A little cloudy. Gradually getting worse.

[Relic1882]

I have a 29 gallon freshwater. Currently I'm pretty sure I'm going through a mini-cycle or something but I wanted to confirm the cloudyness. As some may know all of my cichlids died from an unknown disease, so I am redoing the tank a little bit. I have a biowheel that should have had my biofiltration on it before. Other than that I changed my 2 cartridge filters and added a bio-bag with waste removers in it and added filter floss to help get the tiny stuff out.

When my incident happened a couple weeks ago. all of my fish died. The water got very cloudy. I changed 50% of the water after removing the dead fish and I added the stuff I mentioned above. The water was absolutely crystal clear. I can't describe how clear. It was like looking out a window cleaned with streak free Windex. I added 1 very small angel fish, a very small pleco and some neons after everything was all good. They looked like they were floating in mid-air. It's been 2 days and this morning my water had a slight haze to it if I looked at it through the side. I got home from work and now it's a little bit worse. You can't tell if the light's off, but it's still noticable more from the side.

My ammonia is between 1 or 2 ppm. My pH keeps dropping to 6 so I'm using Mardel's buffer-up to increase the buffering capacity because I'm sure I need it. I'm using the buffer-up only when I do a water change so I don't affect the fish.

Is there any other particular reason why my water is getting a little worse as it goes? I know I don't overfeed and my ammonia I thought it too low to make that kind of difference. Is it because I might be mini-cycling? I just want to find out before it gets worse if it does. Thanks.

 

[Fluff]

Any ammonia will make a difference. I would do some water changes to be sure. You could be having a bacteria bloom. I know you said you have the biowheel from before but, if your tank was fishless, and there was nothing in it to feed the bacteria, then it may well have died and you are starting over again.

 

[sonoma2nv]

well first thing ph swings will kill fish.So i would stop using the buffer chem.you are looking for a stable ph using the buffer is just messing everything up!do 25% water changes for the next 3-4 days. then every week. Any time there is ammonia it means the tanks hasnt finished cycling.how long has the tank been setup??What are your water params. nitrate,nitrite,ammonia,ph...What are you using to test with liquid kits or strips??since your tank is still cycling you need to test every other day.

 

[Relic1882]

Would the bio filtration bacteria have died within such a short period? It was only probably 4 days before I put these new little guys in there.

Other than that, the pH buffer that I'm using doesn't change the pH level. It just increases the buffer capacity so that my ph is more stable. My tap water is 6.8 or 7, and I'm only putting the buffer into the bucket with the new water when doing a change, which is only 5 gal at a time. I figure rather than using a pH up chemical and risk a hazard, I'll let the pH slowly go up by doing water changes over time and using the buffer only on the new water. Eventually, there will be enough buffer to keep it stable and the pH will stay around 6.8. I figure that would take a little while to accomplish, and I won't be overdoing it.

Also, if even the slightest bit of ammonia makes a difference in the water appearance, why is it that yesterday when the ammonia was 1 ppm it was still crystal clear? I don't know enough about the nitrogen cycle to make any assumptions though.

I assume the only other logical explanation is a bacteria bloom, because my ammonia is around 2 still, and nitrites and nitrates are both 0. I'm amazed on how quick my biofiltration screwed up. I wish I knew what happened before... :'( I lost everything to a 4 hour killer.

 

[sonoma2nv]

like i said i have tryed all that stuff and it has messed my tanks up to..Why are u trying to get it up???aolt of fish will live in 6.8ph fine.if you need it up try something natural and not chem.

 

[Relic1882]

I'm trying to get the pH up because it keeps dropping to 6.0 after it's in the tank for a few days. It comes out of the tap 6.8 but I'm assuming the buffer capacity is bad and that's why it swings so fast.

 

[Mazdaman]

is there anything in the tank that would lower the ph? Driftwood, peat... What type of substrate do you have? Yes it does sound as though your tank is going through another cycle. Basically I'm like you, not big on the science terms and what not, but the cloudiness or tiny white particules floating around is most likely a bacteria bloom from the cycle. If you are only reading ammonia than the cycle is o the upswing. As stated start doing 20-30% water changes daily untill the ammonia starts to drop. then start doing them weekly. Good luck. One last bit of advice is to not add any more fish untill the tank is 99-100% stable. Otherwise you are likely just waisting money and putting those fish through torture...

 

[Relic1882]

There's nothing in the tank taht would swing the pH from what I am aware of. I use rocks from the pet store for decor, and sand for substrate. I have a couple curly mondo grasses and a couple of dwarf hairgrasses. The ammonia is currently still very low and actually today the water is better than yesterday. A tiny bit hazy still, but better than it was. Thanks for your help. I'm doing 25% water changes every day or other day and adding the buffer-up to the new water only.

 

[Relic1882]

btw, my angel's stripes are coming in a little darker each day, so I guess he's getting happier too.