Water Quality

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BlazedSaint

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Aug 6, 2013
Messages
353
Location
Flanagan IL
So ive been battling a water quality issue, just a few weeks ago i finished a battle with a bacteria bloom, last week i purchased a few swordtails from a LFS i usually dont buy from(and for good reason i later found out), one of the swordtails had what looked like fin rot, so i treated with melafix(worthless fish died anyway and it killed my gourami), so i did the melafix treatment and then fish died so i stopped treatment, did a 50% water change, and now my tank has a yellowish haze that is very foggy, suggestions on how to clear up water?
 
What do you mean a battle with a bacteria bloom?

Well i would start by changing out some water and running carbon toget the left over meds out of the water.

Is your tank cycled? Do you have an test kit and if so what are your results?
 
Have you considered setting up a QT, or hospital tank ? All of us should, but many of us don't, and right now that includes me too, the QT tank is full of shrimp, and their new home is months away from being ready.

But having one is a good idea. If fish you buy have anything wrong, you find out before they take their issue to the main tank, and it's easier to treat in a smaller tank anyway. Easier to observe the fish in a smaller tank too, or at least one without plants or decor in it. QTs should be pretty minimal, to make it simpler all around.

I agree Melafix is not very useful... that seems to be a common opinion I see on it. Usually, if water is discoloured, activated carbon will remove it. It is one of the three things carbon is useful for.. colour, odour and med removal.

So if you don't have carbon or it's been there for awhile, replace it with new and hopefully, it will take out the colour. Floss is good for water polishing, so if you don't have floss in the filter, adding some may help clear the cloudiness.

Water changes obviously, possibly quite large ones. You can do two or three changes back to back and change out all the water that way, but with less stress for the fish than trying to drain all the water and replace it in one go. You can wait an hour between changes to make it less stressful, or do them fairly quickly, if, for example, you had a nitrite spike that needed to be dealt with right away.
 
Have you considered setting up a QT, or hospital tank ? All of us should, but many of us don't, and right now that includes me too, the QT tank is full of shrimp, and their new home is months away from being ready.

But having one is a good idea. If fish you buy have anything wrong, you find out before they take their issue to the main tank, and it's easier to treat in a smaller tank anyway. Easier to observe the fish in a smaller tank too, or at least one without plants or decor in it. QTs should be pretty minimal, to make it simpler all around.

I agree Melafix is not very useful... that seems to be a common opinion I see on it. Usually, if water is discoloured, activated carbon will remove it. It is one of the three things carbon is useful for.. colour, odour and med removal.

So if you don't have carbon or it's been there for awhile, replace it with new and hopefully, it will take out the colour. Floss is good for water polishing, so if you don't have floss in the filter, adding some may help clear the cloudiness.

Water changes obviously, possibly quite large ones. You can do two or three changes back to back and change out all the water that way, but with less stress for the fish than trying to drain all the water and replace it in one go. You can wait an hour between changes to make it less stressful, or do them fairly quickly, if, for example, you had a nitrite spike that needed to be dealt with right away.

Lol fishfur your quickly becoming one of my favorite people, that is a mouthful of good info lol

1. I don't have qt tank yet I know I should it was one of those things I was going to get to and didn't, lesson definatly learned I'm fixing that this weekend

2. Melafix is trash, that is all : )

3. Currently I'm using API Micro filter carbons and they sit on top of what I call chamber 2, its a 3 chamber system in the bio cube's built in filter, 1st chamber is where water comes in, then cascades on to carbon filter(not active carbon just carbon pad) then flows thru carbons into chamber 2 which is stuffed full of bio balls, then pulled through a a sponge and pumped back into tank from chamber 3. The carbon is like always filthy with fluorite substrate and a little sand but I change that filter like every 2-3 days and its not really tho color but the complete fog that clouds my tank

4. I did a 75 ish percent water change 3 days ago and tank is totally cloudy again will do another water change tommorow

5. My dad is the one who gave me the tank and got me started on all this and he thinks its either an algae bloom or phosphates from tap, however I used to water for last 75% water change so I dont think its that, but maybe algae bloom I'm going to reduce time on my lights and see if that will help but perhaps a UV sterilizer might help also?
 
