End Of The World

[bodyshop20]

I have kept tropical fish for 20yrs and have been very successful in keeping all breeds and breeding most types.
I have a 40 gallon tank (tropical) with the usual easy to keep types now for ease of keeping the tank mostly maintenance free.
Recently i had a few fish with mouth cotton which i treated with success then i noticed fish hanging around surface so i thought gill flukes or bad water condition.
I ran carbon to de medicate the water and done a 25% water change and tested water conditions (all 1oo% ok)
Few days pass all is well, now my water has gone very slimey and milky and fish are gasping on surface again.
Now doing a 50% water change as emergency cover.
Can anyone throw me a line on this as its a new one on me

 

[5teady_2012]

This is not my words, this is summat i found on a site with someone who had exactly the same problem

The cloudy/milky appearance of the water is caused by the presence of billions of bacteria and is called a bacterial bloom.

The fish probably look unhappy and gasping because the water is polluted. Ammonia and nitrite damages the gills, making it hard for them to breathe. To make matters worse, the bacteria in the bloom also consume massive amounts of oxygen from the water.

Test the water, increase the aeration and do a series of water changes to remove the pollution.

 

[Jonno]

what are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? has anything changed in the tank lately?

if you have no nitrite or ammonia content, then a large water change and increasing aeration would be the first thing if the fish are gasping.

did you increase aeration like recommended after adding meds?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi bodyshop20

I may be getting ahead of things here, but since you mentioned you've kept fish for a long time and also said something about keeping the tank maintenance free, I thought of the possiblilty of Old Tank Syndrome being at the root of your problems.

Please take a look at this and see if anything applies to your tank:

http/www.bestfish.com/oldtank.html

 

[bodyshop20]

Thank you all for replies, I ended up doing drastic tank clean.
Total ornament and plant removel, emptied tank and clean all glass graver etc, restarted tank with fresh start bacteria just to help old bacteria in filters etc.
All is now well, but still dont know what caused the problem.
Again thank all who took time to help out, your all good people