cloudy water, lethargic fish

hI I have a 55 gallon with sump probably 15-20 gallon filter, the tank has been going for about 4 months now with no problems and clear water... water is still testing fine, but is cloudy and the fish are acting weird. the dempsey and oscar are hiding/laying down, have no problem basically laying touching each other, the salvinI hides as always, the severum seems unaffected. when I get close to the dempsey and oscar they totally freak out and jet to the other side of the tank. usually when I come in the room all the fish come out and yap at me for food, starting yesterday they did not...especially weird for the oscar. he's done it once or twice since then but nothing compared to usual. I have done a couple 8-15% water changes over the last couple weeks to lower nitrates, and in the last two days I've had this problem. Water changes have helped minimally. i've added a little of this bottle of tlc something from lfs that's supposed to help with bacteria and water, perhaps it's helping a little.

one other thing, I had a convict and it was scrapping with my dempsey (he would've lost to the dempsey), so I removed it. that was a day before this odd occurrence with freak out/lethargic fish. I had it in a ziplock bag in my tank for a couple hours before I got rid of it. I'm going to ask my friend (who I borrowed the bag from) if it was a reused bag with soap residue on it. chances are it was not.

that's all the info I can think of.

thanks

 

the ziplock was new, not soapy...

 

Hi!
Welcome to FishLore!!

I'm sorry your fish are worrying you.
If you could fill in your aquarium information completely, it will help the members see everything at a glance.
It's found under Forum Actions at the top left of the page. Then click edit profile.

Thank you and good luck

 

Welcome to FishLore. I'm sorry you're having trouble with your fish. Your profile says you're a aware of the nitrogen cycle. What are your water's reading for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates? Also, if you look straight down into the tank, what color is the water?
If it were my tank, I would perform several 50% water changes to help clear up the water. Good luck.

Nina

 

thanks nina, I'll try larger changes. as I stated, the water tests fine. nitrates are lower than before since I started doing some water changes. I think they are all bouncing back. i'm not sure why my water had the cloudy problem, that obviously bothers me and the fact that the fish reacted negatively.

 

Welcome to fishlore!!!

I'm sorry for your fishies being sick I'm wondering what your ammonia/nitrite readings are as well? What test kit are you using? With those size fish(they are huge waste producers even in smaller size) in a 55 gallon tank, and only 8-15% water changes, it sounds like a minI cycle going on. Do you know the exact name of the additive you used?

I would try to find some prime conditioner and do at least 40-50% water changes until the tank settles. Good Luck and I hope they perk up!

 

water is cloudy and yellowish/greenish/brownish tint slightly. fish were hungry this morning and acting normal, but now they are back to the laying low thing. again, everything is testing fine, this means ammonia and nitrite zero and nitrate acceptable, maybe even below 10 ppm.

thanks for the advice...