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I have a 55 gal discus tank and over the past two days the water has become really! cloudy. I can hardley see my fish! 3 discus 4 in. 2 german blue rams, 1 clown pleco, 1 common pleco 4in. 6 julie cory. Temp 85 f. ph 6.8 (not fluctuating) amonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 15. I added the common pleco 7 days ago, and added two more plants (4 total) a week ago. The plants are swords? Im not sure im new to plants. About 8"in high wide diamond shaped leaves. The water is so cloudy (white) and getting worse by the day! I run 2 penguin 330's and added active carbon at the onset,also 4 new filters 10 days ago. Im stumped? My fish are fine, and my water quality is fine but my tank looks like a cloud? any help would be great.

Are you adding any fertilizers to the water?

Try and get your tank tested for phosphates.

A cloudy white makes me want to say say mini-cycle. This makes some sense since you added the common pleco a few days ago, what is surprising is that you're not seeing an ammonia or nitrIte reading.

also 4 new filters 10 days ago

Do you mean you changed out both penguin's @the same time, right before adding the pleco If so that's likely to be part of the cause.

^_^

How's a Bateria Bloom sound? But if your ammonia is 0 than it maybe something else, check your ammonia again just to be sure. How often do you do water changes? How often do you feed?

Good Luck
Rich

Thank you for all of the resposes. No I have not used fertilizer, I am new to plants and added my first two about 3 months ago and they just did well i was probably just lucky. I allways change the filters at the same time babelfish? and the pleco has allways been in this tank I tried to move him to my 30 gal but he didnt seem so happy in there so I moved him back. I usualy do a 20% water change every 3 or 4 days. I feed twice a day frozen blood worm and color bits. I did a 40% water change last night and tested my water again amonia is 0. I checked it twice not even a trace. the plants look realy bad thogh the leaves which were smooth are now crincled like ruffled potato chips,and turning brown, they look like they are dying. Forgive any of my ignorance I am still learning and thank you for any help.

I think you maybe doing to many water changes! I have 75 gal. chiclid tank and only do a water change once a month. The only thing I do inbetween is a very little vaccuming of the surface of my gravel. I think you need to cut back on your water changes and let your tank settle!!

Good Luck
Rich

You may be right, but it is a discus tank. I feed them lots of protien and from what I have learned cleaning the gravel lightly twice a week is about right for dicus? I have not had this problem before either. Those new plants are looking suspicious:88)

Changing both filters @once really reduces bacteria ammounts. Even on tanks with biowheels I'd suggest alternating filter pad replacement.
If you had just done a WC before running tests then you might have lessend the ammount to the point where the kit didnt' read it....I know some test kits are more sensitive than others.

For the plant issue...I'd suggest a post over in planted (rather then getting this post way off track ).

^_^

mimo...

If the plants are all showing withering I think I would consider removing them from the tank.

I understand why you are doing the amount of water changes that you are and I agree that it is good to do with keeping Discus... BUT... There is a chance that since you are performing so many water changes that the new plants are not getting the nutrients from the water that they need. Regardless, withering plants can not be good for the water quality. The decaying plants themselves could be leading to the clouded conditions you are witnessing.

Along with the Planted Aquaria Forum (that Babel suggested) there is a Discus Forum that I am going to suggest.

Thank you. I have removed the plants and im noticing the water has a green tinge. Can this be a "green algae" bloom as I have never had or seen one. and if so what can I do about it. My tank recieves no direct sunlight and some brown algae is common. Im confused.

You may want to cut back on the amount of food somewhat.

Your tank doesn't receive any direct sunlight, but how many hours are you leaving the strip light on a day?

The light is on about 12 hours a day, sometimes a little longer I manage a restaurant so my hours can get stretched a bit on the weekend. Im going to get a timer for the lights today, and set it for 10 hours a day. I have two strips 48" 32watts each. does that sound good?

I added a product called algaefix. It clared it up in 15 minutes. looks like plastic plants for me and zuchini for my pleco thanks for all of your help.