HELP! Cloudy cichlid tank??

**troutguide9** · 11-04-2012, 11:40 PM

Hello every one, I just created a profile after a long time of recieivng advice on these forums. I have a 125g tank that I just switched last week from cold to tropical water. All my ph, ammonia, nitrate, etc stayed normal, i decided before putting fish in,I should do a filter cleaning (being as it had been months). The cleaning slightly clouded the tank but I figured it to be normal, so I proceeded to put an 8in oscar and Jack Dempsey in the tank. After 6days it has not cleared; oscar has barley eaten (small amounts of blood worms but not feeding on fish), and is opening and closing mouth none stop; I put in a bubble stone an hour ago but has not seemed to make a difference. Question 1) I have never owned an oscar before this one, from everything I have read the fish's actions are not abnormal but advice and thoughts would be appreciated. Any tips to help him eat more/ do they usually eat very little at a time? Question 2) WHY IS MY TANK CLOUDY!!! I can't stand it after years of having tanks I've never had cloud stay this long in an established tank. Any short cuts or ways to clear this up??
Thanks guys,
Rob

**fraggle** · 11-05-2012, 03:19 AM

Did you do a filter clean after you had tested the water?

How did you clean the filter? What sort of filter have you got too by the way?

Just wondering if it's going through a mini cycle if the filter bacteria has been disrupted.

Your oscar should not be opening and closing mouth non stop, well mine doesn't do it anyway, mine also chows down on what ever gets put in the tank and is always hungry.
So to me that's an indication that something isn't right too!

**troutguide9** · 11-05-2012, 04:38 AM

I have a cascade 1200 canister filter and several hours after adding the bubbles the water has seemed to clear slightly and the fish has stopped gasping; obviously did not know how much o2 these big boys need. I would still like to know if it is normal for them to eat so little, I tried feeding cichlid gold, a similar food to what they were eating in the store, and they aren't eating that or the tetras in the tank. They only are taking blood worms any help on how to feed these big cichlids?

**Rocksor** · 11-05-2012, 01:07 PM

Do a big water change 50-75%. By going from cold to tropical, and adding the oscar and JD, you have overloaded the good bacteria. If you get your water conditions sorted out, the fishes appetite will come back. Make sure the tank is at 84F.

You have to use the starvation method for the oscar and jd to get them to eat pellets. Only feed pellets for the next 2 weeks. Remove uneaten pellets after 1 hour. Use floating pellets. They won't die from starvation in 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, feed a little frozen bloodworm, and start the starvation again.

**Lady Hobbs** · 11-05-2012, 01:14 PM

Agree. You set the tank up, moved the fish over to it but then cleaned the filter which removed good bacteria. You are having an ammonia spike......in other words, set your cycle back. This is why having a second filter on tanks is best and especially on a big tank like you have.

You need a test kit if you're going to be keeping fish. If you don't know what your water parameters are, it's hard to know what you have going on. But you need to do a large water change. Gulping is a sign of lack of oxygen caused by ammonia most likely.

**troutguide9** · 11-05-2012, 03:43 PM

Im not having an ammonia spike, that remains at 0ppm along with nitrite nitrate and I have a pH of 7.2/7.4. The Tank is currently at about 76-78F. The tank was established for over 6 months before putting fish in. The filter cleaning was very light only getting the sludge off the pads and adding new charcoal and zeolite for cloudiness and ammonia. Oddly it was after this that it got very cloudy. Since that cleaning I reluctantly did a 10% water change witch hasn't cleared the tank. Doing an immediate 50-75% water change would be crazy, the water is cloudy not toxic!

**Lady Hobbs** · 11-05-2012, 06:15 PM

Why ask the question if you will jump on those that answer?

You are the one who said the tank got cloudy after cleaning the filter, that the fish are not eating and are gulping constantly. I find nothing crazy about doing large water changes at all. Almost everyone here does that every week.

**Rocksor** · 11-05-2012, 06:23 PM

You using old, outdated methods of fish keeping, which are not working for the Oscar and JD you have.

You can do large water changes.

And if you have zero nitrates, then either your tank has lost its cycle or you are not doing the nitrate test correctly or you are using inaccurate test strips.