Mega Cloudyness Eruption!

[Scrotius]

Hi all, I'm 12 hours away from going to Bristol for 3 days and my tank has decided to become cloudy overnight.
It's a 250l planted tank that I've had running for a good 5 months - it's been cycled and reached an equilibrium.
I've stocked it with 9 tetras, 5 young keyhole cichlids and one young common plec, it is moderately planted.

I've narrowed the cloudyness down to two things;
- A few days ago I decided to beef up my filtration by making a kind of home made filter out of a powerhead (already in use in the tank to add current and aerate water) and a plastic plant pot with lots of holes and filled with coarse gravel. As I understood if you have a mature filter (which I do - I havent removed it) in your tank, then it shouldn't "re-cycle" unless you introduce a new strain on the system - such as more fish.
- Also a few days ago, I treated the whole tank for fungus + finrot with the Interpet treatment as one of my cichlids had a bit on one fin. I've had very bad results with this treatment de-oxygenating my water and killing fish before, so I have *really* gone to town with the aeration of the water - both the filter and powerhead are pumping out bubbles at full capacity.

Anyway, now you can't see half way through the tank for the cloudyness.
I've tested the water and nothing seems to be wrong, and the fish aren't gasping or swimming strangely.

Please can anyone shed some light on this problem - if there's something that needs to be done I need to know by midday tomorrow or the fish will be in trouble

Thanks in advance!

 

[chromide]

if the fish are fine i would just use some water clarifier its cheap and works great.

 

[Knox213]

Or do a 50% water change?

 

[Scrotius]

OK, I already did a large water change yesterday when it started to go cloudy, but it didnt seem to help
This morning it does seem slightly less cloudy, I don't think it's going to last long, but I would like to know why it happenned in the first place if anyone has any theories

 

[erk628]

What color is the water? Is it green?

 

[Scrotius]

it's just white cloudyness, no green, the algae is well controlled

 

[Pipe Dream]

a water change doesnt do anything for water cloudiness, and a 50% WC definitely doesn't equal 50% reduction in cloudiness. it doesn't work that way. i unfortunately don't have advise for you, all i can say is that playing with chemicals is like playing with fire.

 

[bae1994]

well actually if its a bacterial bloom a water change can help

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

well actually if its a bacterial bloom a water change can help

Did you overdose on the meds, and kill the bacteria in the tank?

 

[fishnovice]

OK, I already did a large water change yesterday when it started to go cloudy, but it didnt seem to help
This morning it does seem slightly less cloudy, I don't think it's going to last long, but I would like to know why it happenned in the first place if anyone has any theories

Check your filter is working properly and not blocked. If it's blocked, clean sponges in a little tank water (NOT tap which will kll filer baceria!) My filter was blocked with duckweek, didn't realise and tank got very cloudy. Took weeks to clear up -several 50% water changes, big substrate vaccum and added a 2nd backup filter. It's OK now though and has been for 2 weeks

 

[Knox213]

Agreed with novice

 

[loraxchick]

my thoughts:
addition of the powerhead and playing about in the tank (and just the disturbance of the filter, which probably didnt do any harm to the bacteria in the filter but probably kick a bunch of crud out and into the water column) + the amping up of O2 when you introduced the meds.

the organic matter became suspended in the water column. this caused a bacterial bloom which you see as the haze in the tank. water changes dont always help as it can stir up even MORE organic matter making it worse in the long run. addition of extra O2 gave the bacteria more O2 than normal and they had a population explosion (due to the increased food and O2). keep in mind these are not the same bacteria that we want in our filters, but a different species altogether, albeit completely harmless to the system.

my suggestion- wait it out. it will clear in a few days
for it to not return, better substrate maintenance (to get rid of the organics laying about-esp in a planted tank with leaves falling off etc.)
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

 

[james_fish]

I had this problem not long ago in a 60L tank.

One thing i do know, is that water changes absolutely don't work. Well they didn't for me.
It didn't affect my fish to much, i lost a few. But over time the tank sorted itself out. I'd leave it to be honest mate.

James

 

[Scrotius]

thanks loraxchick
I think that's the most plausible explanation - in response to the previous ones, I had just cleaned my filter (with fishwater) and it was working fine.
Just got back and the water looks clearer than ever now, all fish are fine Will endeavour to clean substrate more thoroughly in future
thanks all

 

[loraxchick]

no problem whatsoever.
glad its all sorted
cheers!