Help please!!!!

We have a 55 gallon rectangular fresh water tank. For the past 9 months, we've been battling a clouding problem. We've had the water tested at our local aquarium store, they say it's negative for everything. We're at our wits end. We've tried changing water at differing amounts, we've gotten a new filter, we've added some salt, Right Start, anti-ick, stress-zyme, etc, all at the recommendation and under the direction of the owner of the aquarium store.

Here's some pictures of the water as of now, we're in the middle of yet another massive water change.




The aquarium has been up and running for years, it's just in the past nine months or so that it's all gone down hill.

Currently, we are at a bare minimum of fish... We're down to 5 tetras, 1 kissing guarami, and 1 pleco. We did have the usual sunken ships, coral, etc, but we removed all that because the aquarium store guy figured that stuff was harboring whatever was causing the cloudiness. All that's in there now is gravel, the heater, and the filter.

As far as the cloudiness goes, it's definitely white, not any green to it. When it gets bad, you can't even see the wall behind the aquarium. It's almost like a heavy fog.

As far as natural light, it's located against a wall between two windows, so it does get some indirect sunlight. I don't think that's the problem though, as it's been in the same location for years.

The filter is an Aquatech Power Filter, model 30-60, which is only 7 or 8 months old... We figured the filter was the issue when the problem first started. The heater is a 10 inch heater rated for a 55 gallon aquarium.

As far as aeration goes, we have two blue stone strips about a foot long and an inch wide, so there's more than enough of that... Maybe even too much.

Water changes are every 3 to 4 weeks, as recommended by the aquarium store.

We use well water, and we add Start Right to it anytime we do water changes.

I think that's about everything.

Please help!

tai95 said:

Before anyone will really be able to help you'll need to have the actual numbers for your water tests. Just from what you have written your water changes should be bumped up to weekly not every 3-4 weeks. I do a 20gal water change every other day in my 55gal tank. You also say you use well water. Do you have farms or fields near your well? If you do and have had a lot of rain lately some of the fertilzers could have run off into your well adding all sorts of extra goodies into the mix.

You may think your at a bare minimun for for but, your pleco and gourami are or will be very large fish. the gourami can get to 12" and the pleco depending on species can get to 24", Both way to big for a 55gal.

Does the water have any odor to it? Get your actual numbers and post them.

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Well, we did have 2 plecos, one died this morning. Cheetah, the one who died was 6 inches, and Nu-nu (yes, our kids love teletubbies) is close to 11 inches. The one gourami we have is maybe 5 inches, tops. We originally had 3 of the pinkies, and 2 blue gouramis... We're down to one. Our well is totally isolated from the house, we haven't used any fertilizers in the past 4 or 5 years, and the closest farm is at least 20 miles away.

We've been told that changing the water more often than 4 weeks was "bad". I want to move up to a much bigger aquarium, like 250 or 300 gallons, but if we can't get a hold of this, I'd feel pretty stupid making that kind of decision.

We're getting a testing kit to do here at home, and I'll post the actual numbers when it's done. Thanks for the help so far, everyone!

TheZoo said:

Might it be a bacterial bloom? This happens when, for various reasons, the bacteria that are always in your tank decide to go nuts and multiply. You can deal with this by: doing weekly (or more often) water changes of 20-30%, adding only your water conditioner, use a gravel vacuum!;

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We have the gravel vacuum, and use it every time we do a water change.

Oh, and stop using all those chem treatments and salts....just keep up on changing the water. ITs hard to overdo it on the water changes and weekly is probably best, if not more often.

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See, we've been told the opposite, that the chem and salt can't be overdone, and that the water changes should be done less frequently, so as to let the tank "settle".