Cloudy Water Problems

[stevyba]

Hi all

I've recently inherited a second communal tank from a neighbour

It's about a 150ltr and came with 1 plec 7", 1 Angel 6", 2 loach of some description both 4" and a rather large goldfish 9".
The goldfish has been in the tropical tank for around 9 years and isn't interested in gold fish flakes but loves small algae pellets

When i got the tank (about 4 weeks since) it was green everywhere so I emptied it totally keeping about 60ltrs of the water.... put in new gravel, an extra internal filter and cleaned everything as well as possible.

It looked great for the first 10 days or so but it's gradually turning green again despite doing 50% water changes every 2 or 3 days.

One thing that I'm unsure about is that it has a mirror backing which looks good but i'm wondering if this could contribute to the cloudy water.

I've only had a light on for about 6 hours each day and it's not in direct sunlight. No live plants

Water stats are....

Nitrite 0.15 ish

Nitrate 30

Ammonia 0

PH 7.2


Any help would be greatly appreciated Steve

 

[minxfishy]

Maybe just a bacterial bloom from the change over, keep an eye on that nitrite, anything over 0.25 is harmful to the fish.

A BN plec would enjoy keeping that green down for you

 

[stevyba]

Maybe just a bacterial bloom from the change over, keep an eye on that nitrite, anything over 0.25 is harmful to the fish.

A BN plec would enjoy keeping that green down for you

Thanks for the reply.... the nitrite is the worrying bit... could this be caused by over cleaning.

the plec I have in at the moment is always active on the side of the tank although it's not a BN (not sure what it is) as are the loaches, well i think they are loach (is there a sucker type fish in the loach family)

 

[rabbut]

How did you clean the filter?

What test kits are you using?

I'm concerned that that tank is overstocked, and that may explain the cloudy water I'd loose a couple of the fish, and that should reduce the clouding

All the best
Rabbut

 

[stevyba]

Cleaned the filter in tank water and added a smaller second one that's not been used for a while

The test kit is a liquid one

I'd hate to have to get rid of any of the fish as they were the neighbours son's and he does visit them occasionally ... the goldfish was his first pet when he was about 6 months old ... Could possibly find a home for the 2 loach at a pinch

 

[rabbut]

Good excuse for another tank

On a more serious note, there are a lot of fish in there for the size of the tank. The tank is 150l, so thats 30g. The goldfish should grow to 24 inches (all my old breeding stock were 18 inches and up), the angels should get to 8 inches each and the pleco upto 18 inches. Without a photo to ID the loach, you could be looking at a fish that will grow between it's current size and 4 feet None of the fish you have obey the inche per gallon rule, needing more room each. In a 30g, you could have upto about 45 inches of fish maximum with decent filtration, assuming the fish obey the inch per gallon rule... I think you can see where this is going. Most of those fish are tank busters, in a relatively small tank (relative to their adult size)

Goldies IMO are for ponds only. I have only ever seen one tank large enough to keep them, at a local resataunt. It's 600g, and they bought most of it from where I work... It's a nice set-up, and basicaly an indoor pond. Goldies are temperate, so although they are OK in tropical temperatures, it speeds up their motabalisum and makes them even more messy (if thats possible)

Angels need about 7 gallons each and are arround 8 inch in length full grown. Normal angels are 1 foot high, and vieltails are 18 inches, so a tall tank is needed. An 18 inch tall would be fine for normal angels, but 2 foot tall is minimum for viels

Plecos are large messy fish that IMO should be banned from the trade, as few can actualy keep them They need a 4foot by 2 foot by 2 foot tank with 10X turnover through the filters as an absolute minimum Many still believe this to be too small still.

As above, can you get photos of the loaches?

Where does that leave you? Well, in a mess realy You have a tough desision to make... Find the space and money for a larger tank, 4X2X2 in feet as a minimum, with some new serious heavy-duty filters. Or you can loose the Pleco, angels and goldie, Or you can leave them in that tank knowing that they aren't gong to last too long, certainly not the 15 years life of the angels, let alone the 30 the goldie and pleco should reach Leaving them there also does not solve the issue that is caursing your water issues, i.e. the stocking of the tank. Without action, the water will only get worse

It's not my place to tell you what to do, and I'm not going to lecture any more on here. You need to make a choice I hope it is the correct one for you and your new pets

All the best
Rabbut

 

[stevyba]

Managed to get some pictures of sorts, not very good but the best i can do with my equipment

One of the loach??, the other one of the two is about the same size as this and the same markings but is bigger round its girth... almost looks a bit bloated, I've treated with revitaliser tonic which says should relieve constipation and it eats very well and is active enough.

This is a pleco from my other tank but is the same as the one in the problem tank (just couldn't get a pic of that one) It would be good if someone could tell me what type they are

The angel in the problem tank

And the goldy

All the fish seem healthy enough and are all eating well

 

[stevyba]

My predicament now is what to do next

I could probably re-home the pleco and the loach? leaving the goldy and the angel as these are the two main ones that the neighbours lad is interested in.
Would these two be ok in this tank for a year or two until the lads interest has probably worn off.

I could easily put the goldy in my dads pond where he has a few of a similar size but that is 30 miles away from here so not so easy for him to visit and i have serious doubts that it would acclimatise, as it seems happy in the warmer water and is used to aquarium food

 

[rabbut]

The loaches are Chinese Algea Eaters, that get to arround 12 inches in an adiquate aquarium and about 15 inches in the wild, so another big-ish fish I'm afraid. They have been known to kill angels if they don't get enough protien in their diet past 6 inches, so re-homing this one would be a good move

The pleco looks to me like a gibby, though I'd wait for another member to confirm as I'm not 100% on that Gibbys get between 18 inches and 24 depending on the tank size and diet. Again, if you can re-home, it would be best for the fish

The angels and goldie should be OK for a year or so, so long as the goldie doesn't tare chunks out of the angel. It doesn't happen too often, but if the goldie has an agressive temprament, it could easily mince it. If you are not seeing agression between them, I'd say you should be OK.

Do you have any readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate or pH?

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Miss Wiggle]

fins on that angel don't look healthy at all, could be finrot from poor water quality.

agree with whats been said above, you really need to find a home for these larger fish, just removing the plec and the loaches from the equation would probably bring the ammonia and nitrite back in line fairly quickly. Until then you should be doing daily water changes of 25% or more to keep levels manageable.