Dirty tank

[Monster406s10]

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum so hopefully I am doing this right. I have a 29 gallon tank with a tiger Oscar and a veil tail Oscar both are about 3 months old and a blue gourami that's about 6 months old. The first couple of months I wasn't having too much of a problem with the tank, I was doing water changes weekly and filter changes monthly. Then we had to move the tank into our living room. I drained about 75% of the water out so we could move it around then filled it back up. Sense then it has been just dirty and it has an orange tinge to the water. I've been doing water changes daily for a couple weeks now sucking out all of the crap at the bottom of the tank and by the next day the tank will be cloudy and have that orange color to it again. The other thing I noticed is the filter keeps getting so dirty that I've been cleaning it daily and changing it weekly. I will put a new white filter in at night and in the morning the filter will be dark brown on both sides. Yesterday I brought a sample of water to the local pet store to get it tested and he said it was fine and that he didn't have any answers for me. So at this point I decided I'm going to start doing my own research. Oh, forgot to mention, I bought a bubbler from the pet store yesterday too and that seemd to help a little bit. Does anybody have any ideas of what I should do? I really want to take the fish out, drain all the water out and put new rocks and water back in but then I would have to let my tank cycle for a couple days correct? Thank you in advance for any and all replys.

 

[xtra51]

Welcome to AA! So you don't test your water yourself? They most likely used test stripes, these are very unreliable in testing. If you could test your water yourself that would be very helpful to me and the community. What filter do you have going on this tank? Oscars are very messy eaters and it is hard to keep the tank clean unless you have good filtration. It seems to be that your filter can't handle the bio load. I would NOT recommend draining and starting over. This will make your problem so much worse and will very likely cause your fish many problems. I would again recommend you not to empty your tank. If you would tell me your filter that would make it easier to diagnose.

 

[librarygirl]

HI and welcome.

Unfortunately you have some larger issues than cloudy water.

First your tank is severely overstocked for its size. The Oscars can get large (14") and are not suitable for a 29 gal. Eventually the Oscars may eat the Gourami as well. Also I'm guessing you're severely underfiltered for this tank given its load; what filter are you running? For two Oscars you'd probably need at least a 70 gal tank.

The other issue is constantly replacing your filter media. What you're doing is throwing way any beneficial bacteria that the tank needs to stay established so the tank isn't able to properly cycle and your fish are probably swimming in toxins as a result. Do you have a liquid test kit to test ammonia, nitrite, nitrate?

Read this: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/guide-to-starting-a-freshwater-aquarium-186089.html It has some good info and the first thing it covers is cycling which you'll want to take a look at.

When you moved the tank, is it now getting some direct sunlight? How long do you keep your lights on? The cloudiness could be diatoms which are normal or a bacterial bloom from constantly changing out the filters.

Oh and brown dirty filter media is what you want, that's normal.

 

[Monster406s10]

Welcome to AA! So you don't test your water yourself? They most likely used test stripes, these are very unreliable in testing. If you could test your water yourself that would be very helpful to me and the community. What filter do you have going on this tank? Oscars are very messy eaters and it is hard to keep the tank clean unless you have good filtration. It seems to be that your filter can't handle the bio load. I would NOT recommend draining and starting over. This will make your problem so much worse and will very likely cause your fish many problems. I would again recommend you not to empty your tank. If you would tell me your filter that would make it easier to diagnose.

Thank you for the welcoming. And I do have a test kit but it uses test strips. The filter I have is a Whisper Power Filter 30. I bought the tank as a package, it came with the filter, heater, hood and light. I plan on getting a bigger tank soon because I understand that oscars can get bigger then a foot.

 

[Monster406s10]

HI and welcome.

Unfortunately you have some larger issues than cloudy water.

First your tank is severely overstocked for its size. The Oscars can get large (14") and are not suitable for a 29 gal. Eventually the Oscars may eat the Gourami as well. Also I'm guessing you're severely underfiltered for this tank given its load; what filter are you running? For two Oscars you'd probably need at least a 70 gal tank.

The other issue is constantly replacing your filter media. What you're doing is throwing way any beneficial bacteria that the tank needs to stay established so the tank isn't able to properly cycle and your fish are probably swimming in toxins as a result. Do you have a liquid test kit to test ammonia, nitrite, nitrate?

Read this: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/guide-to-starting-a-freshwater-aquarium-186089.html It has some good info and the first thing it covers is cycling which you'll want to take a look at.

When you moved the tank, is it now getting some direct sunlight? How long do you keep your lights on? The cloudiness could be diatoms which are normal or a bacterial bloom from constantly changing out the filters.

Oh and brown dirty filter media is what you want, that's normal.

I understand that my tank is too small and I do plan to upgrade soon but I figured this tank would be fine for a few more months. I don't have a liquid test kit I do need to get one though. I just have the strips. Now that the tank is in our living room it actually doesn't get as much sunlight and we leave the lights on probably pretty close to 10 hours a day unless we decide to go somewhere.

 

[xtra51]

I understand that my tank is too small and I do plan to upgrade soon but I figured this tank would be fine for a few more months. I don't have a liquid test kit I do need to get one though. I just have the strips. Now that the tank is in our living room it actually doesn't get as much sunlight and we leave the lights on probably pretty close to 10 hours a day unless we decide to go somewhere.

I am happy that you have done some of your own research! Thank you for that it really makes a big different in the care of your fish!