cloudy water

[smokeypea]

i just did a water change , cleaned filter, and vacumned the tank, i put in stress coat as i was advised cos my Oscar had a small injury on his head, its much better now though, i added a little aquarium salt also, but the water is cloudy, its always been really clear and i havent done anything different except adding Stress Coat, i do keep the tank clean cos he is very messy, he is on his own in 55 gall tank, and he is about 4 inches long. My other fish tank which i cleaned also today is very clear, the water test readings are normal, any advice? thanks.

[Fishguy2727]

you removed too much good bacteria with all that cleaning. a filter change/cleaning should come at least 3 days after a water change/gravel vacuuming. otherwise too much of the good bacteria have been removed. if you can take a filter cartridge from another tank if all the ones in the 55 are new do that so the 55 has some biological culture going. what filters do you have on the 55? did you clean otu the biological media? it will balance itself out but you will need to monitor ammonia and nitrites and do water changes if needed according to the ammonia and nitrite tests. stress coat wont help with an injury, you want melafix for that. stress coat will just help replace the lost slime coat from stress, melafix actually helps repair damage.

[smokeypea]

Thanks for reply, i have two bio wheels on filter, which i dont touch, sometimes i swish the filter cartridge out in old tank water and only chnage them when they are really revolting, my Oscars head has just about healed now, but will get some melafix incase i need it in future, i always clean the gravel when doing water changes and check the cartridges, Ozzie is a regular poop machine, neverthought a fish could make so much mess, will test the water again tomorrow though, i do change the water twice a week, about 25% i have penguin bio wheel filters and 2 air stones. I thought that cos i had 2 bio wheels it wouldnt matter too much about always cleaning the filter cartridges, i am new at this , seems the more i try to do this right the more of a mess i make lol.

[Fishguy2727]

most experience comes from trial and error, and the only way to get that is with the error. there is still bacteria in the main medias of the filter besides the biowheel, apparently. just a heads up, you may want to start saving now to add another filter. i suggest a fluval 405. do you plan on keeping him in that tank by himself permanently?

[smokeypea]

Should i use the Fluval 405 together with the one i have already? would that keep the tank cleaner? i did have an algae eater in with the Oscar till he ate it..... tried a Silver dollar but he hounded it so had to put it in another tank with a mate, so i think he is better off on his own. I have been thinking about maybe getting another filter. You are right there with the error bit, i have lots of that, thank goodness for this site and such helpful people.

[Fishguy2727]

yep, just add the fluval 405, no need to remove any filters. after all, there is no such thing as too much filtration. i do 75% weekly on all my tanks and cichlids are probably the ones that need it the most. you will get better growth, color, and overall better health with big frequent water changes.

[smokeypea]

i will look around for the Fluval, may have to save up a bit though.... maybe i should change more than 25% water each time, when he eats it sometimes comes out of his gills, never seen a messier fish, but he is cool, my other tanbk if far easier to keep clean, but then i dont have any poop machines in there!!!!! Am i feeding him ok? he has beefheart, blood worms, flies(if i can catch them) crickets, i catch them also, but he has canned ones too, grasshoppers, mealworms, peas, cooked chicken, i tried shrimp but sometimes he wont eat it, i also try flakes and pellets but he wont eat them, tried different sorts too, and ghost shrimp, i dont give him feeders and wont do . Hope he is getting a good diet. i got a parrot alot also Reptileguy, well got african grey, two conures, cockateil and 3 parrokeets.

[Fishguy2727]

live foods are the best way to introduce parasites and diseases. that is the main reason why it is very important to get animals on prepared asap. oscars are usually easy to switch over. usually all you need to do is starve him out for about a week. usually after a week of no food they are hungry enough to take anything that hits the water. i have seen the fluval 405s retail form $160-200, but they are worth it. i have my own way of setting them up though to get the most out of them. the best food for cichlids on the market right now in my opinion is Hikari's Cichlid Bio-gold+. the best diet will be a variety of high quality pellets. one good one that is designed to get picky carnivores off live is Hikari's Food Sticks. all of hikari's pelleted foods come in a pouch. the food sticks have an arowana on the package.