I'm New Here, I Need Help

[clairev]

Hi, I have a 40 gallon tank that just will not clear up, it started clouding up in May, I have tried everything, cleaned it, water changes, left it completely alone for 3 weeks, 20% water changes every 2 weeks, changed filters once a month leaving part of the old filter behind. The fish are all thriving, the platys are having babies, the Corys are laying eggs, none of the fish have died, but the tank looks ugly!! Now I just noticed literally hundreds of what I assume are snail eggs on the lid of the tank. What do I do with them? Should I remove them, I have three mystery snails in there and don't want another 2,000.

Any advice (especially about the snail eggs) will be most welcome.
I keep taking water sample in to pet smart and they tell me all the level are good.
I have 14 platys, 4 black skirt tetras, 3 neon tetras, 3 female guppies, 8 corys and 4 little algae eaters, whose name I couldn't even try to spell. And the snails.
The platys keep having fry, what do I do with all these baby fish? I already bought a second tank to house the last lot and now that tank has loads of babies in it too? HELP!

 

[razer121]

hm your in abit of bother here huh? im not expereinced enough to help you out but i can give some advice, for starts get yourself a liquid test kit, its a MUST in fish keeping, then get yourself some readings of your water,

ammonia
nitrite
nitrAte

by getting them here for the other forum members they may well give some good indications!

also id do a 25% water change each weekend, it would be much safer on your fish as nitrAtes can climb high if the water is not changed, you mention that you changed the filter?? how long ago?? you know that the filter is the key to holding your bacteria right? do you use declor in the tank aswell? sorry i must ask lol i know a fair few people who dont use it you say it started clouding...was this a whitish cloud? or a green?? or maybe a different colour??

last thing......did you cycle the tank??

 

[clairev]

Hi, I set the tank up in March, left it to cycle for a week then I put the platys in from my smaller 10 gallon tank (where I left the fry). I added more fish slowly over the next month and all was well....until the end of May when I left my husband in charge while I was out of town for a month, he over fed, changed the water and used way too much conditioner, anyway half the fish died while I was gone and it was completely cloudy when I got back, I did a gravel clean and all kinds of nasty candy floss looking stuff was getting sucked up.
I got the water levels back under control (I don't have the kit, but I take in a sample for analysis once a week to the fish shop.) The nitrate levels were way high when I got home, but they have been fine for the past 6 months
All the fish have been healthy and happy since the end of June, but it remains cloudy. It was a whitish colour but then I did a 40% change a few weeks ago and it's started to become greenish.
I change the filters once a month, but I always cut out a small section of the old filter and place it on the new filter. I do a 25% water change every 2 weeks and clean half the gravel. I also do a 10% water change in between but leave the gravel alone.

I do add water conditioner (declor I guess) when I add new water, I also add a bit of Cycle or Prime.
I'll get a test kit tomorrow so I can tell you the levels.

 

[erk628]

yes get the test kit asap. Make sure you get a liquid test kit that comes with test tubes. If you live in the states get the API test kit if you live else were I'm not sure what the brand names are but you'll want one that comes with test for ammonia, nitrites, nitrites, and ph. Don't get the test strips there junk. From the sound of it you didn't cycle your tank properly. Also you don't want to change your filter pads unless you absoulty have to I've had the same ones for over 4 years. When the flow from the filter decreases while doing a water change put them in the bucket and wash them out with the old tank water. Also how long do you have your lights on each day. Once you get the test kit post your results and well help you figure this out. Also for a future refernce you might want to post your problems in the new to the hobby section its more visited then this section

 

[razer121]

that tank was not cycled.....im not sure whats going on but ive a feeling there is a bloom of either ammonia or one of them bacteria blooms...or even a alge bloom? this can all be caused from a tank not being cycled correctly but saying that....you have had it up since may so i would assume that it has already done a fish in cycle....

 

[erk628]

that tank was not cycled.....im not sure whats going on but ive a feeling there is a bloom of either ammonia or one of them bacteria blooms...or even a alge bloom? this can all be caused from a tank not being cycled correctly but saying that....you have had it up since may so i would assume that it has already done a fish in cycle....

Razer I was thinking the same thing even though its been set up since May she said she changed her filter pads once a month. So it could be still cycling! I guess once she gets her test kit will know more.

 

[loraxchick]

that tank was not cycled.....im not sure whats going on but ive a feeling there is a bloom of either ammonia or one of them bacteria blooms...or even a alge bloom? this can all be caused from a tank not being cycled correctly but saying that....you have had it up since may so i would assume that it has already done a fish in cycle....

Razer I was thinking the same thing even though its been set up since May she said she changed her filter pads once a month. So it could be still cycling! I guess once she gets her test kit will know more.

she said she changes half the sponge every month, which i agree isnt ideal but the bacterial colonies would have replenished within days.
if it is cloudy it is likely bacterial bloom caused by dirty substate and messing about in the tank (moving ornaments, excessive water changes etc) kicks up gunk which results in ammonia and you get that hazy water for a few days. but somehow the OPs description isnt sounding like this.
if by "cloudy" it is actually an algae bloom, probably unicellular suspended algae. sometimes nearly impossible to get rid of without a sterilizer and can linger for AGES. would also explain why it has lasted for MONTHS (one of the betta forum frequenters had a really bad alage outbreak in their tank for a long time). freshwater clams would prob clear it up in not time, but then how would you feed them once the algae was gone. youd have to keep a culture.
readings may be helpful, but either case can crop up with even undetectable ammonia spilkes. OP didnt mention any fish deaths (actually said her fish are all fine) so id suspect algae. as unsightly as it is, no harm whatsoever to fish..just unsightly. if there were an ammonia issue since MAY, surely it would have taken out some of the fish (i think they even said certain fish are breeding in there, however its been a crazy day and i cannot remember 100% what i rad 5 minutes ago). my money is on algae. and the bad part about that, is that trying to get rid of it sometimes makes it worse.
id suggest a 50% waterchange and a blackout for 5 days followed by another big waterchange. see if it helps, or at least if the cloudiness takes longer to return than it has been after a w/c.
all the best with the tank
CHEERS
cheers