What do you mean a battle with a bacteria bloom?

Well i would start by changing out some water and running carbon toget the left over meds out of the water.

Is your tank cycled? Do you have an test kit and if so what are your results?

By battle I mean did water changes to clear it up

And ya I did a 75% water change after I stopped the melafix and put a new carbon in after the water change

Yep yep my tank is cycled, I use my api master kit and my readings stay at 0, 0, and 20, I've never seen nitrates go above 20 but I do have plants and I change at least 25% of water weekly just to keep the fish happy
 
purchased submergable UV sterilzer online today to help w algae bloom waiting for it to get here!!!! Can't wait!
 
BTW definatly an algae bloom I came home after work and the tank was pea soup green, did a 35% water change and I'm going to leave my lights off tomorow and see what happens can't wait for sterlizer to get here I know that will help too
 
Put towel over tank and left lights off for 2 days, did a 50% water change each day and also today, and tank is 95% clear now
 
Still waiting on sterilizer and switched back to a cartridge active carbon with filter floss on top of it so hoping to sterizer and active carbon will finish clearing the issue
 
Just fyi, carbon does nothing for algae bloom. It's too bad you can't get some daphnia.. or even filter feeding shrimp. They can clear a green water bloom in almost no time, and daphnia make great fish food. Filter shrimp of course you have to keep or trade in if you don't want them later.

Blackout is one way to kill off algae bloom, and the UV will do it too.

And those black filter pads, if they say anything about carbon, then they are infused with carbon and work just like activated carbon does. There are black sponges that don't have carbon, but the filter pads often are carbon. Useful to check and find out.

Edit. You may find this article worth reading. Bacterial bloom explained in great detail, and info every aquarist should try to understand.
http://www.oscarfish.com/article-home/water/72-heterotrophic-bacteria.html
 
Just fyi, carbon does nothing for algae bloom. It's too bad you can't get some daphnia.. or even filter feeding shrimp. They can clear a green water bloom in almost no time, and daphnia make great fish food. Filter shrimp of course you have to keep or trade in if you don't want them later.

Blackout is one way to kill off algae bloom, and the UV will do it too.

And those black filter pads, if they say anything about carbon, then they are infused with carbon and work just like activated carbon does. There are black sponges that don't have carbon, but the filter pads often are carbon. Useful to check and find out.

Edit. You may find this article worth reading. Bacterial bloom explained in great detail, and info every aquarist should try to understand.
Heterotrophic Bacteria and Their Practical Application in a Freshwater Aquarium

Indeed i know carbon doesn't kill algae now : ) : ) but i thought at first my issue was floating debris so i switched to a filter pad instead of cartridge, however that was not the case, the black out helped alot, so did massive water changes like everyday, but i didnt want to deal with all that everyday so i did end up getting the UV and in less than 24 hours my tank was completely clear, its stayed clear now for like 3 days, so now im a firm believer in the UV Sterilizer, ive never seen my tank so clean
 
If it works, glad to hear it. I can't afford one of those gadgets but so far, never have had a greenwater problem.

In fact I actually culture it to feed filter feeding shrimp and other critters I culture too, from lab grown disks of pure Japanese chlorella. If I'd had a green water bloom I'd have been bottling it :).
 
If it works, glad to hear it. I can't afford one of those gadgets but so far, never have had a greenwater problem.

In fact I actually culture it to feed filter feeding shrimp and other critters I culture too, from lab grown disks of pure Japanese chlorella. If I'd had a green water bloom I'd have been bottling it :).

Lol lol lol lol that's funny I couldn't get rid of it and you can't get enough of it lol and ya it is one of the most expensive things I've gotten for the tank but it definitely shows results. But I like that it kills harmful bacteria and parasites too, since I love gourami I feel this will give me the best chance to provide optimal conditions and perhaps help the gourami since they are fragile fish
 
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