View Full Version : Overnight cloudiness........(and intro) - Help.
As my first post......I have a question for you all. I have a 110 gallon aquarium that has been set up now for about 3 weeks. I transferred my Oscar (Gulp) from his old 55 to the new home 2 weeks ago. For filtration, I have a Emperor 400, and (2) Magnum 350 (one with regular media, the other running the micron filter). Up until this morning the water has been crystal clear....but now it is cloudy... :(
On Saturday I hooked up the 2nd Magnum (taken off the 55 gallon, but with fresh carbon and sleeve), and switched the micron filter off the other Magnum for a clean one. I tested the water on Sunday and everything but the ammonia was fine (amonia is still around 2 ppm...). Any ideas on what could cause the water to go cloudy overnight? This was definitely not a gradual change....... I was in a hurry this morning to get to work so I was not able to test the water.
Here are a few pics of the aquarium when it was clean just to introduce you to Gulp.
My Grand Pa built me the cabinet and hood just for the aquarium.
http://webpages.charter.net/dustlee/Aquarium/Tank%20pics/aquarium-closed.jpg
With hood open:
http://webpages.charter.net/dustlee/Aquarium/Tank%20pics/aquarium-open.jpg
Inside hood before Magnums were installed:
http://webpages.charter.net/dustlee/Aquarium/Tank%20pics/inside-hood.jpg
My wife looking at the goldfish that lived there before Gulp ate them all:
http://webpages.charter.net/dustlee/Aquarium/Tank%20pics/kim-looking-at-aquarium3.jpg
The clear water a few days ago:
http://webpages.charter.net/dustlee/Aquarium/Tank%20pics/clear%20water.jpg
That should be enough pictures to bog you down for now. :D
I have had my 55 gallon with various fish for almost 8 years, but have never had the water become cloudy overnight......especially with 3 fairly decent filters pumping 1100 gallons per hour..... Any help would be greatly appreciated. :(
OrionGirl
12-16-2003, 12:47 PM
Most likely, this is a bacterial bloom. Not uncommon with new tanks, usually clears up in a few days on it's own. These are NOT the beneficial bacteria that are part of the nitrogen process, but rather bacteria that consume other organics from the water. Right now, their food source is apparently plentiful, and so they are too. As they consume this food source, they bloom will fade. A few water changes should help clear it up for you. I would be doing water changes anyway, to dilute the ammonia and nitrite and keep Gulp healthy.
Nice looking fish, BTW--looks like he's got a good home.
Yeah, I would keep those ammonia levels to below 1ppm.
That is a great looking fish and tank setup. Congrats to grandpa for building that great hood and stand.
Thanks for the responses. I suspect the wife is feeding Gulp a little too much. He begs so much....and she can't resist. I will defintitely do another water change tonight when I get home. The problem with the Oscar is half his food seems to go out his dang gills when he crunches the pellets. I need to find a fish to put in there with him that will eat his leftovers.......and not get eaten.
As far as the ammonia, I have White Diamond ammonia stone in both the Emperor 400 and one of the magnums. I can't get it to come down. I put some ammo-lock in on Sunday. I miss my fully established 55 gallon already. :D I am not used to having problems and cycles to deal with....it's been so long.
Thanks again for the help. Gulp is going to go on a little diet for a few days and I will see if that helps clean things up a bit.
yeah mabye throw a bristle nose in with him to clean up some of his mess. they get big enough not to becoma snack.
125gJoe
12-16-2003, 2:37 PM
Welcome to:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/graphics/logofull.jpg
:D
Over-feeding is so easy to do!!
Do you have frontal pics of the tank with the Oscar in there? Nice tank!...
Originally posted by 125gJoe
Do you have frontal pics of the tank with the Oscar in there? Nice tank!...
