terms of stocking, your goldies should go back into the pond, comet & common goldies are really pond fish not tank fish, if you want to keep them in a tank you're going to eventually need 50-60 gallon tank or larger with very heavy filtration. They are also coldwater fish, whereas your plec is not, and if he's a common plec he's going to need a larger tank than a 26 gal too, he'll grow to around 12" and be a real poop machine. the gourami (i'm presuming he's a dwarf) is a tropical fish and will need a heated tank as will the pleco, but goldies do not thrive in warm tanks.

all new tanks get cloudy, it's a bacterial bloom and will eventually fade off to clear water.