Bad Water

[umatrix]

The day after my last water change the water turned very cloudy and almost all the fish died.

The water in my area can sometimes be quite bad, I use water conditoners as required. I would like to know if there is a filter which would compensate for this problem. I currently use an aquaclear 500, this is a 30 gallon that has been established for a while.

Thanks!

[aquariumfishguy]

First of all, an AC 500 is too much filteration/current IMO for a 30 gallon aquarium. It's a little excessive, if you know what I mean. (16x turn-over rate? huh, is that needed??) :eek:

Next, we need more details. Was this a cycling aquarium in the making that failed? Usually, already biologically established aquariums do not suffer like this the same an aquarium would had it not been cycled.

Did you test your water? If so, what were the parameters? How many/which kind of fish were there in it?

[umatrix]

It is filteration overkill, but it was a used filter given to me for free!

The tank was well established.

The fish:

two small goldfish
3 tetras
4 kissing gourmais

[aquariumfishguy]

Ok, well we still need the Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and pH levels when this happened if you have them. Otherwise, your guess is as good as ours in regards to what happened. :confused:

Also, goldfish and tropical fish are a big disaster waiting to happen. This forum has big discussions about this once a week it seems (do a search and you'll see). Goldfish get too big, and produce too much waste for tropical fish to handle. Also, goldfish need about 20 gallons per fish. :(

...that could have been some of your problem.

[RobUK]

Water went realy "cloudy" hmm....
Could something have containated your tank, The buckets you used to change water, were they safe to use???? could you have stirred up muck from the gravel during the change???

But really as AFG said, anything said will be a shot in the dark, Water parameters are everything :D

[TKOS]

Do you use well water or city water? Sometimes city water can get flushed with things that are generally safe for humans but maybe not for fish. If it is well water then some sort of sediment could be getting stirred up. Or old pipes.

What kind of substrate do you have, sand or gravel?

[umatrix]

I use city water which is not the best. I use the same materials(buckets, tubing, water treatment, etc...). I have small gravel.

The weather has just turned hot, i have been told that this could cause a chemical imbalance in the water,

Who Knows.

[TKOS]

Heat won't hurt your tank too much unless it is still cycling. If there is still ammonia or nitrite present then the heat makes them more toxic. Heat could also speed up bacteria metabolism and in theory make your pH crash but that is a bit far fetched.

[silentskream]

what are the water parameters?

[umatrix]

all within acceptable levels.

[aquariumfishguy]

"acceptable" doesn't help us any. If you know your readings, what are they? We need them if you want us to help you. ;)

[umatrix]

I don't remember what they were exactly.

[Watcher74]

Do you own any test kits?