HELP! Water continously stays foggy & other ?'s..

:welcome:

Is this a new tank? Is it cycled? What are your water parameters?

If you just set up the tank three weeks ago and added the fish right away, you are in the middle of a "fishy cycle", and need to take certain steps to ensure the health of your fish- daily water testing for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates, and partial water changes as needed to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels below .25.

If you are indeed in the middle of a cycle, the cloudiness is probably just a normal bacteria bloom, as your tank adjusts to the bioload of the fish. As the good bacteria colony establishes, the cloudiness should clear on its own. Don't add any more chemicals except Prime (or whatever water conditioner you use) with the partial water changes. The fizzy tablets are useless.

There's a sticky on cycling at the top of the Freshwater Newbie forum that explains everything.

Oh, and about the fry- if you have lots of cover (plants, driftwood, etc) then they may survive, but with what you have in the tank it's likely that something will eat them. Most fish find fry very tasty.

It is probably a bacteria bloom. And for fry surviving, yes, IF they have enough hiding spots.

My pleco sounds like he's realted to your pleco.. I am VERY worried about my pleco! he's soo stupid won't eat algae wafers or any vegies that go in there. My fish end up eating the algae wafers. Plus I'm scared of the algae wafers affecting my water because they break down so fast

A few random thoughts at 2 AM

What kind of "foggy"?

Milky? Silty/dirty like river water? Green or white clouds in the tank?

Could be a bacterial or algae bloom. Could just be crap your eel (or someone else) is stirring up.

quite possibly you are still cycling, too

What's the filtration? Hang-on-back (HOB)?

Pull that filter out of your HOB, but don't clean it. Slide a piece of clean, well-rinsed nylon stocking/pantyhose over the filter element. tie off the ends of the stocking. My favorite CHEAP water polishing filter. Check it the next day. If clogged, replace the stocking...it's cheap.

Also works if you have a powerhead with a sponge filter inlet.

I've used various water clarifiers...they are flocculants that bind particles together so they sink or are filtered out. Some folks believe they can clog fishes gills as well. I've had no problems with moderate infrequent use of them. I Suggest a small , (half or less) dose to start and work your way up. If you are using the pantyhose over the filter, check it the next day, it will be full! Wal-Mart carries "Crystal Clear" cheap..normal dose is 1 drop/gallon...works well.

Pleco...have you tried cucumber/zucchini/yellow squash? I bought a large mixed basket of those; sliced and froze them. I just have to clip a slice in the tank and my common plec's on it in a few minutes.

Ok here ya go, for one i dont recommend using tank buddies, as keeping up with frequent water changes does the same thing without using chemicals that can harm the fish.

For 2 it sounds like an algae bloom, which can be taken care quite easily by changing your activated carbon in the filter, and adding filter floss to the filter.

For 3 I recommend not using water clearifiers(sp), because you're only stirring up a chemical soup in the tank.

So I recommend a 40% water change in the tank, adding new carbon and filter floss to the filter/s.


Then each week keep up with 25% water changes, this will clear up the tanks water, and eliminate high nitrates/nitrites, etc.....

Your tank is fairly new.. it's bacterial bloom (new beneficial bacteria looking for a place to settle). It will clear up on it's own. Just keep up with your tank maintenance, water changes, gravel vacuuming, and don't overfeed.