Fish were dying, now cloudy water?

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SparkDog

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Nov 7, 2005
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Hello,

I'm new to the freshwater aquarium, but I've done quite a bit of research and I can't figure out why some of my fish died. In addition, now that I have stablized the tank (fish look happy at least) the water is not clearing up. Here's the story...

Since the tank seemed like it was doing good, we decided we'd like to try live plants in the tank. So, we stopped by our local pet store and picked up a plant. It was in there for about a week with no problems. We gradually, over the next week replaced almost all of the fake plants with real ones. My wife also added a fertilizer pellet without my knowledge (this had me worried, and I still think may have been the cause) and swore that it was safe for the fish. So, I left it in. Maybe a couple days later we lost our Pleco. All the other fish seemed fine, so I chalked it up to bad luck and picked up another one. That one died by the next day.

So, at this point i'm thinking something is wrong. I tested the water as I do at least once a week and PH was at 7.4 and Amonia, Nitrate and Nitrite levels were fine. I did a 15% water change and kept an eye on them. The next day, we lost our betta which has been with us since the beginning and then about 2 hours later our bala shark then a rainbow fish. Our dalmation molly wasn’t looking real good either and the water had a brown tint to it. At this point I'm freaking out.

Something had to be done, so I replaced 50% of the water and pulled all the plants and tried to vacuum up whatever was left of the fertilizer. Cleaned out the filter and added new carbon. (I read that old carbon can make your water brown) Added cycle and stress coat to compensate. Since that change, the remaining fish have recovered and seem happy.

However, now the water has gotten real cloudy almost like new tank syndrome all over again. Except, it’s not clearing up… It’s been 6 days now and it’s still very cloudy, the water is still testing fine. During the initial break in period it only stayed cloudy for a day or so. This seems way to long.

I’m open to suggestions at this point. Do I start changing water daily or should I wait out the cloudy period? What killed my fish? Could it have been the fertilizer? It did state on the package that it was safe for fish.

What’s left in the tank…
10 Neon tetras
6 Phantom tetras
3 Orange platies
1 Dalmation molly
1 Silver molly

Filter type: Fluval 304 canister filter.
Tank Size: 47 Gallon
 
Last edited:

willy:-)

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Oct 12, 2005
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lebanon Mo
How big is your tank? Sorry I couldn't be of much help, but it sounds like you are doing the right thing. O and WELCOME!! ;)
 

Holly9937

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Jan 20, 2005
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What are the actual numbers you were getting from the test results? I'm not familiar with the fluval filters, but if you removed all your media and put in new, you might be starting the cycle all over again. Also, is the water still a brown cloudy or a different color? Do you or did you add any other kind of chemicals besides fertilizer? And just in case you weren't aware, the bala was not the best choice for your tank size, they can get to be a good foot or so long and are schooling fish:)
 

FisheyLisa

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Nov 2, 2004
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You probaby threw something off and it takes a while for your tank to restabilze. There were a lot of changes made all at once, including changes to the bioload and nutrient balance.

I put ferts in the tank once. Never again in my lightly-planted tank. IF that was your problem. It was probably a catalyst.

It seems like you may have a bacteria bloom(?) and you'll probably want to check for any spikes in Ammonia or NitrIte to keep your fish healthy. Keep up with the water changes, make sure nothing is decaying, and keep an eye on your feeding so as not to add to the problem with excess.

Carbon leechs or leaches what it removes back into the water if it is over 2 months old. It isn't a necessary filtration, unless you are removing chemicals from your water.
 

SparkDog

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Nov 7, 2005
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Holly9937 said:
What are the actual numbers you were getting from the test results? I'm not familiar with the fluval filters, but if you removed all your media and put in new, you might be starting the cycle all over again. Also, is the water still a brown cloudy or a different color? Do you or did you add any other kind of chemicals besides fertilizer? And just in case you weren't aware, the bala was not the best choice for your tank size, they can get to be a good foot or so long and are schooling fish:)
ph 7.4
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

The water is now a white cloudy. I didn't replace the bio media, or rinse it because I wanted to keep the good bacteria I had. I replaced the carbon and rinsed out the sponge filters. No other chemicals.

I am aware of how large bala's get. He was a gift, and a very happy fish until this. He was very active in the tank with out being in a school. Constantly checking out all areas of the tank.
 

sumthin fishy

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Aug 22, 2005
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The fact that you have 0 for all your readings scares me. If you had a good bio-filter there would br evidence of nitrate. If you were not yet cycled, there would be some ammonia or nitrite. Can you take a sample to the petstore for a verification test? If you do ask them before they test that you would like the numbers recorded for your records. Rinsing in tap water will effectivly kill your bio-filter(bacteria) due to chlorine content. Next time use old tank water, or tap water that has been treated with dechlorinator.
 

Holly9937

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Jan 20, 2005
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The chlorine in the tap water can kill the good bacteria. DO you have real plants? I'm wondering why your nitrate is 0. If the tank is cycled and you don't have a TON of live plants you should have some sort of nitrate reading. Always rinse your media or any filter stuff in tank water. I would just monitor your ammonia and nitrite for a while and keep up with the water changes if they start to go up. The fresh carbon might help to clear things up soon.

Oh, and tell whoever gave you the bala as a gift that they need to get you a 100+ gallon tank to house it in too :laugh: !! It may have been happy for a while, but they are really spastic fish and when they get large, they need alot of room, they are incredibly fast swimmers. Before I knew any better I had my 3 in a 50g and once the 2 got a little larger they would take off in a frantic swim anytime you moved to quickly near the tank. After hearing them hit the lid and sides of the tank a couple of times I knew it was time for a bigger tank :)
 
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