I have a crappy camera that takes way to long to take a pic...I have to hide from gulp to take any picture (reason this one is so low). If he sees me....he goes nuts and swims too fast. Picture ends up looking like a brown blur in the water. :D
http://webpages.charter.net/dustlee/Aquarium/Tank%20pics/swimming.jpg
This pic was taken about 10 minutes after his transfer to the new home. As you can see.....the poor goldfish were very curious about their new roomie. A few of the braver ones were pecking on him. They didn't last long.... (surprisingly, 3 of the 8 lived 3 more days as they knew all the good hiding spots)
http://webpages.charter.net/dustlee/Aquarium/Tank%20pics/dumb%20goldfish.jpg
Since I tend to over post on most of the boards I join, I will go ahead and get a few more pics out of the way. :D
This is behind the aquarium. I painted the glass with the paint used on the walls. Actually turned out decent looking since the glass turns it a little green when you look at it from the front. It's hard to see, but Grand Pa put a raised lip along the back so nothing could roll off behind the cabinet. He also notched out an area for the hoses so the cabinet could sit close to the wall. We both forgot about the Emperor 400.....so the aquarium does not sit back as far as we planned:
http://webpages.charter.net/dustlee/Aquarium/Tank%20pics/behind-aquarium.jpg
The ugly black thing sticking out the back of the aquarium glass is an air regulator for bubble wands and such. I bought the aquarium used, and it was already there. If I were going to actually use bubble wands it would be a pretty cool feature. Keeps the air hoses from hanging over the tank and running down the back.
Gulps old 55 gallon home (used to sit where the 110 is, so I had to slide it over into the room for about 1 week):
http://webpages.charter.net/dustlee/Aquarium/Tank%20pics/old-vs-new.jpg
This is the center area of the cabinet, with the open back for hoses. The two Magnums are in here now:
http://webpages.charter.net/dustlee/Aquarium/Tank%20pics/aquarium-filter-area.jpg
O.K. Don't want to over do it on my first day so I will not post anymore pics for a while. I am just a little proud of what my Grand Pa did for me. He is 80 years old and can still do amazing wood work! He wouldn't let me, or anyone else help him on it. :D :D
If you are using an ammo lock type product then most likely your ammonia test kit is actually picking up ammonium which isn't harmful. Some test kits don't know the difference. Either way I would do a daily water change as long as there is cloudy water and that should also help keep any ammonia and nitrite levels low at the beginning phase of the tank.
Man... Nice stand/hood. Nice tank too! But the stand/hood... Hard to find good stuff nowadays that is handcrafted like that. I'm trying to get my old man ready to build me a stand for the 250+ gallon I want to eventually get. Figure by the time he makes it for me I'll have a place and the money to actually get it. :D
Good luck with the new setup!
125gJoe
12-17-2003, 6:52 AM
Nice set-up...
And a whole lotta room under the tank for a Rena xP-3 canister filter, and ..........
One 15% water change and a few days later.......the water is perfectly clear again. Guess it was just a "bloom" as some of you mentioned. Thanks for the assistance. :D
erico56
12-19-2003, 5:09 AM
Where the heck were you while that killing field was taking place right in your living room?Rather than talking about the cloudiness in your made-by-your grandpa tank,go back to the very first few steps to keep your hobby away from hurting any living things in this world.Do we so called Aquarists feel what our fish feel in terror?I believe we do.
125gJoe
12-19-2003, 5:46 AM
Let me guess......
The above post has to do with "feeder Goldfish" ?
Did I guess right??
:D
Originally posted by erico56
Where the heck were you while that killing field was taking place right in your living room?Rather than talking about the cloudiness in your made-by-your grandpa tank,go back to the very first few steps to keep your hobby away from hurting any living things in this world.Do we so called Aquarists feel what our fish feel in terror?I believe we do.
http://webpages.charter.net/dustlee/Pictures/Smilies/scratch.gif http://webpages.charter.net/dustlee/Pictures/Smilies/scratch.gif http://webpages.charter.net/dustlee/Pictures/Smilies/scratch.gif
Do we have a nutball on our hands here? What the heck are you rambling about? I too am guessing you are whining about the feeder fish Gulp occassionally enjoys. I don't remember signing some contract to keep from hurting "any living things in this world" when I set up my aquarium.... :rolleyes: I did promise myself to take care of Gulp to the best of my abilities. I eat cows, pigs, chickens, deer, and anything else I choose to........Gulp enjoys eating HIS natural prey (granted, goldfish are specifically "natural" to him) occassionally too....and will CONTINUE to get "treats" once in a while. Go stand on your PETA soapbox elsewhere please....... :rolleyes:
Hell.....if you want to whine about feeding goldfish to an Oscar, it can easily be argued that YOU as an aquarist are CRUEL.......do you think ANY fish wants to be locked up in some small aquarium when they could be swimming freely in some stream or pond or lake??? Why do YOU feel the need to keep them in captivity??? Get a life....... :rolleyes:
Lauren
12-19-2003, 1:43 PM
Sorry to hijack this:
what are you planning on doing with your 55 gallon? That is a beautiful display, your grandfather has an amazing talent.
PETA: People for the Eating of Tasty Animals.
