Cloudy Water! Bad Smell!! Thick scum on top HELP!

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lesterandb

AC Members
Mar 6, 2006
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I am calling myself a newbie, it has been about 3 years since my last tank. My tank has been set up for 2 weeks. I know a bacterial bloom happens in new tanks, but I do not think that is all that is happening. My problem is that it is not just the cloudy water that is happening, there is this awful smell like very old dead fish coming from my tank. I also have this nasty film on the top that foams up and will stick to you or anything you place in the tank. I am sure it is not good for my fish. Here are all the "stats".

Nitrite-0
PH-6.2 very low can I adjust while in this process? (cichlids)
Nitrate-5.0
Ammonia-8.0 I have used the Ammonia Loc stuff... was that wrong to do?

Penguin 400 filter
I have a 75 gallon tank. Here are the fish:
1 Albino Oscar
1 Bala Shark (Yes they all get along)
1 Pleco
5 Assorted African Cichlids ( I have no clue which kinds)
All of these fish are small right now.... all but the Oscar are less than 1 inch. The Oscar is a bit smaller than the top of a coke can. Forgot about the Bala he is about 3 inches long.

Here is what I have already done:
I thought I was doing right by adding the Cycle product to my tank. This I now find out is wrong. I will throw it away. I have treated the tank with the correct amount of salt, 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons. I also add back in after a water change. I use tap water to fill my tank so I also have the Dechlorinator in there. I did a water change about 3 days ago and added some new plants(fake) where I took about 20% water and really cleaned the gravel. This prompted questions about feeding. I then did a water change (about 35%) yesterday to try and at least find my fish. That obviously helped a bit yesterday but today I can not see the little buggers again. I did a bit of research in my home and found out that 3 people were feeding the fish... yes bad. I have now stopped this. I know that overfeeding is a huge factor in this problem. They have not been fed since yesterday morning. I am unsure how much I should cut back on the feeding till I get this tank fixed. I do not know anyone who can give me some gravel to add to help speed up the process. I am very worried about the Ammonia. I put in the Ammonia Loc, I have no clue if it works or not. How else can I get rid of it aside from reducing the food going in. I have replaced 2 of the 4 media filters in my filter. Any help would be most welcome. I am unsure if I have left out something needed sorry if I have. Thank you for any help in advance...
 
You are in for a rough ride...You have a ton of "heavy waste producers" in an uncycled tank... Start with a 75 percent water change... Repeat every other day. The ammolock is probably the only thing keeping everyone alive... Claims to not disrupt the cycle...perhaps this will be a test of that theory...

If I were you id ditch the pleco... Too small for a 75 and will constantly frig up your water quality...Bala has to go too... It gets WAY too large for anything less then 200 gals... Id be cautious about the Africans... It wuold help if you knew what they were...

DONOT replace the filter cartridges... They are a primo source of beneficial bacteria... If they get clogged, rinse them in some tank water when you are doing a water change...
 
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a lot of your problem is the incredibly high ammonia. you need to start doing huge water changes really fast to get your ammonia down to or below 0.25ppm!! anything over that is toxic for your fish, and if you keep it as high as it is now for very long your fish will most likely not survive.

don't want to sound harsh with all the bold type, but if your ammonia is at 8ppm then your fish are in real danger from poisoning.
 
Ammonia at your very low pH is almost entirely in the non-toxic NH4 ammonium state. The ammonia isn't especially a problem at the moment. The Catch-22 is that you're going to have a hard time cycling a tank with a pH that low: too low for the bacteria.

What's your KH? pH of your tap after sitting overnight?

Don't know much about ammolock type filter setups but they're likely to screw up your test kits. For ammonia you want a salicylate kit (two bottles, not one): they'll be more accurate, but anti-ammonia chemicals tend to screw up ammonia tests. Its unfortunate.

I'd take the ammolock out. Ammonia isn't a problem at your pH (it'd be nice to confirm pH). You'll get better readings.

Go easy on swapping out cartridges: clean them in dechlorinated changewater and reuse: that's where your bacteria are going to be. They can be reused until they wear out.

pH is super low, enough to be a concern. With your (heavy) bioload your at extreme risk for a pH crash. That's an issue.

Water changes are good good good, but you'll need to keep an eye on their effect on pH. But you'll need to watch pH anyway.

HTH. Gotta run…

:dive2:
 
Pixie is correct about the overstock. Plecos are huge waste producers, do very little to remove algae, and get big. Mine is 6 inches in less than 2 years.

Balas are pretty sharks, but they NEED to be keep in groups. 6 or more. AND they grow close a to 12 inches.

The oscar will grow to 12 inches, is a huge waste producer, and should probably be kept alone.

Then there are the cichlids.... The fact that you don't know what kind is a problem. Not all species are compatible. Look through the species profile section and try to determine what they are, or, post pics.

The immediate problem is your water. Stop adding ammo-lock! What you need to do is massive water changes, 75% or more, every 12 hours. You will continue doing water changes until your ammonia is under.5. You will probably need to do daily water changes until your tank is cycled. If you do not, you risk loss of fish. There is no way around this. The ammo-lock is a band aide on a bigger problem.
 
Okay I am doing the water change as we speak. I do not have the 2 bottle test kit for the Ammonia, it is just the one out of the green master test kit thing. I am working on the problem though. Can any one tell me what that scum is? And why it smells so bad. I know the rocks are clean from waste since I am doing a good gravel vacuum when I do the water change. It seems like it just appears from no where. Thanks for the help thus far!!
 
I am still quite the newbie in here, but I feel I finally got a grasp on the process of my aquarium. Go buy AMQUEL + make sure it is the plus and not the regular. I have had unbelievable sucess with it. You can use it with every water change and will not harm anything.

I am at work so don't have time for a long post. I am extracting this from http://www.novalek.com/korgd28.htm.

The recommended dose for AmQuel Plus is 1 teaspoon (which equals 5 ml) for each 10 gallons of water to be treated. This dose will instantly break the bond between chlorine and ammonia found in chloramines, then remove the chlorine, remove at least 1.2 ppm of ammonia, at least 2 ppm of nitrite, and at least 13 ppm of nitrate as well as remove many other toxic nitrogen compounds. All this is accomplished in a single dose. :thm:

And it is all true. I had an out of control tank going because I was typically impatient and got to many fish too early. I have had amazing results with this stuff!! It lowered my Ammonia to practically zero from about 5.0. The only issue I have now is my Nitrites are a little high, but in my mind that is not that bad cuz that means the chemical worked and did not harm my bacteria. But the bacteria are working away at all the crap still in the tank. It got rid of the cloudy smelly water I was dealing with as well.

I say give it a shot. It is only $4.00 for the small bottle and is enough to treat 120 gallons. I am going to live by this stuff from now on.

.....that's what I get for saying I am doing a short post. Good Luck ;)
 
Okay I did the water change and my ammonia lvl is down to 4. I have gone to all 3 lfs in my area and can not find the Amquel plus every one keeps talking about. Where do I find it? :rant2: I would very much like to get that in my tank to save my fish. I do like them alot. I also got a filter media out of an established tank to try and get some good bacteria growing in my tank. I hope this helps. Any and all suggestions are welcome. :idea:
 
I know that some people said not to use the ammolock but I think that it is a good idea at the moment, personally. You need to do big waterchanges every day or every other day. Also many people don't think that it's a good idea to put african cichlids in a community setup.
 
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