dfishwife

I have suddenly developed cloudy water on 40 gl established 4 years tank. Little over a month ago I traded 4 black ruby barbs for 10 neons to add to the 5 I already had. Over several days I lost all the tetras and 3 zebra danios. I found all water readings normal. I treated for ick for a few days per LPS recommendation. Everything seemed okay for three weeks. A week ago as of this past Wed I added 12 cherry barbs and 4 australian rainbows. By Monday I decided that was not going to work, and I took them back. I did a 25% water change, as the filter was overflowing like it needed to be changed. I have changed it only about 2 weeks ago, so I rinsed out the sponges in the changed water. I only kept 5 cherry barbs. I added 2 gouramis on Tues and raised the temp to 78. I added 2 more gourami on Wed. Thursday morn I noticed neons (added 4 after the cherry barbs were harassing the 1 neon that lived thru the previous unexplained kill off), corys and barbs glancing off objects. I figured the ick was not erradicated, so I took out the filters and put in a clean ones without the carbon, but I did cut off pieces of the old filter wool and place in the water reservoir and the put in the 1/2 dosage of Quick Cure (malachite green) as recommended for tetras. Then Thurs nite a gourami was glancing and my black red tail shark had come out and was laying on the bottom in the open.
I tested the ammonia and it was positive green. I cannot tell what the reading is because the colors do not match up at all. Yellow is ideal. My yellow readings have been an identifiable yellow, but not the color on the chart. I think it was a pretty light green, so I am saying it was in the Harmful range. I did another 25% water change and added ammo lock. I then added about a quarter dose of the ick med and raised the temp to 80. A little while later I noticed the water turning milky. By this morning it was very cloudy at 6am. I am thinking it was because I added too many fish too quickly, but when I checked my readings everything was okay. The PH was at 7.2, nitrite 0, nitrate 20, but the alkalinity was 80. Water here is very hard, between the 150 and 300 range. So, I checked the ammonia and it was looking worse...like in the danger zone, because then the color green was dark, but it never is the color on the comparison strip. So, I did another 25% water change at 6 o'clock this morning and added more ammo lock. Now the bloom is like pea soup. I had to move things to make sure all fish are accounted for...they are all alive. The ammonia reading is still coming out green...I have no idea what to do. The other readings are
nitrate very low, just a faint pink registering. Nitrite 0, hardness 300, total alkalinity 40 (lower than before), ph is 6.8, temperature is 80 (I read that raising the temp to 80 for a week will also prevent the ick from reestablishing)
So now after this lengthy description...what shall I do? If I am continuing to get danger readings on the ammonia, should I do more than one water change a day? One male gourami is still glancing against the glass wall just before I wrote this. Thanks!

Shawnie

First off, the cloudyness could have been the amonia getting ready to peak, or over feeding, or a few other things..IMO I think the amonia was getting ready to peek with the readings you are getting...the LFS had you treat for ick but you never mentioned you saw ick signs..did you?? did u acclimate the fish before adding them?? or maybe the barbs werent healthy when you got them...could some left over food be on the bottom of the tank creating cloudyness?.. I dont think the barbs would have made the tank cloudy over a few days... at this point, I would continue with daily water changes...of course treating the new water if need be...at least 25% and see if you can get some bio-spira ...it helps very well with the cycleing that was interupted...im sure more experience will be here to help as im realitively new but ive read alot...goodluck and hope things work out for you !!

Lucy

Hi dfishwife,
Welcome to Fishlore
Just to let you know, this is posted in the wrong forum, this one is for issues with the forum.....I'm sure one of the mods will be moving it for you.

I can't give much advice, but I would do more than a 25% water change, say 50% with your ammonia readings.
Is that number correct?8?
What test kit are you using?

dfishwife

I gave the fish 20 minutes in the bags floating in the tank, then added a half cup at a time of my own water until it was about evenly mixed, netted the fish and added to my tank.

I had added 12 cherry barbs and four rainbows, but my tank looked like it was too many fish, the cherry barbs were terrorizing the one neon, so I had added 4 more...so after a week, of all that....the cherry barbs, not staying together, some seeming to school (the five I kept) the others were all staying at one end swimming up and down like they were trying to find a way out (my husband's comment). The rainbows were just "hanging" about three inches from the top of the tank, so I took them back too. All my water readings were normal at that time. I removed all the rainbows and all but 5 cherry barbs and returned them to the LFS, but then I got 2 gouramis and the next day two more. One gourami has a white spot I noticed last night like the size of the head of a straight pin on his head. Looks more like a missing area of scale than ich. I am treating for ich now because so many of the fish are glancing off objects. I have not seen ich, and if it is there, quite frankly, it is too cloudy to see it now.

dfishwife

Test kits are Jungle Quick Dip 5 tests in one...total alkalinity KH 80 ppm
and Jungle Quick Dip Ammonia, separate test, comparison ranges show ideal 0 as a bright lemon yellow, safe .25 a light chartreuse, stress a light avocado .5, harmful 3.0 is a light lime color and danger 6.0is a darker lime color. My color last looked like it was a bluish green....yikes! When it is yellow, however it is a pale pale yellow. I am guessing how bad the ammonia is by how far from the pale yellow it is...however, I read the ph going to the acidic below 7.0 was good. So... can I do another water change today (it's 12 hours since I last did a 25% change)...do a 50% tomorrow am or another 25% tonite?

Lucy

check your other thread, there is some good advice there.

I would do another 25% water change tonight and another 25 to 50% tomorrow depending on the ammonia readings.

jimbob_30_1

I just recently cycled my new 9 gallon biube.The ph is around 7.2.I just added 2 platys and my betta and now my water seems cloudy.The watre was a little cloudy before I introduced the fish.I was hoping it would disappear.Any suggestions.