Originally posted by Lauren
Sorry to hijack this:
what are you planning on doing with your 55 gallon? That is a beautiful display, your grandfather has an amazing talent.
PETA: People for the Eating of Tasty Animals.
I gave the 55 to my brother. He wants to go salt...... The guy has never owned an aquarium though and will not listen to my advice to start simple. I just hope he doesn't flush a bunch of money down the drain. :eek:
Lauren
12-19-2003, 2:17 PM
Originally posted by Gulp
I gave the 55 to my brother. He wants to go salt...... The guy has never owned an aquarium though and will not listen to my advice to start simple. I just hope he doesn't flush a bunch of money down the drain. :eek:
Well, when his aquarium fails and he gives up, send me a pm. That would be a nice one to have.
Originally posted by erico56
Where the heck were you while that killing field was taking place right in your living room?Rather than talking about the cloudiness in your made-by-your grandpa tank,go back to the very first few steps to keep your hobby away from hurting any living things in this world.Do we so called Aquarists feel what our fish feel in terror?I believe we do.
play nice, erico. :mad:
there is NO need for that here.
nice stand and tank, gulp! someday when i have more time and patience i might want to attempt something like that. even my "display" tank is somewhat utilitarian as my breeding adventures sort of are at odds with having something "pretty".
not to climb on erico's soapbox, but as food for thought. skipping the moral and ethical concerns, using live feeders is bad, unless you raise them yourself. i have kept several fish that would *only* eat them myself and personally i have found it a pain to be a slave to the pet store. beyond that, they have very little nutritional value and are likely to carry a good chance of infection for your oscar. usually the ones raised to be "feeders" are treated very poorly and so, often they will come with diseases due to the conditions they are kept in. another consideration to also keep in mind, is oscars are very susceptable to HiTH disease. to prevent this you will want to feed a varied diet and possibly even use vitamin supplement. another small point i have personally noticed, they seem to raise the aggression levels in fish. it seemed like there was alot more aggression in my tanks when i had a higher percentage of feeders used, myself.......
not to preach, just food for thought.
good luck, and again, nice tank. :)
Thanks for the advice ewok. :D I rarely, maybe once every month, or once every two months give Gulp live food. The risk of disease from the nasty tanks they usually keep feeders in is not worth it to me. The only reason those feeders where in the aquarium this time was I my small attempt to let them get the tank ready for Gulp and possible speed up the new tanks cycle. I got impatient and only gave them a week to do their job though.
Like you mentioned, before I knew better and was feeding my other oscars live food, they became very agressive. Gulp is agressive enough as it is. He jumps out of the aquarium when he sees me putting his pellets in...... I do need to start varying his food intake a bit. Up until a few weeks ago, I had not even heard of hole in the head disease.......and I have had 4 oscars. I am embarassed that I did not read up on them enough in the past..... :( After the reading I have been doing, HITH seems pretty common, and Gulp seems to have a few spots at this time. I am going to start the vitamins this week and purchase some medication.
Thanks again for the advice. :D
125gJoe
12-22-2003, 12:28 AM
This is kinda off-topic, but I consider this pic I took while at a LFS is worse than using "feeder fish"!
Feeders have their place -- but I think they should be kept better.
:eek:
http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL59/715239/1510346/19057889.jpg
PumaWard
12-22-2003, 10:57 AM
Now, I find that a lot more cruel than feeding fish to other fish.
I guess I have a pretty good lfs, if they get too many feeders in, the pull out one of those pre-made ponds and put them in it... they also tell people like it is.
Originally posted by 125gJoe
Feeders have their place -- but I think they should be kept better.
:eek:
No joke! I wonder how many they lose in a tank like that. That is slightly ridiculous. :shake:
Lauren
12-22-2003, 11:14 AM
pet store feeder fish conditions are just horrid. I have a friend who works in the fish section of a petco, she says they loose over 30 feeder fish per tank per day, basically just because of the extremely poor conditions. I saw her count and pull 42 dead feeders for a tank in the midday fishy count before.
They are just feeder fish, fish that are bread as food, but while they are still alive, they deserve better treatment then that. Now, I'm not some PETA member, I don’t care if products were tested on animals and I love to eat fish, but still, no one likes to see conditions like that for any animal. At least gulp gave them a good life before letting them fulfill their destinies.
My aquarium set up is um... pathetic. I don't even have a case for it. It sits on a very sturdy oak dresser, which I know can hold its weight, but its not a very pretty display. I'm not in the mood to spend a few hundred on an aquarium, though. I have car payments to worry about.