Please Help With My Water In Tank

king1206

New Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2008
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
I've had my tank for about 6 months and every thing was good then about a 2 months ago my fish started dying at a rate of 1 every week and snails started to appear,a friend and so called expert did a water test and said every thing was ok and not to worry.

after 2 more dying i got in touch with pets at home (now know was a mistake after speaking to others) and a guy told me to do a complete change of everything from orniment,gravel,water and filter which i did after let it cycle for 7 days i put the fish back in 3 days later the water has gone cloudy almost white.

my tank is a juwel rekford 110
110 litre
a compact juwel filter system
1 white mollie
2 dwarf gourami
5 tetres
2 tiger barbs :sad:
 
Cloudy milky coloured water is caused by too much food breaking down in the water and not enough filter bacteria to break it down. You need to do a 30-50% water change each day and reduce the feeding to once every couple of days. Try to gravel clean the tank as well as most of the uneaten food will be in the gravel.

In future if the fish start to die for no apparent reason just do a partial water change and gravel clean each day for a week. Also check the filter and make sure it is clean. Only wash the filter materials out in a bucket of tank water.
 
Yes, you've finally found the right place hopefully, so welcome to TFF!

You've got fish in there, so the problem is urgent. You'll probably need to perform an immediate 50 to 70% water change (assuming you don't know your tap water stats for ammonia, nitrate, etc., but tell us if you do). The return water needs to be treated with a dechlorination/dechloramination product (we call this a "conditioner") and roughly matched to your tank water temperature (using your hand is good enough.) If you need help with the physical aspects, siphons etc., just shout and the members will give advice.

Meanwhile you need to plan to quickly get a thing called a test kit (assuming you don't have one already.) Most of us use one called the API Freshwater Master Test Kit, which works really well, but there are others, the Nutrafin Mini-Master is another good one. The test kit must be liquid-reagent based and test for Ammonia, Nitrite(NO2), Nitrate(NO3) and pH at a minimum. A test kit for KH is also helpful if you see one and are not strapped for money (or you can wait on that.) OK? So be planning that trip to the store, or the online order or whatever.

Additionally, you need to "start your education", which will be the most important thing in the long run. Please look at the pinned articles at the top of the "New to the Hobby" forum and plan to read as much as you possibly can. You should start with Beginners Resource Center, Cycling Resource Center and be sure to look for articles by Miss Wiggle and AlienAnna. Then be sure to read our main working document on Fishless Cycling by RDD (rdd1952) and don't worry if you don't understand all of it, you'll have to re-read it later anyway.

Don't worry if all this seems weird. It did to me too and to many of us here, but its the real thing and thousands of times better than any advice you'll get in a store. At least you don't sound like you are overstocked, at least at my quick glance. Regardless of how well your tank was running the first 2 months and whether it cycled, it sounds like you probably killed all the bacteria in your filter by cleaning it with tap water and now you are in what we call a "fish-in" cycle, which is not a good thing, but can be handled with knowledge and a lot of hard work doing many water changes. The members here are great and they will take care of you!

~~waterdrop~~
 
Cloudy milky coloured water is caused by too much food breaking down in the water and not enough filter bacteria to break it down. You need to do a 30-50% water change each day and reduce the feeding to once every couple of days. Try to gravel clean the tank as well as most of the uneaten food will be in the gravel.

In future if the fish start to die for no apparent reason just do a partial water change and gravel clean each day for a week. Also check the filter and make sure it is clean. Only wash the filter materials out in a bucket of tank water.



I changed everything in the tank 3 days ago and have only been feeding 2 times a day very small amounts.
i will do 50% change now and see how it settles.

Yes, you've finally found the right place hopefully, so welcome to TFF!

You've got fish in there, so the problem is urgent. You'll probably need to perform an immediate 50 to 70% water change (assuming you don't know your tap water stats for ammonia, nitrate, etc., but tell us if you do). The return water needs to be treated with a dechlorination/dechloramination product (we call this a "conditioner") and roughly matched to your tank water temperature (using your hand is good enough.) If you need help with the physical aspects, siphons etc., just shout and the members will give advice.

Meanwhile you need to plan to quickly get a thing called a test kit (assuming you don't have one already.) Most of us use one called the API Freshwater Master Test Kit, which works really well, but there are others, the Nutrafin Mini-Master is another good one. The test kit must be liquid-reagent based and test for Ammonia, Nitrite(NO2), Nitrate(NO3) and pH at a minimum. A test kit for KH is also helpful if you see one and are not strapped for money (or you can wait on that.) OK? So be planning that trip to the store, or the online order or whatever.

Additionally, you need to "start your education", which will be the most important thing in the long run. Please look at the pinned articles at the top of the "New to the Hobby" forum and plan to read as much as you possibly can. You should start with Beginners Resource Center, Cycling Resource Center and be sure to look for articles by Miss Wiggle and AlienAnna. Then be sure to read our main working document on Fishless Cycling by RDD (rdd1952) and don't worry if you don't understand all of it, you'll have to re-read it later anyway.

Don't worry if all this seems weird. It did to me too and to many of us here, but its the real thing and thousands of times better than any advice you'll get in a store. At least you don't sound like you are overstocked, at least at my quick glance. Regardless of how well your tank was running the first 2 months and whether it cycled, it sounds like you probably killed all the bacteria in your filter by cleaning it with tap water and now you are in what we call a "fish-in" cycle, which is not a good thing, but can be handled with knowledge and a lot of hard work doing many water changes. The members here are great and they will take care of you!

~~waterdrop~~

I,ve just being and got a 6 in 1 test kit is this the wrong one if so please recomend the best only have a small shop here and can't get the
the API Freshwater Master Test Kit..
 
I,ve just being and got a 6 in 1 test kit is this the wrong one if so please recomend the best only have a small shop here and can't get the
the API Freshwater Master Test Kit..

Is the kit a liquid-based one, or paper strips?

If it's liquid based, you should be fine. People usually recommend the API kit because it's the most commonly found and is known to be good. However, other brands should be just as good.

If it's paper strips, they can be quite inaccurate, so you should look at getting a liquid kit soonish. However, strips will do the job for now.

If you can't find a test kit locally, there are plenty of online shops that sell them, or failing that, ebay.

In the meantime, water changes are your best bet here, daily if possible. When you say you changed everything, does that mean you got a brand new filter? If this is the case, you have effectively got a brand new tank, so the guide to 'fish-in' cycling will be very relevant to you here.

Good luck, keep us posted! :good:
 
Agree.

Until you get a liquid kit you won't really have a feeback tool to help you adjust your water changes. If anything, the strips may make the water look safer than it really is. Another 50% water change can be performed as soon as an hour after a preceeding one. If the fish clamp fins or don't look frisky and energetic then it would be better to assume you need another water change (until you can more accurately measure ammonia and nitrite.)

As always for beginners, use the specified amount of water conditioner and use your hand to rough match the temperature of the return water.

~~waterdrop~~
 

Most reactions

Back
Top