Cloudy

[DrBob]

My 50 gallon tank has turned cloudy less then a week after cleaning I used stress zyme on setup. I use well water.

[DragonGoby]

Hi and welcome on the AC.

Some quick question: Do you have fish in there? How many?
Are you trying to establish a cycle? with ammonia or fish?
What's your water parameters? ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

It seems that your tank is cycling, but without some more informations, we can't tell what's really going on in your tank.

Don't worry, there's some good people here!

[RainMan]

Welcome to the AC DrBob! Probably a bacterial bloom. I think Hobbs is on the right track.

How long has your tank been setup?

[sandy_n]

Bump...A quick hi and welcome to AC.

[Nick_Pavlovski]

What colour cloudy? Milky white cloudy? Muddy brown cloudy? Green cloudy?

[RainMan]

Some more good questions... Come on Dr Bob... where are you? Bump! :)

[DrBob]

I have no tests for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, PH was high, I removed the fish 2 Blood tail tetras and 3 other tetras . the water looked like fog. I drained and washed the tank and gravel and restarted the tank. I had just cleaned and setup the tank 3 days before.

[RainMan]

You have new tank syndrome. Sorry to be the one to give you the bad news.

Read the free ebook. There is a link to in the upper left navigation pane. That will get you squared away. Cycling a tank is necessary... and you are right at the beginning of the cycle.

After reading over the book... feel free to ask some more questions.

Good luck!

[DragonGoby]

As RainMan said : New tank syndrom.
To help you monitoring the establishement of your cycle you'll need to buy liquid test for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. it'll help you after too, to monitor the quality of your water.

When you'll start a tank, and try to establish a cycle, do not wash anything. You'll kill all the beneficial bacteria. You need those little critters to digest the ammonia produce by your fish and transform it in nitrites and then you need another kind of those critters to digest nitrites and then give nitrates...
Ammonia and nitrites are toxic for your fish.

So now, I suppose you have put back your fish in there.
Go buy some test kit and begin to monitor your ammonia level. When it becomes to high, make some water changes to help your fish... You can try to find some seachem products with beneficial bacteria (I don't know the name of it, so please someone on the forum can give it to him?:11: ). It'll help to accelerate the cycle to establish itself.
And, even if you have cloudy water, do not wash the gravel or the media filter...
That's a lot of things in one shot, sorry. Don't feel bad, we all began this way... I mean I did!:14:

Best of luck and keep us posted!

[sandy_n]

Bio Spira is best. It's made by Marineland. If you can find it at your lfs. You have to ask for it because it is kept refrigerated. Not all fish stores carry it.
Stability is the next best. It's made by Seachem and will be on the shelf.

[DrBob]

I changed all the water and used spring water. I tested tonight and got these results.
PH 6.2
Alk 80
hardness 75
NITRATE 20
NITRITE .5

THE FISH ARE IN THE TANK

[Sasquatch]

Well, the trace of nitrites is encouraging, but you should really get an ammonia test since it's the most likely to rise to dangerous levels at this point.

As far as the fish goes, keep an eye on them and if they start acting weird, recheck the water for ammonia and nitrites and do a water change. Many people do small daily water changes when cycling ... 10% per day or so.

Keep the feedings small, once a day enough for them to eat 1 minute or so. Keeping the feedings small will limit the buildup of ammonia.

Also remember not to do anymore cleanings. Don't touch the gravel, the filter, nothing. This will disturb the bacteria that are establishing themselves.

You're in it for about 6 weeks, but after that it will be much smoother sailing. Don't be worried about asking questions, that's the whole point of the AC.

[RainMan]

Always use the same water that you normally use. Changing the water (especially a 100% replacement) could change the chemistry of the water drastically... pH, Alk, Hardness, etc. This can be really stressful for your fish. A general rule of thumb is to stick to smaller water changes more frequently to reduce stress on the fish and to prevent possible shock.

As mentioned before, you should definitely get an ammonia test kit... or bring in some water for your lfs to test.