Finished cycle, but no parameters! What happened?!

L

Looks_Fishy

AC Members
Feb 20, 2007
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Brisbane
Hi everyone,
I have this tank that finished cycling like 3 weeks ago, and everything was fine with 0 ammo, 0 nitrites and between 10 and 15 nitrates. But I did a 50% water change yesterday and suddenly I have no nitrates either, everything I'm testing for says 0. Also, the water is cloudy, with a blue/grey tinge, like an ammonia bloom, but the test says 0 ammo.

Over the past 2 weeks I added 2 female gouramis, 4 zebra danios, 5 corys and 4 endlers. My calico bristlenose has been pooing like crazy, and when I change the water I haven't been vaccuming the substrate.

It just doesn't make sense.
 
What kind of test kit?
 
It's three different test kits from API aquarium pharmaceuticals, it's a water test where you add drops of chemicals to a 5ml vial of aquarium water.
 
Can adding too much water declorinator kill off my beneficial bacteria? Because yesterday in my water change I added something like 3 times the recommended dosage because I wanted to make sure all the chlorine was gone. I didn't think the stuff would be toxic because I've seen at the lfs when they change water they just squirt a random amount in.

I'm not used to using a pipe direct from my tap. I wanted a python but they don't sell them in Australia. I'm using a clear plastic tube I bought from my lfs and am siphoning it from the tank to the bath across the hall, and then to the tank from the bath tap. I also took care that the water wasn't too cold, but was a close temperature to what the tank water I s(I heard someone on this forum does this so I thought it was a good idea, but this is the first time I’ve tried it). Thing is though, is that heated water *does* get cloudy compared to non heated for some reason that is beyond me, and it should be clear by now if it was only the heated water doing this.

I did another water change after my original post (using the right amount of declorinator). It did improve the water quality for a few hours, but now it looks just as it did before. None of the fish look distressed or are gasping. Should I just wait for it to clear hopefully? All the parameters are still 0,0,0 which is worrying me. Do you think it’s going to re-cycle?
 
Looks_Fishy said:
Can adding too much water declorinator kill off my beneficial bacteria? Because yesterday in my water change I added something like 3 times the recommended dosage because I wanted to make sure all the chlorine was gone. I didn't think the stuff would be toxic because I've seen at the lfs when they change water they just squirt a random amount in.
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I don't think overdosage would have any effect on the beneficial bacteria. If they were toxic at all, there would be a complaint circulating around the hobby about fish deaths due to a dechlorinator when I haven't heard a single one at all.
I did another water change after my original post (using the right amount of declorinator). It did improve the water quality for a few hours, but now it looks just as it did before. None of the fish look distressed or are gasping. Should I just wait for it to clear hopefully? All the parameters are still 0,0,0 which is worrying me. Do you think it’s going to re-cycle?
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Is your tank heavily planted?
 
It's not what i'd call heavily planted. Maybe moderately planted? About 2 large java ferns (7"), 2 small java ferns(4"), a bunch of elodia that's floating and 2 stem plants the lfs called "pogo".
I'll add pictures when I get the chance later tonight.
 
These are pictures of my tank. See how cloudy it is? I've never seen a tank so cloudy. Normally it's clear, or brown with tannin from my new-ish wood.

IMGP1603 copy.jpg IMGP1602 copy.jpg
 
it might be some kind of bacterial bloom, i had a problem like that once and i added some stress enzyme from APi and it cleared up in a few days, your tnak looks good though, i like that piece of wood!
 
As satanpie said that could be a bacterial bloom. Your tank looks lightly planted to me in case others ask about it. Chances are you do not have near enough plants to account for removing all the nitrates. That leaves us just not knowing how it got so low. Are you sure you used the nitrate test properly and mixed the test chemicals thoroughly before adding them? The directions to shake for 30 seconds before using the nitrate-2 and again to shake thoroughly after adding the second chemical will definitely affect the outcome. If not the test will be very inaccurate.
 
Looks like green water to me, an algae bloom. Quite common in newly set up tanks when ammonia levels fluctuate. Direct light from the window behind the aquarium probably set it off.
 
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