Cloudy Water

[timmystood]

I wondered if any of you could help me.
I purchased a tank two days ago - filled it up with water and added chemicals to remove chlroine etc. and also chemicals to help bacteria grow on the filter - left it for 24hrs and the water quality was fine. Got the fish yesterday (1 Male Simease fighting fish and 3 head and tail tetras) and now after about 6 hrs their water has turned semi-cloudy - not so cloudy I cannot see the other side just a touch cloudy - as far as I am aware I haven't overdosed on the chemicals so what could be causing the cloudy water??
The tanks capacity is 54 litres.

Any help would be appreciated.
MANY THANKS

 

[kakihara]

Hi

I'm no expert myself, having only had my tank for 6 weeks but I think that even though you added that stuff to the water first that the bacteria maybe hadn't fully grown before you added the fish. I think that the water turns cloudy when the bacteria in the tank is forming and then after a day or 2 the water will return back to it's normal looking state.

Mybe you put the fish in too soon as well as I didn't think that no matter what chemicals you put into the tank that it would be ready for fish within a day.

I myself made the mistake of puttin 8 Neon Tetras into my tank after a week (I didn't add anything to the tank like you did) and as you can see from my signature I've only 1 left, the rest died withing a few days of being put in, though I thought that they had a disease to be honest.

I'm sure more people will be able to help you though.

 

[timmystood]

Thanks for that - I will leave it a few days and then see if its still a tad cloudy.
I will still use the bacteria growing stuff as recommened on the bottle.
If anyone else knows why this might be happening then I would be grateful for your help.
Also, my male simease fighting fish is rather boring! He very rarely actually goes for a swim and tends to just float near the top of the tank, any reasons for this???

 

[@ombomb]

The cloudy water is caused by a bacterial bloom, the result of adding fish to an uncylced tank.

The problem you should be concentrating on at the moment, is not the the cloudyness of the water, but the build of Amonia / Nitrite you will face. Do you understand the Nitrogen cycle? Do you have any test kits for water quality?

You need to buy kits to test for Amonia / Nitrites / Nitrates initially and keep a very close eye on your water conditions. You need two types of "good bacteria" in your tank, one which converts Amonia (from fish waste) into Nitrites and another which converts NitrItes into NitrAtes. As this bacteria develops you will see a spike in the Amonia level, followed by a spike in the Nitrites, then a rise in the Nitrate level. In a cycled, healthy tank, Amonia / Nitrites should be 0.

A lot of people make this make this mistake when they first get their tank due to a lack of research before hand. The important thing now is to fix the mistake by monitoring your water quality and doing daily, small water changes (20%ish) until Amonia and Nitrite are 0.

Do NOT add any more fish in the mean time.

What is the product you are adding to promote the bacteria? 99.9% of these are completely useless.

 

[timmystood]

I am using a bacteria growth product called Stabililty.
Are my fish in danger at the minute???
When you say small water changes do you literally mean taking a bit of water out and adding water out of the tap straight away.
I do have a test coming in the post in the next few days.
???

 

[@ombomb]

As far as I know there is only one product that really helps populate your tank with good bacteria and that's not it. (can't remember the name as it's only available in America)

When you do your water changes, you need to add dechlorinator to remove harmful elements in the tap water.

Currently, yes your fish are in danger, but with some care you can get them through it.

 

[timmystood]

Thanks - I did a 20% water change today and filled the bottle I use the transfer water to and from the tank with water and added stuff to remove chlorine, shook it up and added it straight away - i'll do this for a few days or until the cloudy water goes away - i've got a live plant coming on Monday so i'm hoping this will help with removing the nitrate. Also, I have a test kit coming on Monday as well as a place for the fish to hide (rock-type ornament thingy!)
Is there anything else I can do in the mean time??? - I'm only giving the fish a flake a day food wise (as suggested by my LFS) - however, my greedy tetras are stealing it so the poor Simease fighting Fish doesn't seem to get any!
I don't know! Who would have thought that keeping fish would be so much hassle! LOL! No, I'm hooked really!
Thanks for your help and let me know if there is anything else I can do to keep my expensive Simease fighting Fish alive and also my little tetras.
Cheers

 

[timmystood]

Hi - me again

I've been doing water changes for 2 days and the cloudy water has pretty much gone now but the tank is still cycling so should I still be doing daily water changes for now??? The fish are all still alive but they keep showing signs of new tank symdrome.
So, should I be doing daily water changes until the tank is fully cycled???