Fish were dying, now cloudy water?

[SparkDog]

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.

The test kit I have at home is more accurate than the one the pet store uses. When I had high levels of ammonia, their test didn't even show it. This test has the little glass beakers and test solutions. Not strips. Next time i'm there, i'll get a test just for the heck of it though.

I did not rinse the bio media. This filter has a three step process. First is the white sponges, then carbon and then finally the bio media. (They look like big white cheerios.) I don't ever rinse those. Should I not rinse anything with tap water?

I also do my water changes from tap water but I add cycle and stress coat accordingly. Is that acceptable?

I have attached an example of what the bio media looks like for this filter.

 

[SparkDog]

The chlorine in the tap water can kill the good bacteria. DO you have real plants? I'm wondering why your nitrate is 0.

There are no real plants in the tank right now. I pulled them all when I did the big water change as mentioned in my first post. There were, however quite a few.

 

[H3D]

It is not a good idea to rinse any filter media in tap water.

 

[sumthin fishy]

I wouldn't use tap water for anything either, but it wouldn't explain a total crash in your bio-filter. Again, 0 results on all 3 tests is very odd. You should see some ammonia or nitrite if there is a problem with the cycle, or if there is adiquate bacteria to process these you should have some nitrate showing. Not sure where to go on that other than getting another test done. I would go with some water changes to help with the cloudy water, but not too big. You don't want to stress the fish with a rapid change in conditions, mabey 10-20% a day?

 

[Holly9937]

I would actually rinse all of the media, at least once a month or so, but only in tap water. And if you are sure your tests are ok, I would just test for a while and make sure your ammonia and nitrite don't spike. Other than that I would not add anything to the tank for a while other than dechlorinator for water changes until you can figure out what might have happened. Sounds strange, but like someone else said you did have alot go on all at once and I would just wait it out at this point

 

[SparkDog]

I wouldn't use tap water for anything either, but it wouldn't explain a total crash in your bio-filter. Again, 0 results on all 3 tests is very odd. You should see some ammonia or nitrite if there is a problem with the cycle, or if there is adiquate bacteria to process these you should have some nitrate showing. Not sure where to go on that other than getting another test done. I would go with some water changes to help with the cloudy water, but not too big. You don't want to stress the fish with a rapid change in conditions, mabey 10-20% a day?

This may be a silly question... but where am I getting this water from if not from the tap to do the daily water changes? There's no way I'm pouring 30 bottles of evian in there every day.

 

[Holly9937]

As long as you add dechlorinator you're fine!! Sorry if you were just joking around

 

[sumthin fishy]

Oh, I meant stright from the tap, without treating with dechlor. Sorry for the confusion there!!! I should be a bit more clear 'eh?

:OT:They sell "beta water" at the fish store near me. It's like 5 bucks for about 1 litre of h2o.......riiiiip offffffffff.

 

[SparkDog]

As long as you add dechlorinator you're fine!! Sorry if you were just joking around

Yeah, I was joking. Thanks for the input everyone. I think I'm going to continue with small daily water changes and leave the plants out for the time being. I'll let you know how it progresses.

 

[sumthin fishy]