Cloudy tank and fish dying

[Aylana]

My mam has just called me to say her fish are gasping at the top of her tank and her water is very cloudy. Cloudy usually means a bacterial bloom right? Would this also make the fish gasp for air. It has happened before and she lost several fish who seemed to develop rapid swimbladder problems. She has done a water change, unfortunately she didn't do any water tests before the change so i can't tell you what her ammonia etc was, but I gave her half of my filter material last saturday as she cleaned out the tank completely after the last time it happened. It is from a more heavily stocked tank than hers so I would hope it should be fine.

She says that both times it has happened the day after feeding the fish bloodworm. So could it be something wrong with the bloodworm or her feeding too much?

Anything else I can add? No bloating, pineconing or other physical symptoms.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[morgan]

If the filter is internal it might be worth checking a fish hasn't got in there and died. It happened to me and the water turned very nasty. I also happened to check in there yesterday and another one was in there (dead). The tube had fallen off the other day but how it swam against the current is beyond me. Hope that helps.

 

[WILDER]

Water stats would be a good start in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph, gasping at the top of the tank is poor water quality, how long has the tank been set up, how many gallons, plus how many fish and which type, did she use the fish to sltart cycling the tank, also does she run an airstone for extra aeration.

 

[McPhenius]

One of my first fish mistakes was taking a new tank that started to cloud up and not check the water. Not realizing, regular water changes were needed, I replaced the filter cartridge before the cycling was complete. The result, the cloudy water with high ammonia levels killed the fish

 

[ncjharris]

Fish gasping at the surface to me sounds like low oxygen content in the water.

What species are the fish, how many and what size tank?

Make sure the water surface is agitated - set the filter up so you have ripples and use an airstone.

 

[big mick]

How long has the tank been set up, how big is the tank and how many fish?

Cant see bloodworms being the cause of it but could be algae in the water, is the tank in direct sunlight and was the water green in colour when she was changing the it?