I Dont Kno What Went Wrong And When...

Hello,
I'm in the middle of a crisis...I have a 30gal tank and probably too many fish but my water was crystal clear and did 20-30% water changes weekly__ switched out sum decor, did sum gravel cleaning and changed out my carbon filter(as usual/once a mnth). Over a cpl days notice water cloudy so I did a larger water change ...only made things worse ! Floating debris and not fine pieces__ large bulk waste debris...I assumed filter not working properly so I purchased another, better one. To my surprise I still have the same problem. Should I just start over completely, clean everything down to the gravel ? My Angelfish fins are suffering and I am too. Lol HELP !

 

Recent water parameters? Any tank mates?

 

Water clarity and water conditions are 2 totally different things. If you had a cartridge type filter and replaced the cartridge you essentially started over each time since most of your cycle is in the filter media. If you replaced the filter without moving your filter media you did start over. Water testing will be essential to keep your water fish safe.

 

Did you use any of the old filter media in the new filter? Might be cycling again now. Check your parameters and get some prime and maybe Safestart to jump start it again. At this point might as well clean the substrate real good if stuff floating around.

 

Recent water parameters? Any tank mates?

No parameters___tank mater are a algae eater,a lil bottom feeder(catfish),a glass fish,2 guppies and 2 mollys...then I had a friend that insisted I take her 2 mollys...now the tank seems crowded...

 

The worst thing to do right now is over clean. Cloudy water is usually a bacterial bloom and not what you want. If you don’t have a test kit I’d strongly suggest you get one. It’s really the only guide you have to know what the water is actually doing. Visual clues are very misleading. If nothing else take a sample to you local fish store. In the interI'm I’d do ~50% water changes every other day and stop feeding; as it’s most likely an ammonia spike.

 

sounds like "old tank syndrome" with the small water changes. there are more wastes than just nitrates, such as dissolved solids and other organic compounds that we can't test for. large weekly water changes and vacuuming the substrate are necessary.

very informative guide to making your filter better by upgrading the media where most of your beneficial bacteria live. https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfi...ar-and-other-hob-filters.385506/#post-3957588

 

Sounds like your filter isn't cycled. Do you know the nitrogen cycle.

 

Did you use any of the old filter media in the new filter? Might be cycling again now. Check your parameters and get some prime and maybe Safestart to jump start it again. At this point might as well

Did you use any of the old filter media in the new filter? Might be cycling again now. Check your parameters and get some prime and maybe Safestart to jump start it again. At this point might as well clean the substrate real good if stuff floating around.

I feel like I should too and it seems as tho debris is coming from my airstones. When I did a gravel cleaning there was a lot of waste an debris under decor an deep into the gravel...I always use the water conditioners and a stresscoat product...
I thank everyone for y'alls help , I appreciate it oxoxox

 

How long has the tank been setup? Do you know the make/model of the filter?

 

How long has the tank been setup? Do you know the make/model of the filter?

Setup 5mnths ago with no problems...added fish slowly/carefully , 2 at a time 1 a mnth...had a whisper tetra filter(I thought failed to work anymore) _a few days ago I purchased a marinland biowheel penquin 350

 

Barring live plants it most likely sounds like the cycle broke down on you. Especially with changing filters you definitely need a test kit of some sort. The Penguin 350 is easy to hot rod ime.

 

sounds like "old tank syndrome" with the small water changes. there are more wastes than just nitrates, such as dissolved solids and other organic compounds that we can't test for. large weekly water changes and vacuuming the substrate are necessary.

very informative guide to making your filter better by upgrading the media where most of your beneficial bacteria live. https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfi...ar-and-other-hob-filters.385506/#post-3957588

There is definitely a lot of wastes just floating around__crazy...

 

There is definitely a lot of wastes just floating around__crazy...

Cloudy water could be a bacterial bloom -- it's not an emergency, but by swapping out filters and doing a through cleaning it might become one. Definitely either take a water sample to your lfs, or pick up a test kit (the API Freshwater Test Kit is the gold standard around here, but there are definitely others, and even test strips will do the job and can be a lot easier to use the first time around). And pick up a product like Stability or Safestart--I know adding MORE bacteria might seem like a weird idea, but there is a good possibility that you hurt your cycle by doing all that maintenance at once.

If you test and your cycle is fine (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 10-40 ppm nitrate), then you might need some other help in clearing up the cloudy water: