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Um yea its been like 3 weeks and i have forgot to clean my filter and tank and now the filter has clogged up, mainly with plant materials which i assume is the cause for the cloudy water.
Also my pleco has been digging in my substrate with all my plants in there which made the problem even worst.

I was just wondering in this period of re-cycling the tank(sigh) what should i do with my fish?

Atm in my 350litre tank i have 3 guppies, 8 neons, 5 serpae, 2 flying fox, 2 cories and one 22cm pleco.

Hi friedrice.

The cloudy water is most likely a bacteria bloom in your water. First off I would start with a 30% wc and good vac. Throughly clean filters and remove any decaying plant material, this is only adding to the problem. Maybe only replace one filter biological media for now depending on your setup. Reduce and do not overfeed. Make sure you remove all the dead plant pieces in the tank.
Can you test the water? What are your nitrates,nitrites,ammonia?

goodluck...................openwater

My water specs are ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10

I ve already done what you have said, though i did clean 2 of my filters, which I think I should not have, and I think i did over-clean the gravel so this might be another cause for the cloudiness. I ve already did a 30% change in the water and thats about it.

But I was just wondering what I should do with my fish in this re-cycling process because Im worried that the spike in either the ammonia or nitrite might shorten my fishes life or worst kill them.

I have another tank, a 130litre one, Im thinking of moving my fishes to that tank and im pretty sure the bioload can take it.
Also i was just wondering would using the filter from my 130 litre tank can decrease the cycling period(ie seeding)? Is that a wise thing to do?


Last edited by friedrice at 13-Nov-2004 18:46

with no ammonia and no nitrites and nitrates of 10ppm, I would say your tank is Fully Cycled!!
I wouldnt take the fish out now, You will lose all your work. Just give it a couple days and a few small good water changes, and the cloudiness should dissipate.
Cut down on feeding for about 3-4 days, and do small water changes. This will help.


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Yea I ve been cutting down on their feeding for about 2 weeks now. LOL they look pretty skinny tho. . .

After waiting a couple of minutes. . .heres the real results
ammonia 10 nitrite 0 nitrate 0

This means my tank is just beginning to cycle?
Should i jump start my cycle by seeding the tank with my eheim 2213 in my other tank?

YiKES!HELP
and oops i posted this in the wrong section

Last edited by friedrice at 13-Nov-2004 19:52

This means your Ammonia is Peaking. This of course will cause a bacterial bloom in the tank as the nitrobacter grows to combat the ammonia. Do you have Prime Water Conditioner? I recommend it. 1 Capful per 50g will prevent the ammonia from killing the fish, will allow your tank to continue cycling, and wont give fake readings on your tests.
It costs more, but it lasts 5 times longer (a bottle does), than most other water conditioners such as Aquasafe and Aquaplus.
Dont do too many water changes at this point, you really want your tank to cycle. Do a small (10-15%) water change just once a week. In about a weeks time- 10 days, your ammonia should drop and your nitrite should rise.
Good luck!


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My water specs are ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10

?

After waiting a couple of minutes. . .heres the real results ammonia 10 nitrite 0 nitrate 0

Hi friedrice I caught the edit about the wrong post, but I assumingthis is the same tank.
Sorry friedrice, but I'm lost on those? First off how long has the tank been running? Second was it completely cycled before. Third if you haven't done a wc in three weeks and the tank was cycled before you should read nitrates. How heavly planted is the tank

Opps i guess i was in a rush.
But my water specs atm are ammonia 10 nitrite 0 nitrate 10

The tank has been running very smoothly for over 2 months and since after i had introduced my 22cm pleco into the tank it started to dig around. Afterwards my tank began to very get cloudy.


Yes my tank has been cycled before. I ve been fishkeeping for 9years but I ve never had this problem before where the bacterial bloom just "exploded" out of control.

Yes i do understand i do have to read nitrates, but the thing is I have my law exams now and it just seem to be in the phase where I just forget everything..if you get what i mean.

My 92gallon tank is a "heavily" planted tank with hygro polysperma, and water wisterias- other plants are banana lillies and 2 large anubias which i know do not absorb much nutrients..

Im very sure that the "bloom" is caused by my pleco heavily digging around in my planted tank and as a result the debris clogged up my 2 filters which had lead to this. . .
So i was just asking what should i do with my fish or fishtank. Any suggestions because this situation has never been this bad for me before. Usually the cloudy water just goes away after 3-5 days but its been going on for over 2 weeks now..

Last edited by friedrice at 14-Nov-2004 22:26