Water Is Getting Cloudy :s

[blackers92]

Hi Guys

Originally I thought it was my eyes but now I know for sure that my tank is becoming cloudy. I thought it may have been due to overfeeding so I cut back but it still got cloudier. I usually feed a pinch of tetra granules, flake add a few shrimp pellets and one or two algae wafers. Once or twice a week I will add a frozen block of mixed community food (bloodworms etc.) and I add blanched cucumber once or twice also.

I dose Seachem Excel daily and flourish weekly. I do a weekly water change and gravel vac of about 40-50 Litres, Substrate is Seachem Fluorite (Been in tanks for about 2 months now)



It is a 37 gallon,
1 keyhole cichlid
2 bolivian rams
8 Harelquin Rasbora
1 BN
2 Hoplo

Stats are fine, pH of 7, nitrates @ 5, 48 Watts of T5 HO on for 8 hours daily

I did a small waterchange before work of 20 litres which has done very little, my fish are all acting normal which i guess is good. It seems to be getting worse. I dont think a photo will be required as it may just look like a flash or glare affecting the tank. I added some Eheim Substrate Pro to my Filter as I had only half of my compartment full, first flush of the filter it clouded a little but it has been in the tank for weeks now and been fine. I also had a small outbreak of brown algae which supposedly only affects "net tanks" mine has been running for 16 months now. This has now begun to dissipate

any advice would be appreciated.

Adam

 

[KittyKat]

Blanched cucumber.. try un-blanched courgettes (I use rubber band and a rock) and a large water change. Remove the remaining vegetables within 24 hours of putting them in.

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

Defo get any uneaten veg out after 24hours. I put some blanched sweet potatoe in a couple of weeks and had effectively made soup within 12 hours! There are little nutrients in cucumber. As Kitty Kat says go for courgette - many more nutrients. Also chuck in some squished, shelled peas. They have so much goodness in them and keep your fish regular! My Quins absolutely chasing squished peas around the tank while the BN launches onto the bigger peas.

Veg out - water change and give your filters a good rinse. Old veg proper clags 'em up

Blanched cucumber.. try un-blanched courgettes (I use rubber band and a rock) and a large water change. Remove the remaining vegetables within 24 hours of putting them in.

Get a screwcumber from ebay! Really convenient and not too pricy

 

[blackers92]

Thanks for the responses guys but I only put the cucumber in a few hours ago

But I guess I had cucumber in there last week too. I will do a big change which will hopefully get rid of this cloudy water

and I will also look into some "courgette" we call it zucchini in Australia, I usually just grab something that is in my fridge, ill purchase some tomorrow.

 

[Gilli]

What are your nitrite and amonia readings? Cloudy water is usually caused by a spike in the water stats from a bacterial bloom. Decaying plants or excess food that remains uneaten can cause it. Keeping the aquarium very clean by removing debris such as decaying plants and uneaten food, vacuuming the gravel regularly, and performing partial water changes will quickly resolve most cases of bacterial bloom. Cut back feeding to every second or third day, which will cut down on excess food decay.

 

[blackers92]

Ok Guys Update

Did a large water change tonight and also cleaned my filter media (in tank water obviously), second day of no food. Fish seem absolutely fine (hoplos insisted on playing with my hand as I did the change (awesome personalities))

Bad news - pH has dropped from 7 - 6.6, tank is still cloudy.

big news though is that as soon as I turned my filter back on, these tiny, tiny white worms like spewed out of the filter (i had my hands on the media ) They were instantly eaten by the Rasboras, it was terrifying to watch as I have no idea what they were. When I say small i mean micro perhaps 2 mm long I cant even describe how thick they were they were THAT small.

I did some research and am praying that they are Planaria. I know very little about this parasite apart from the fact that they are harmless and come from uneaten food.

I had no decaying plants, a few leaves floating they are gone.

Still dosing Excel and Flourish

I dropped in half a algae wafer to make sure the fish still had their appetite which they did, My bristlenose seemed a little erratic but I'm pretty sure he has a algae wafer addiction (I hope )

I probably seem like a pretty uncaring fishkeeper, but I do weekly changes! I cannot figure this out

Any help would be appreciated guys

 

[Rogue4Fish]

Out of curiosity, why blanch a cuecumber?? I stick mind in raw and my BN eats the insides no problem. I just remove the remaining the next morning.

 

[KittyKat]

So, how is the water cloudiness?

 

[Gilli]

Planaria indicates that you are overfeeding and not keeping the tank free of uneaten food which will confirm the cloudy water problem.

 

[blackers92]

As of this morning the cloudiness seems to have totally dissipated, but I am still not convinced. If it is not cloudy tonight after work I will feel confident feeding again.

@ Rouge4Fish - I read somewhere that you should blanch your vegetables before feeding them to remove any chemicals that may be on it and to soften it up, There seems to be alternating opinions on weather or not it is required all over the net, I guess I have always done it so it just kind of habit.

Either way I have to buy a screwcumber so i dont have to use a dessert fork

Ill wait a while before I add my new piece of goldvine and hopefully needle leaf java fern (if I can find some)

Thanks for all the help guys

 

[KittyKat]

As of this morning the cloudiness seems to have totally dissipated, but I am still not convinced. If it is not cloudy tonight after work I will feel confident feeding again.

Excellent! Try to keep to feeding no more than will be completely gone in 30-60 seconds

@ Rouge4Fish - I read somewhere that you should blanch your vegetables before feeding them to remove any chemicals that may be on it and to soften it up, There seems to be alternating opinions on weather or not it is required all over the net, I guess I have always done it so it just kind of habit.

I think this is normally recommended only for ones which fish can't eat raw due to hardness of vegetable..