Weird Cloudy Water Issue

[Aphotic Phoenix]

A friend of mine completely tore down his tank, and after setting it back up it has been cloudy (white) for over a week. This is causing the fish to lose color and resperate heavily, but I can't find the specific cause.

- There is no ammonia or nitrite in the tank.
- No build-up of rotting materials. The everything was cleaned and rinsed very thouroghly.
- The cloudyness occured with a few hours of cleaning, and is not particulate matter.

 

[Colin_T]

If the tank & filter was washed out then it could be a couple of things including new filter syndrome. Basically no beneficial bacteria to keep the water clean. Or there was something he used to clean the tank with. Perhaps there was some soap or cleaning product on the sponge or in the buckets that were used.

If the fish are losing colour and breathing heavily then do a 50% water change each day until the problem clears up. Makes sure any new water is free of chlorine and has a similar temperature to the tank. Also reduce feeding, any uneaten food will cause water quality issues. And even if it is eaten, the fish waste will cause water quality issues. And in many cases if the fish are stressed they won't eat.
Adding some carbon to the filter should help remove any chemicals that might be in the tank. If you do use carbon, replace it each week until the problem settles down.

Maybe take a sample of tank water to the LFS and have them check it for ammonia. Take your kit, test the same water and compare the results. You might have an old test kit.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

My test kit may indeed be bad...it's about a year old. Might have to find an ammonia source tonight to test it.

The filter is brand new (which informed him was bad), but he's a chem major, and thus wants a zeolite polymer filter because he trusts chemistry over biology. *eyeroll* If that is indeed working properly then there should be no ammonia. There is also an activated carbon filter so any chemicals used should be gone...that being said, as far as I know everything was cleaned with regular tap water, and the tank water was conditioned.

Think this condition has been going on for about a week...he thought it was dissolved gasses (looks like tons of tiny bubbles). I'll try to convince him to get some large waterchanges underway

 

[Colin_T]

If your friend uses Zeolite in his filter he will have to monitor the ammonia levels every day or so and replace or recharge the Zeolite when it is full. If he doesn't then the ammonia levels will build up and either kill the fish or start the filter bacteria developing. Tell him it will cost a fortune to keep testing the water and a biological filter will save him heaps of money, which he can spend on fish and plants

Tiny airbubbles on the glass are quite common in newly set up tanks. They should go within a day or so.

You can put a pinch of fish food into a container of water and leave it for a few hours. The fish food should break down and produce ammonia. Then you can test that water and see if you get a reading. Meat foods produce more ammonia than flake or pellet food.
A test kit should last for more than a year but it depends on the temperature. Warm conditions will damage the chemicals faster than cooler conditions. I keep my test kits in an icecream bucket in the bottom of the fridge. Label the bucket and don't let it freeze because that will damage the chemicals too.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Trust me, I already tried explaining the issue with Zeolite filters...he claims that his filter is rechargeable, but I'm a bit skeptical.

The bubbles are not on the glass. I know what that looks like.

As for testing my test kit. I used a 1 quart container, and put a small drop of liquid ammonia in it. Although I can't be sure of the cleaner concentration (ripped label)...comparing what other household cleaners are supposed to produce in terms of ppm in gallons of water (according to fishless cycling threads)...the test reads lower than I think it should.

 

[drobbyb]

I think the clodiness that you see is the biological bacteria are co-existing with the chemical filtration. Unless he keeps an absolutely sterile enviornment the nitrifying bacteria will form and make a small population. The question is how many.

 

[Colin_T]

Zeolite can be re-charged by soaking it in saltwater. The saltwater causes the ammonia to be released and once it is empty, the Zeolite can be put back into the fresh water tank to absorb more ammonia. It works well in quarantine tanks but is a pain in the butt as far as I'm concerned. I would much rather have a fully functioning biological filter so I don't have to worry about constant testing and ammonia spikes due to the filter not being re-charged in time.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

It's the method of recharge suggested by the manufacturer that has me suspicious. They claim that simply rinsing it in RO/DI water recharges this particular filter...(obviously RO/DI wouldn't kill any bacteria that had grown on the filter, thus it would appear to continue to work).

Never the less...when the op. comes to get into town to buy a new test kit I suppose I'll have to go ahead and do that. Since I run double filters on my main tank to always have a back-up at the ready...I may offer to let him buy one of mine. (So I can get a better one! lol)

 

[Colin_T]

I haven't heard of any filter that re-charges in R/O water. Sounds a bit funny to me. You are probably right to be sceptical about this. See if you can find out what sort of filter it is and Google it. Maybe someone has invented a new chemical filter that gets cleaned in R/O water, unlikely but you never know