trojannemo
Fishaholic
hey guys.
got a question that will seem noob-ish, but i just cant put my finger on it. this tank has been set up for a long time now. for more than 6 months i've had nothing but solid stats. i even had a monster apple snail die and decompose (unbeknownst to me) and the ammonia and nitrite didnt get past 0ppm...
my tank is medium-heavily planted, with two filters at each end, both rated at more than the tank's water volume (around 30 gallons). 12x hourly turnover. i have two heaters, also on opposite ends, keeping the water at 76F for my rainbows.
a couple of weeks ago, i dont know if after adding plants or not, the water just started to get cloudy and within 3 days or so, it was milky white. the fish were fine, water stats still fine (using api master test kit, liquid tests). i panicked and threw in two doses of accu-clear over three days' periods. the water would get hazy like it's supposed to with accu-clear, and then "clear" back up to the milky, cloudy way it was before i added the water clarifier
then i did a rather large ~70% water change on a friday, followed by a smaller one on sunday (every sunday ~25% water change). the water finally started to clear up. while it never got back 100% to crystal clear like i'm used to, it was almost perfect. then about last friday it was already all cloudy again. did a water change this sunday, and today the water has not cleared up. i just tested my water and have 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite. ph is at 7.3, temperature stable at 76. didnt test nitrate because i believe my test kit is messed up somehow, as i always get 0ppm nitrate...
now...i thought it would be a problem of overfeeding. in which case, the cloudyness is a result of a bacteria bloom? then wouldn't the nitrite or ammonia levels reflect this? wouldn't my sensitive rainbowfish reflect the poor water quality, if that were the issue?
just for good measure i'll cut out the feeding for the rest of the week. the fish have enough shrimp, algae and plants to snack on to keep them going without any food being added to the system. however, i dont think that's the cause.
one theory/question...can any of the plants introduced this month be the cause? i've added tiger lotus, jungle valisneria, hedge green, a cabomba-like (without stalks, harder "leaves") bunch, and duckweed.
if you have an idea as to what might be going on, i'm interested to hear it.
EDIT: some online reading has suggested two things - overfeeding and excess of light. i think both of those things have been going on. so i'm cutting out on both for the rest of the week, so what that does for me. still open to your suggestions of course.
got a question that will seem noob-ish, but i just cant put my finger on it. this tank has been set up for a long time now. for more than 6 months i've had nothing but solid stats. i even had a monster apple snail die and decompose (unbeknownst to me) and the ammonia and nitrite didnt get past 0ppm...
my tank is medium-heavily planted, with two filters at each end, both rated at more than the tank's water volume (around 30 gallons). 12x hourly turnover. i have two heaters, also on opposite ends, keeping the water at 76F for my rainbows.
a couple of weeks ago, i dont know if after adding plants or not, the water just started to get cloudy and within 3 days or so, it was milky white. the fish were fine, water stats still fine (using api master test kit, liquid tests). i panicked and threw in two doses of accu-clear over three days' periods. the water would get hazy like it's supposed to with accu-clear, and then "clear" back up to the milky, cloudy way it was before i added the water clarifier
then i did a rather large ~70% water change on a friday, followed by a smaller one on sunday (every sunday ~25% water change). the water finally started to clear up. while it never got back 100% to crystal clear like i'm used to, it was almost perfect. then about last friday it was already all cloudy again. did a water change this sunday, and today the water has not cleared up. i just tested my water and have 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite. ph is at 7.3, temperature stable at 76. didnt test nitrate because i believe my test kit is messed up somehow, as i always get 0ppm nitrate...
now...i thought it would be a problem of overfeeding. in which case, the cloudyness is a result of a bacteria bloom? then wouldn't the nitrite or ammonia levels reflect this? wouldn't my sensitive rainbowfish reflect the poor water quality, if that were the issue?
just for good measure i'll cut out the feeding for the rest of the week. the fish have enough shrimp, algae and plants to snack on to keep them going without any food being added to the system. however, i dont think that's the cause.
one theory/question...can any of the plants introduced this month be the cause? i've added tiger lotus, jungle valisneria, hedge green, a cabomba-like (without stalks, harder "leaves") bunch, and duckweed.
if you have an idea as to what might be going on, i'm interested to hear it.
EDIT: some online reading has suggested two things - overfeeding and excess of light. i think both of those things have been going on. so i'm cutting out on both for the rest of the week, so what that does for me. still open to your suggestions of course.
/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=246850[/topic]
