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Im stunned I had this tank for the longest never had any problems. Last week I did my monthly water change and all of sudden the water turned white. I waitied a couple days and then the water turned green. I didnt loose any fish actually they seem pretty happy but Im concerned. Any suggestions?

A sudden white cloudy tank is usually the sign of a bacterial bloom and then the green would be floating algae. Both show up when the tank contains ammonia or possibly nitrites. Did you do anything along with the water change? Slightly larger gravel vac? Changed all the filter media? Also how big is the tank and with what fish? Your fish may have grown over time and are pushing the biofilter to it's limit. If you have any ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate test kits I suggest using them or going to get some because that would prove very helpful in this situation.

There are two effective way to treat this as far as I know.
There is the chemical way with "Algae Be Gone" but if you have plants it might kill them. They do make a version that says it doesn't harm plants, but if it kills algae than I think it has to hurt the plants.
There a 3 day black out. turn off the lights in the tank, but leave everything else on. Than put heavy blanket over that tank to block out all remaining light. Feed the fish everyday as normal. It will effect your plants some as they will wilt and may loss some leaves, but they will come back. This is a natural way to take care of the problem.

There is a third way but that nolves having a UV sterlizer.

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

I usually use prime when doing water changes but I ran out and my mother brought some other product. Its probably not as strong as prime could that be the probelm? I will be getting some test kits tonight.... Ugh I hate water kits...... I had this tank for 3 years and never had a problem....

Oh my tank is 55 gallons

I have a small fish schooling tank

2 panda cories
6 salt and pepper cories
3 ots
10 neons
10 glow lights
10 rummy nose
5 H.rasporas


I rarely get any deaths maybe 1 every 3-4 months

I doubt a change in water conditioner could cause the issue. The tank is fairly stocked but not heavily enough that normal maintenance would cause ammonia. If you did an extra large gravel vac and changed all the filter media at once it could have caused an issue or if you haven't been doing enough maintenance over a long period of time it could be causing problems. I don't see how test kits are annoying. They are easy to use, cheap, and if you'd gotten one it would have proved very useful here. You could have tested the tank when it first got cloudy and then you'd know exactly what went wrong instead of guessing. Also just because the fish have survived for 3 years doesn't mean the tank isn't about to crash. If you don't at least occasionally check the nitrate levels or other water parameters and then perform the neccessary maintenance based on those levels you could find yourself looking at old tank syndrome. A cloudy tank and green water is a good warning sign that something bad could happen soon. Just treating the symptoms by trying to get rid of the greenwater won't help if you don't know the cause. Sudden greenwater after not having it for years means something went wrong.

I agree with Sham re your tank. There could have easly been something in your water supply which caused a Mini Cycle to happen. Did you a deep gravel vac? How did you clean any of the filter material? When I do a water change I always add Sera Nitrivec this gives the tank a good boost of good bacteria. Do full water test on your water supply as well. Rven if it is OK does not mean something did not come through at thr time you did the water change.

What percentage of water change do you do? I do a weekly water change 45% Betta tank and about 30% in the 5ft tank. The arge Eheim Pro11 is cleaned monthly

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Keith

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I didnt really do a heavy water change or a deep vac. I didnt change any filter media either. I usually do a water change monthly. My fish really dont produce much waste.
I brought algae fix but I wont use it unless its recommended.

Im also going to go back to the lfs later to get prime which prevents mini cycles from happening. I really think its because I didnt use prime this time.

All the fish are fine swimming normaly not breathing heavy. Ill be back with the readings

Just thought I'd mention that I have used Tetra's Algae Control product in my planted tank with absolutely no damange to the plants. It is very effective against green water but did nothing for any surface algae.

Using a chemical is fine but please remember that it is only a quick fix and the underlying issues behind the problems need to be pinpointed and corrected or else you will get the algae all over again.

Also remove any carbon in your filter while using the chemicals and do a big water change the next day to remove the dead algae.

wow.....ugh....ok be easy on me for these bad readings

PH 6.5
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0.2

Im surprised I dont have no deaths what should I do to prevent it from happening?

Its good that you got those readings, though I would love to see a NitrAte too. Extremely high nitrates causes a decline in pH which could account for your low reading, unless of course your water is naturally that low. Test the pH of your tap too.

You should start some water changes straight away. Taking out a large amount and radically altering your params may shock the fish. IMHO you should do a 25% change every day or every other day until your Amm and Nitrite readings are 0. I think this is a clear sign to you that you need to have a more frequent water change routine in the future, at least every two weeks. Avoid overfeeding the fish or overstocking. Do not clean the filter at the same time you clean the gravel, they both harbor the good bacteria that will help prevent toxic levels. Do use the Prime, it is a good product.

Take care of the water quality before tackling the algae.

I think you should start thinking about doing at least a minium of a 30% weekly water change. I think you will find most of the FP members do that or even more depending on their various tanks.

How to prevent it from happening again totally change your fish keeping house keeping.

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Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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Prime won't prevent a mini cycle. It doesn't interrupt the normal cycle so ammonia and nitrite are still produced and used by the bacteria. However it does keep ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates from being nearly so toxic. I've had ghost shrimp survive in a tank that ended up with an ammonia spike of 1ppm and didn't lose a single one while using prime. Normally as soon as the ammonia hits testable shrimp start dying. I've found it to be a very good water conditioner especially for my messed up water but the tank will still need to be cycled and kept cycled. It's not going to fix your problems.

I did a water change and will test the water tomorrow morning. Now as far as the green water will that clear up as I do water changes daily or should I apply algae fix to the water and if I do I have to remove the carbon filter in the tank is that a smart move?

Algae killers are somewhat dangerous. They can kill your fish off along with the algae. They are also a temporary fix. If you don't fix the problem the algae will come back as soon as the chemicals wear out. I would try just doing water changes and trying to find the cause of the minicycle. If the greenwater doesn't go away after the ammonia and nitrites are gone then I'd go to other steps. A blackout would be a better idea before using chemicals.

Algae killers will certainly kill the algae and when the algae is dying and the fish eat the algae it could also kill them as well also as the algae is dying it can polute the water more.

To cure it you must stop it at its source and not try to cure it. It will only keep growing unless you stop it before it commences to grow.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
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As you take out water it will seem like the algae is going away and your tank will look clearer temporarily but the green water is caused by a unicellular organism and even a small amount left in the tank will quickly multiply again if conditions are still good for it.

A blackout may or may not help, but it is worth trying before the chemicals. If you do end up using the algae killer you should remove your carbon for a day or so to left the chemicals work and then do a big water change to get rid of the dead algae.

What ingredients does your product have? I think some have copper in them and cories are very sensitive to that. If so, you should find a safer product and return the one you have. API and Tetra both make fairly safe algae killers. Don't feel bad if you have to use the chemicals but please consider it to be a last resort and not the first option. Keep in mind that it probably won't solve the problem permanently either.