Disaster...urgent Help Needed

[freddie21]

hi
i just tested my water and results were as follows:
PH 7.6
Ammonia 0ppm
No2 0ppm
No3 10 ppm
So after thse results and loosing a fish yesterday i began to do a water change....only to find a disaster.....because i have substrate - my whole water has gone completely brown - i cant see through it so i carried on changing the water to 75% - and i still cant see a thing - is this ok? will it settle - or will my fish die ? Should i expect this everytime i do a water change?i also have removed carbon out of filter due to white spot - should i now put it back in the filter or will all this substrate dust affect it?
Im really upset and worrying....any advice greatly needed
thanks

 

[This Old Spouse]

I'm going to assume you have a gravel substrate. If you switched to sand this likely wouldn't happen! But putting that aside, are you using a gravel vac when you clean? You really should, every time you do a water change because of all that gunk that accumulates. You'll never be able to remove al of it but you should be able to keep it under control. Get a gravel vac with a wider head, and just plunge it gently into the gravel once the siphon has started and swish it around a bit. You'll be amazed at how much stuff comes up.

Your fish shouldn't die and it should settle down after a bit. Your parameters are excellent. Wouldn't hurt to do another water change, though. Also, make sure when you replace the water that it's hitting a rock or something on the way in, not hitting the gravel directly. That'll help keep the mess down.

 

[JonE]

hi
i just tested my water and results were as follows:
PH 7.6
Ammonia 0ppm
No2 0ppm
No3 10 ppm
So after thse results and loosing a fish yesterday i began to do a water change....only to find a disaster.....because i have substrate - my whole water has gone completely brown - i cant see through it so i carried on changing the water to 75% - and i still cant see a thing - is this ok? will it settle - or will my fish die ? Should i expect this everytime i do a water change?i also have removed carbon out of filter due to white spot - should i now put it back in the filter or will all this substrate dust affect it?
Im really upset and worrying....any advice greatly needed
thanks

Hi, your test results look fine to me Ammonia and Nitrites (NO2) at 0 are the most important, Nitrates (NO3) at 10 ppm is perfectly acceptable, I think the API master test kit states anything <40 ppm as ok.

Did you confuse Nitrates (NO3) with Nitrites (NO2) with 10 ppm of Nitrites a large water change would have been needed?

I believe it's normal for certain substrates to cloud the water after being disturbed, it should settle soon enough. Regarding the carbon if your still treating for white spot and the treatment recommends it's removal whilst treating then leave it out until you've finished the full dosing of medication.


Cheers

Jon

 

[freddie21]

In the tank below the gravel, when we set the tank up, we firstly put down a fine powder nutrient and on top of that we put a pellet type nutrient for the aquatic plants. On top of this we then placed the gravel. As a result of this, when we have just done a water change using gravel vac and the nutrients soil has clogged the water making it really dull and cloudy. The water is just brown and can only see the fish that are against the front of the tank.

should this be ok?
thanks again

 

[freddie21]

am i better turning off the filter to let everything settle? it really is bad how unclear the water is

 

[This Old Spouse]

I'd turn off the filter for no more than an hour to see if it settles down. I'm not familiar with your substrate technique here, so hopefully someone else with more experience can help. Maybe repost this in the planted section? It sound to me like your gravel or the pellets aren't deep enough to keep the powder on the bottom.

 

[Mowbz]

I think with any type of "powdered" nutrient it would be better to use sand. It compacts on top better than gravel and wont let it out.

I would recommend, if you;ve disturbed it all, that you check the levels again as theyre could be ammonia in there now, having disturbed detritus and other gunk under the gravel. A Bacterial Bloom may also occur.

 

[coldcazzie]

I've merged this thread with the other of the same name, as this one had more replies.
freddie21, in future please try not to cross post: choose only the most appropriate section to post in.
This thread will now be moved to the emergency section which is where it should be.

 

[freddie21]

update on the disasterous tank........yesterday after the water change the disturbed nutrients made the water really cloudy - as in thick brown water and i couldnt see anything! however today i can see everything and the water has gone from brown cloudy to just white cloudy - how long will it take before its back to normal again - any ideas?
thanks

 

[This Old Spouse]

You should do another big water change to help it along. No such thing as water that's too clean!