Cloudy Tank Water
- Thread starter villain
- Start date
Just do 50% water changes every day until you get those levels down. That is the most important thing. I wouldnt touch the filter. If you changed everyting you may have killed off the bacteria. It is best to leave the filter alone unless it starts having flow problems is what I have been told. How old is the tank? How often did you do water changes before? How many fish are in there?
doing 50% everyday is waaaayyy to often. if youre going to do water changes, do maybe 10% a day for 5 days, but thats pushing it. doing 50% causes some conflicts in the fish, and it can be stressful. if you change 50%everyday, then thats like changing 100% of the water in two days- which would be stressful for the fish, and then 50% the next day, and the next day, and soon some of your fish will become lethargic and will soon die. you should probly do a 50% water change and then four of five days later do another, so the process is easier on the fish.
since you changed your filter, float the biological media (wheel type thing) in you tank. this will also help with the ammoina problems.
since you changed your filter, float the biological media (wheel type thing) in you tank. this will also help with the ammoina problems.
50% every day is not too often if your ammonia and nitites are through the roof. That will kill the fish and put much more stress on them. Doing 10% a day will do nothing to the levels. If he doesnt get the levels down they will die and he already said they are swimming near the top and not acting right. A sure sign the levels are getting to them. Please let us know how it is going and what stage the tank was in before the problems.
The only time 50% a day would be too much would be if the tank had never (or very very rarely) been cleaned. Then, the stress might be too much for the fish and you should go slowly. But I dont think thats the case here, and since the ammonia levels are so high, it really needs to be done as much as it takes.
if the fish are still alive, then the ammonia has rised graduallly, not in and hour or overnight. the fish will be stressed, yes, but not as much as if you change 50% a day. changing that often will also be destroying the benificial bacteria in the gravel, filter, and on the decorations, so you'll be doing 50% water changes for a very long time until the bacteria has a chance to catch up, for every time you change the water, some of the bacteria are disrupted, and changeing 50% a day will leave very little if any. changing 50% one day and waiting three or four after will allow the bacteria to grow again, and with lower ammoina levels they can keep it there. for example, if your ammoina is at 4.0 and you do 50% water change, it drops to 2.0, and then a few days later its still at 2.0, that means the bacteria have caught up
Dangerdoll
Global Moderator
it sounds like this is a fishy cycle. Exactly what fish are in the tank. By what fish, I mean what kind and how many of each. This being the case, water changes are a must to keep the ammonia and nitrate level as low as possible. Water changes are PER test and the testing should be done daily (as probably the water changes).
I am quoting Daveedka and his fishy cycling article.
"Even when doing this in the most conservative manner daily testing is a must to ensure the safety of your fish. In my personal opinion, 0.5 ppm ammonia is the maximum allowable level. 0.25 ppm ammonia should be considered a serious concern. 0.5ppm nitrite is also the maximum for me. So if you cycle with fish plan to test a lot (tedious) and plan to do water changes each and every time the liquid in the test kits changes color. This is the downfall of the fishy cycle; you need to do water changes whenever your tank requires it, not when it fits your schedule. You need to do however much water changing it takes to protect your fish no matter how tired of water changing you become. You need to test a couple of times a day even if you are being conservative.
For those who already own their fish when they find out the bad news, just test and do water changes, endure the chores for 4-6 weeks, and learn from the experience. Some of the better members on these boards started here with an “I just bought 12 fish and four of them died” thread. They did what it took and came out of it with a lot of knowledge experience and information. "
here is the article.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64301
I am quoting Daveedka and his fishy cycling article.
"Even when doing this in the most conservative manner daily testing is a must to ensure the safety of your fish. In my personal opinion, 0.5 ppm ammonia is the maximum allowable level. 0.25 ppm ammonia should be considered a serious concern. 0.5ppm nitrite is also the maximum for me. So if you cycle with fish plan to test a lot (tedious) and plan to do water changes each and every time the liquid in the test kits changes color. This is the downfall of the fishy cycle; you need to do water changes whenever your tank requires it, not when it fits your schedule. You need to do however much water changing it takes to protect your fish no matter how tired of water changing you become. You need to test a couple of times a day even if you are being conservative.
For those who already own their fish when they find out the bad news, just test and do water changes, endure the chores for 4-6 weeks, and learn from the experience. Some of the better members on these boards started here with an “I just bought 12 fish and four of them died” thread. They did what it took and came out of it with a lot of knowledge experience and information. "
here is the article.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64301
exactly. believe it or not, nitrite can be a good thing in new tanks (in small quantities lol). this signals the growth of the benificial bacteria that turn ammoina into nirite, and then nitrite into nitrate, and if you have a nitrate reactor, nitrogen gas.
