month old tank, cloudy water, nitrite probs

[raynist]

Tank is about a month old now (30 gallon, 5 danios, 6 guppies, 3 with clouds, 4 ghost shrimp, cory cat) and the water is very cloudy, I can hardly see through it. I have a Whiper 30-60 filter and a Whisper 30 filter. I also have an air source.

I have been changing at least 20% of the water every week (more often lately to try to clear the water). I bought some test strips and it shows I have Hard water, Alkaline is good, nitrate is good, nitrite is very high. Have tried some chemicals from the pet store to bring down the nitrites to no avail.

I have read about a bacterial bloom, but this has been going on for over a week now.

Any suggestions?

Oh, and I changed my filter cartridges about a week ago.

Thanks
Ray

 

[Shizat]

Yea it probably is a bacterial bloom and might last for another 2-3 weeks. Even after your tank gets mature you can still get bacterial blooms every so often. The best method that I've seen to get rid of this is to turn off the lights and dont feed the fish for 2-3 days.

 

[digital_run]

Do a gravel vac once a day with a 10-20% water change. Frequent water changes will help lower the nitrite level. Whats your Nitrate reading?

 

[raynist]

only says good, the test strips do not give ppm readings

 

[enchanted]

Raynist, you really should get yourself a liquid test with PPM readings, but that is aside from the problem.

Could you be over feeding? The only time in any tank I have setup have I seen this was when I was over feeding.......

The overfeeding causes raised Nitrites due to the decaying foods and it takes time of the biological filter to adjust to it and can cause it.

 

[raynist]

I made a mistake, the test does have ppm listed. It is showing 3.0 ppm Nitrites. The test shows 0, 0.5, 1.0, 3.0, 10.0 ppm.

I only feed the fish when I get home from work. I give them a little bit at a time and then a little more when they are done. I don't think I am overfeeding, but maybe I am.

-Ray

 

[BobK]

Most likely your problems were exacerbated by changing the filter cartridges in a tank that is not completely cycled. Most of your benificial bacterial left the tank when you changed cartridges. You hardly ever have to change cartridges. When the start to clog just swish them around in a bucket of aquarium (never tap) water.

 

[raynist]

Most likely your problems were exacerbated by changing the filter cartridges in a tank that is not completely cycled. Most of your benificial bacterial left the tank when you changed cartridges. You hardly ever have to change cartridges. When the start to clog just swish them around in a bucket of aquarium (never tap) water.

Thanks, should I change the charcoal in the cartridges though?

 

[raynist]

Bought some product called "Cycle" this past weekend. It is 100% bacteria and is supposed to dramatically lower your nitrIte levels. Added a dose and checked the levels a couple days later.

NitrIte - 5.0ppm
NitrAte - 40ppm

NitrAtes where preivously at 0.0 ppm before adding this product.

I also did a 20% water change prior to adding the "Cycle".

My fish all seem healthy, but my floating plants look like they are dying. What can I do to lower these levels?

All other levels in the tank are fine.

--Ray

 

[WILDER]

Do a water change as the nitrite reading is very high, watch the guppies as they are not a cyclling fish, and they are very fragile little fish, if the start gasping at the top of the water do an immediate water change, I would add an airstone to help them through the cycle.

 

[Leslie]

As Enchanted said the most likely cause is overfeeding. While going through the cycle you should only feed once every second day and only what they can eat in 1-2 minutes at that. There is a new product on the market called Stability, made by Seachem, that is wonderful for new tank syndrome.

 

[raynist]

Thanks, I will curtail my feeding further.

I bought the Stability product on my lunch break.

--Ray

BTW, the cloudiness issue went away after I left the light off for a full 24 hours. The water is now crystal clear.