Cloudy Water

[blackcrystal22]

I've had a new 20 gallon fish tank for about 2 weeks now. We waited a couple of days and got the filter and the heater up and running. Then we added fish.
We have 1 Hi Finned Bull Shark (Columbian shark?), 2 black Mollys, 3 neon tetras, 2 high finned tetras, one red eyed tetra, 1 peppered catfish, and one algae eater.
The algae eater and one neon tetra died this morning. For the first week the water was clear and the fish seemed happy and ate fine. Then over the past week, the water got more and more cloudy. We tested the ammonia and pH levels and found out it was a tad acidic so we added a tablet like the instructions said, as well as two other tablets that they also said to add, one was for ammonia levels and one was for fish safe water.

The morning after the water was more cloudy than ever and all the fish were gasping at the top of the tank. I removed all the fish and put them in a temporary smaller tank and I changed 50% of the water and a few hours later put the rest back. Right now they seem alright, but I don't know what this is or what could have happened. I think the tablets did something, but now it's still somewhat cloudy and I don't know why.

What do I do?

 

[jglover]

I've had a new 20 gallon fish tank for about 2 weeks now. We waited a couple of days and got the filter and the heater up and running. Then we added fish.
We have 1 Hi Finned Bull Shark (Columbian shark?), 2 black Mollys, 3 neon tetras, 2 high finned tetras, one red eyed tetra, 1 peppered catfish, and one algae eater.
The algae eater and one neon tetra died this morning. For the first week the water was clear and the fish seemed happy and ate fine. Then over the past week, the water got more and more cloudy. We tested the ammonia and pH levels and found out it was a tad acidic so we added a tablet like the instructions said, as well as two other tablets that they also said to add, one was for ammonia levels and one was for fish safe water.

The morning after the water was more cloudy than ever and all the fish were gasping at the top of the tank. I removed all the fish and put them in a temporary smaller tank and I changed 50% of the water and a few hours later put the rest back. Right now they seem alright, but I don't know what this is or what could have happened. I think the tablets did something, but now it's still somewhat cloudy and I don't know why.

What do I do?

Your tank is not cycled. Thus you are most likely getting toxic levels of ammonia building up in the tank from fish waste. The cloudy water is just a bacterial bloom in the tank and is generally not harmful to the fish. Your best bet will be to return your fish and do fishless cycle. There are ample pinned threads on tank cycling in the newbie forum.

Did you treat the water with a dechlorinator prior to adding the fish? You definitely need to do that as the chlorine in tap water will seriously injury/kill your fish. Seachem Prime is one of the best dechlorinators available and also helps reduce ammonia levels.

The symptoms seem to indicate ammonia poisoning. How did you check for ammonia and what were the levels? Cycling a tank with fish will require daily or twice daily monitoring for ammonia and nitrites and daily water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite below 0.25ppm. You will need a good liquid drop water test kit as test strips are notoriously inaccurate. If you intend to keep the fish, be prepared for daily water changes for about three to six weeks....trust me, I've been through this!

An alternative is to use a cycling product such as Dr. Tim's One and Only or Tetra Safe Start. They will help speed up your cycle but are not overnight solutions, though some folks have had god results with them.

Don't worry about pH as the actual pH is not critical, a stable pH is. Adding chemicals to change the pH can results in drastic shifts in pH which is injurious to the fish.

Good luck!

John

 

[blackcrystal22]

Well, I used strips, but am buying a drop kit online to test levels more accurately.
I'll look at those cycling threads and look into that cycle product. Thanks!

 

[rockme567]

Well, I used strips, but am buying a drop kit online to test levels more accurately.
I'll look at those cycling threads and look into that cycle product. Thanks!

high we got told we had high ammonia and the man asked how often we feed them and we said 2-3 times daliy and he said you only need to feed them every other day because the fish eat the plants and there is other food in the water (the more food you feed them the more they poo which is what creates ammonia so if you are feeding more than once a day change to once a day or if want to every other day

 

[drobbyb]

Well, I used strips, but am buying a drop kit online to test levels more accurately.
I'll look at those cycling threads and look into that cycle product. Thanks!

high we got told we had high ammonia and the man asked how often we feed them and we said 2-3 times daliy and he said you only need to feed them every other day because the fish eat the plants and there is other food in the water (the more food you feed them the more they poo which is what creates ammonia so if you are feeding more than once a day change to once a day or if want to every other day

Actually fish poo isn't the only source. Everytime fish breathe they expel ammonia from their gills.