MILKY WATER & SOME FISH HAS DIED

[Marc West]

Hello

I rescaped my feeder tank a few days ago, yesterday I had a ammonia spike, so did water change and it reset itself. I won't up this morning to find this. Half fish have died and the water smells.

Would it be safe to say the tank is screwed. What would your suggestions be.

Photo attached

 

[Guest14017]

An ammonia spike doesn't "reset" itself in one day. You merely put a bunch of fish back into a bunch of ammonia and killed them. What "feeders" were you keeping in here anyway? This looks like a little Betta tank.

 

[Marc West]

An ammonia spike doesn't "reset" itself in one day. You merely put a bunch of fish back into a bunch of ammonia and killed them. What "feeders" were you keeping in here anyway? This looks like a little Betta tank.

This tank ha sheen set up for 5 months, I decided to change substrate and rescaped it. For 2 days everything was fine, then had ammonia spike. Did water change and added ammonia killer. Then the reading was 0.5.
Woke up this morning and this how it looks. Mainly snails for my fahaka and a couple of guppies

 

[Colin_T]

What sort of filter is in the tank?
Did you clean the filter?
How did you clean the filter?

-----------------
Milky cloudy water is usually caused by uneaten food that encourages a bacterial bloom in the water. New substrate can cause it too, depending on what was used and if it was cleaned before being added to the tank.

-----------------
Remove dead fish and do a 90% water change and gravel clean the substrate now.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean every day (starting tomorrow) for 2 weeks or until the ammonia is at 0 and the water is clear.

Make sure the filter is working properly.

Reduce feeding to once every couple of days.

 

[Marc West]

What sort of filter is in the tank?
Did you clean the filter?
How did you clean the filter?

-----------------
Milky cloudy water is usually caused by uneaten food that encourages a bacterial bloom in the water. New substrate can cause it too, depending on what was used and if it was cleaned before being added to the tank.

-----------------
Remove dead fish and do a 90% water change and gravel clean the substrate now.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean every day (starting tomorrow) for 2 weeks or until the ammonia is at 0 and the water is clear.

Make sure the filter is working properly.

Reduce feeding to once every couple of days.

The filter is just a small one with bits of sponge in, I clean filter as normal in tnak water water scrapping sluge off. New substrate was cleaned as I normally do, so was the new stone. There are live plants and moss in there too. I will do a 90% change now and add water conditioner. Then follow what you have suggested. Do I clean the glass, as stained with white stuff?

 

[Naughts]

What substrate and rocks did you use?

 

[Marc West]

Standard small black smooth gravel and wood stone. Photo attached when it was clear.

Also attached photo of filter now
I'm gonna put in my spring filter too to help it

 

[Colin_T]

you can wipe the glass down if its dirty

 

[Marc West]

you can wipe the glass down if its dirty

This is what it looks like after water change.. I have added a double sponge filter to the back for extra filtration

 

[Marc West]

Also the snails in there which are for my fahaka puffer. Still OK to feed him or no

 

[Marc West]

you can wipe the glass down if its dirty

Are the snails in there still OK to feed my fahaka or no

 

[Naughts]

No, I wouldnt use the snails for now.

 

[Naughts]

The water was smelling so there may be decay that could make the puffer ill. I don't know what the white stuff was.
I dont think it's bacteria bloom as that wouldn't stick to the surfaces. It could be chalk or lime depending on the composition of 'wood stone'?
Do a couple more days of big water changes until the water is clear and you are satisfied that whatever it was has cleared up. Then if you're happy the tank is clean and you have healthy snails, go ahead and feed the puffer.

 

[Marc West]

The water was smelling so there may be decay that could make the puffer ill. I don't know what the white stuff was.
I dont think it's bacteria bloom as that wouldn't stick to the surfaces. It could be chalk or lime depending on the composition of 'wood stone'?
Do a couple more days of big water changes until the water is clear and you are satisfied that whatever it was has cleared up. Then if you're happy the tank is clean and you have healthy snails, go ahead and feed the puffer.

Thank you so attached is what the tank looks like now after 90% water change.

The water parameters are now

Ammonia 1
No3 0
No2 0
Gh 8
Kh 10
Ph 7.6
Cl2 0

However fish back at top of tank

 

[Naughts]

Changing the substrate has messed up the cycle causing the ammonia and fish at the surface.
Do you have another tank which is cycled? You could then move some filter media and substrate from the cycled tank.
Do you have any bottled bacteria to add?
Do you still have the old substrate?
You will need to keep doing water changes whenever ammonia or nitrite go above zero.