Cloudy water...again

[julie3340]

Ok, so my water was pretty much crystal clear...have been doing water changes and now its back to cloudy again....been cycling for oh maybe 3 1/2 weeks...60 gallon tank....4 minnows, 1 peppered cory....cant seem to get my ammonia under .25 ppm

[rich311k]

It can take time, keep up your water changes. Have you been cleaning the filter? Be sure not to change the pads and only use tank water to clean them until the cycle is done.

[julie3340]

Well i made the mistake of changing the filter pads about 3 weeks into cycle so i literally started over about 3 weeks ago....ugggh...anyhow...i have been doing 75% water changes every other day and 30% water changes every other day....do you think maybe i should add some Danios to help the cycle along?

[rich311k]

If you cant keep ammonia down adding more fish is not going to help. I would just keep doing what you are doing.

[imma24]

+1 with Rich. If you're cycling with fish in the tank, the ammonia needs to be kept as low as possible. If you add more fish, they will make more ammonia and there isn't any beneficial bacteria in your filter yet to "eat it up" so it will build up and harm your fish. Better to just keep the ammonia at .25 until bacteria builds up and then it will drop to 0 as the cycle progresses. But you need to have patience.