Cloudy Water

[Kelly B]

Hi people

Just joined a minute ago and so glad this forum exists.

I have a small 30 litre tank and its been set up around 9 weeks....at first i was losing a lot of fish but i took this as just because the tank was new. My Neon tetras were dying, rummy noses a catfish and something else i cant remember what.

So, now i have some plattys, guppies and 2 corys....also on the above my fish were from pets at home that were dying so stopped going due to feedback their fish were bad.

My water keeps going either green and cloudy or today its white cloudy and i lost my last red line tetra and 2 guppies...what is wrong how can i fix it???

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Kelly,

to TFF.

Have a read of this recent thread where another member was having a similar problem, then feel free to come back and ask some questions if you feel you still need to.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=269825

Cheers

BTT

 

[Kelly B]

Thankyou.....this is excellent info....this cloud is not going to beat me i will win...x

 

[waterdrop]

Yup, you've come to the right place. Just read, read, read. There's lots here and the beginner's threads themselves can enlighten to no end.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Kelly B]

I have spokento a local fish shop to obtain some mature media and i have been advised to just put fish doo doo in as i have an underwater gravel filter.....for free...

Hope this works.

 

[waterdrop]

The local fish shop is a great place to get supplies and sometimes fish if they look good, but getting advice there can end up in a lot of misery and expense unfortunately!

Is it a Biorb tank, Kelly? Other than these its pretty unusual these days to see undergravel filters as they are generally considered to be a "thing of the past" and many members here report extensive disappointment in trying to help beginners get them up and going and maintaining them. Perhaps some sort of change could be worked out before you have to go through this.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Kelly B]

No its not a Bio one, the undergravels just came with the tank.....

Came home today and i have lost every single fish in one day over ten fish...

Just bought a new tank so here we go start again.....got me fish poh anyway.

so sad....

 

[stray~johnny]

This is really sad! have you gotten a chemical test kit? I am also new to the hobby and as I understand watching the ammonia level, ph level, nitrite and nitrate levels are really important. I have a feeling in this case either you ammonia level or nitrite level is wayy to high... could possibly be PH as well.

Did you cycle the tank before putting the fish in? Cycling the tank creates bacteria that are important to keeping the bad chemicals out of the tank and keeping the fish healthy.

If I were you read up on cycling and make sure with this new tank to cycle the tank completely before putting fish in.. this can take 2 months sometimes before putting the fish in.

I wish I had done this with my 530 liter as I have to do water changes every day as well as moniter my water readings once or twice daily.

 

[Kelly B]

I have had the tank going for 9 weeks, i did a big water change so think this did it.

 

[waterdrop]

I would seriously think about changing to a different type of filter, would not be such a serious expense at this size range.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Kelly. Now that you have lost all your fish, don't put any back in. Instead go read the pinned topic on fishless cycling, there is a link to it in my signature area. It will explain how you can develop the bacterial colonies that you need to have a healthy tank that does not harm any fish.

The water change might have saved the fish if done soon enough but did not kill them. The basic advice for people having fish and bad water chemistry is to change lots of water quite often to get rid of the poisons building up in the water.

The situation in a new tank, including yours, is that a colony of bacteria need to develop that will convert any ammonia in the tank into nitrites. Another colony of bacteria need to develop to convert nitrites into nitrates. Until these bacterial colonies are established, the only way to get rid of those poisons is to do water changes, so the water changes are a good thing. A proper water change is done by treating the new water with dechlorinator and to temperature match the new water to the tank. At that point the new water will relieve stress on the fish by diluting the poisons going through their gills. If you continue to use only an under gravel filter, you will need to make sure the gravel layer is fairly even all over the bottom of the tank because that gravel is the filter medium. The flow through the riser tubes needs to be constant day and night and the gravel needs to be cleaned quite often to remove the build up of organics. We all use shortcut terms and refer to all the stuff in a filter as media, for you that is the gravel.

If you are not using an air pump to move water through the UGF, you can use a power head instead. It will move the water much faster than an air pump and riser, but isn't really needed. The air lift tube approach was used for at least 20 years before they started making power heads and all of our fish survived it. If you are driving the filter with an air lift, make sure the bubbles fill about 1/3 of the volume inside the lift tube and start near the very bottom. That will give you the best flow that the air lift tube can provide. If the bubbles inside the tube stay small and move quickly to the top of the tube, you have a good flow.

I hope his helps you understand a little about your equipment and how the filter should be run.