 

[loraxchick]

oh dear- missed the OPs entire second post (did i have a long day )
greenish= algae. suspended algea is very hard to clear sometimes. try the blackout i mentioned above. after that, cut back feedings everyother day and feed less for a few weeks. when you do your waterchanges before/after balckout REALLY clean the gravel, get rid of all the old gunk stuck in there. and from now on leave the filter media alone. only CLEAN it in old tankwater during a waterchange if you notice the flow is reduced. change the filter media only when it is literally falling apart, and even then never more than 1/3 at a time.
also cut back lighting on the tank for 6 hours a day (if any windows nearby make sure the tank gets no direct sunlight.)
draw the curtains or use dark or opaque backing on the sides that get the sunlight).
you may have to repeat the blackout depending on how dirty the substrate is. but if keeping a good regimen since the end of june (when i think you said the overfeeding happened) the blackout might take care of it the first time. but again, suspended algae is sometimes a nightmare to get rid of.
sorry for my ditziness tonight. im sleepy from a long day.
cheers

 

[clairev]

Okay, Hi, thanks for all the comments.

Right I bought the fancy water test kit. Nitrates no2 and NO3, ammonia where good, but my ph was way high and the high range ph was high. Not sure what they are or mean, but I am off to buy some ph lowerer this afternoon.
I have left the lights off since I read your advice. Tank is still green and cloudy.
I don't know what to do about the filters, it says they should be changed once a month, they are the ones where you put charcoal inside them. Should I be using a different kind?

Should I do a water change, gravel clean, just leave it all alone???

OKay, I really need to know what to do about all these apple snail eggs there are three bunches just like this one...

this is how the cloudiness used to be..

today...

 

[erk628]

Post you water reading here so we can see them. What's the name brand of your test kit? Does your tank set next to a window? I wouldn't put any ph chemical in your tank just yet. What decrorations do you have in your tank. Do a water change today and let us know what color the water is. Also test your tap water and let us know what the ph is. That kind of filter is fine and no you don't want to change it once a month.

 

[clairev]

The snail eggs???

What do I do with them?

How much of a water change?

Any gravel cleaning?

The kit is an API Freshwater master test kit.

The tank is not near a window, decorations are fake plants, fake coral, fake castle. One live plant.

ph of my tap water was about 7.2 on the chart.

 

[OldMan47]

The snail eggs are indeed mystery snail eggs. If you don't want any new mystery snails, keep the eggs moist and offer them to friends who like snails. They are quite easy to deal with but cannot survive if they are allowed to get under water. That is why you found them where you did. If you have nobody who wants them, freeze the egg cluster to kill the eggs before you toss it.

Regular gravel cleaning is a must in any unplanted tank. In a planted tank it is sometimes very hard to do a decent gravel vac job so you clean what you can.

It looks to me like your cloudy water is a green water algae outbreak. Since you have only fake plants, cut the lighting down to only be on when you are in the room to observe the fish. Nitrogen + light = algae and one of the hardest to get rid of can be green water algae unless you cut out the light it needs to grow.

 

[erk628]

Ok your ph looks a little high but not to bad I wouldn't add any chemicals to change it 7.0 is just the netural number its not a must your fish should be fine in it adding chemicals to change it usually does more harm then good and could kill your fish. The fake coral you have in your tank is it plastic if not it could be dead coral which would raise your ph. Like old man said it looks like your water is green which would be a algea bloom I had one of these in my 29 a few weeks ago now my water is crystal clear here is how I did it. Turn your light off and leave it off only turn it on to see if the water is clearing up then turn it back on. Do about a ep percent or so water change ever day until your water is clear again. It will take about a week or two then your water should be crystal clear again. When your doing these water changes everrday to clear this up you only need to vac your gravel once a week the other days just put your hose in the water and take out about 30 percent of the water then put new condtioned water in in a week or two it should be clear. Once your water is clear you can turn you light back on like usually I turn mine on when I get up and turn it off when I go to bed

 

[erk628]

When you do your first water change tonight let us know what color the water is in the bucket that your taking out of the tank. I'm pretty sure its gonna be green though

 

[clairev]

When you do your first water change tonight let us know what color the water is in the bucket that your taking out of the tank. I'm pretty sure its gonna be green though

Okay, I just did a 40% water change and yes, the water in the bucket is green, in fact when I was siphoning out from the gravel, it was going up the vac really green, so it looks like the algae growth was under the gravel too. I wonder if I should turn the air stone off, the problem is that little bubbles break from the surface and pop on the glass lid, this causes a lot of water on the lid which turns green and then probably drips back into the tank eventually. How do I avoid that, or should I just forgo the bubbles?

Anyway, I shall do 30% changes daily now without touching the gravel, no pH down chemicals and fingers crossed.

Thanks so much to all you helpful folks up there.