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Does "cloudy" mean the water is not clear, thus has a little white in it or that there is thousands of organisms visible to the eye if looking very closely that is making the water not clear? The reason I'm asking is because I can actually see thousands of very very small, smaller than extremely small air bubbles, in my water, thus the water is not perfectly clear. I know that it is not air bubbles because there's never been this many air bubbles in my tank before. The water readings are all fine, except my nitrite level is .25, but the tank is only a month old. I added Biospira a week ago to finish the cycle. The water has been perfect since then, until about two days ago.

This "cloudiness" started about two days ago. I am currently treating ich that was on a new neon tetra. The spots fell off two to three days ago. Or these "almost microscopic dots" the ich bacteria swimming around or is it some algae bloom? The tank is 10 gallons with a Top Fin 10 filter. I'll appreciate any feedback.
littletank

there are 2 types of cloudy water.

One type is a green cloudy which is algae.

The second type is a milky white color, which usually means you are going through NTS (New Tank Syndrom) or something like overfeeding, and the food colouds the water up.

Usually when the water is cloudy from overfeeding, you can see a bunch of stuff floating around. If you are going through NTS, the tank will just look milky white.

Adding medications to your tank can also disrupt and even destroy the bacteria colonies in your tank. I almost believe this might be what has happened to you. Your tank may possibly be going through a bacteria bloom caused by the biospira you added to the tank and it is simply replenishing your already established bacteria.

Last edited by Cichlid Keeper at 29-Jan-2005 21:12

Last edited by Cichlid Keeper at 29-Jan-2005 21:25

So do you think that the ich meds killed the some of the bacteria and now the bacteria is reproducing itself? The tank was not established when I added Biospira (live good bacteria). The bacteria that changed the ammonia into nitrite were established but the bacteria that change nitrite into nitrate were not present. The nitrite levels were out of sight high when I added the Biospira a week ago. That's why I added the Biospira. I had already lost 3 platies during the two and half week ammonia spike. I didn't want to lose my last platy during the nitrite spike, so I waited a week and did water changes until I lost my patience and bought the Biospira.

Now my dwarf Gourami has 3 ich spots. How did he get ich when I've been treated the tank with rid ich for the past 5 days. I just want my tank to be fine already. I've gone through all kinds of stuff since Christmas, when we started the tank. I really thought that everything was fine this week and the ich on the new neon tetra was my only problem. No big deal, right? Now I've got the cloudy water and ich on my Gourami, and I'm worried about my apple snail. I'm not sure how they do with ich meds (malachite green and formulin). Will she be okay for another whole round of rid ich?
Soooo frustrated,
littletank]

Ick is usually always the result of your fish being stressed out and what is the number 1 cause of stress, poor water quality. From reading your post it sounds as if your tank may have new tank syndrome.Your just simply trying to add to many fish into a tank in which the nitrogen cycle has not completed. The nitrite forming bacteria as you said has established in your tank and you are showing high levels of nitrites as the ammonia in your tank is converted. Once the nitrate forming bacteria establishs in your tank your nitrites will decrease and your nitrates will begin to increase at this point your tank is cycled. Your just simply going to have to be patient and let the nitrogen cycle fully establish in your tank and you should be fine. Also is the neon tetra and gourami the only fish left in your tank? If so I might refrain from buying anything new for a week are so. If your nitrite levels are still high you may also want to consider doing about a 20% water change to try to bring them down to a safe level.