Cloudy/Grey web-like stuff in my 5 gal tank!

[MissVicky]

Well, I own a 5 gal hex marineland tank. There seems to be a grey web-like stuff in my tanks/and my mini log. So far my upside catfish, albino catfish, and my Chinese algae eater have died. The remaining fish I have is a pleco, pregnant Molly, and 2 male mollies. I've done a 25% water change and cleaned off my filter. I also drops of water conditioner in it.

So what am I missing?

I got my water tested at a local pet chain store and they said either my nitrate or nitrite was off the charts.

 

[new2betas]

Um...not sure where to start....did you first cycle your tank? or did you buy the tank and then put fish in it directly? If that is what you did you are cycling your tank with fish. You might want to read up on the nitrogen cycle on this forum. There are MANY discussions concerning it. Just type in nitrogen cycle in search bar. Now... from what I can tell, it sounds like your tank is overstocked. A 5g hex is very small for that many fish. Do you know what kind of pleco you have? Even if it is one of the dwarf variety, a 5g is way too small and not enough footprint for him to be happy. Same with the catfish I am afraid. You could keep mollies or guppies in this size tank, but not many. You need to get an API (Aquarium Pharmaceuticals) liquid test kit (not paper test strips) with glass vials for testing your water. That is every fishkeepers best friend. You need to know exactly if it was nitrites tested or nitrates. My guess is that it is nitrites and your tank is not done cycling. You need to do a huge (50-75%) water change and get that down. When you say you "cleaned off your filter" what does that mean? You might have killed off more beneficial bacteria that the tank was trying to establish. If you rinsed it off in tap water you definitely killed off beneficial bacteria, as chlorine kills it. You always rinse your filter in used tank water or dechlorinated water. Is there anyway you can take your fish back to the petstore so you can complete your cycle without fish? If not, you will have to do daily water changes (25-50%) to keep water tolerable for the fish. Also, as I said before, I think the tank is overstocked anyway and you need to return some for that reason or get a bigger tank, cycle it, and then put the fish in the bigger one. Hope that helps. Keep asking questions. This is a great forum! Welcome to AA!!

 

[d1anonly22]

a fifty or seventy five percent water change will just start the cycle over again ive been through that, and there is a little too much fish but a weekly water changes can keep it at the right levels, as for cycling without the fish every expert ive talk to said you need the fish in the tank but to watch them and if it gets to bad do an emergency water change.

 

[Roberz00]

a fifty or seventy five percent water change will just start the cycle over again ive been through that, and there is a little too much fish but a weekly water changes can keep it at the right levels, as for cycling without the fish every expert ive talk to said you need the fish in the tank but to watch them and if it gets to bad do an emergency water change.

*****climbing into fireproof flame suit and hiding as this is gonna spark some massive debate*****

 

[new2betas]

*****climbing into fireproof flame suit and hiding as this is gonna spark some massive debate*****

Yeah, probably will...lol. Changing water does not restart cycle as the bacteria are not in the water they are in/on filter media and substrate. I STILL suggest doing a big water change to get those levels down...there's no other way around it. Wish there were.

 

[Roberz00]

lol, I was refering to the fish needing to be in the tank for cycling comment.

 

[new2betas]

Oh funny....I was so taken with the "don't change water comment" that I completely missed that....disagree with that too. Unless you have an extremely heavily planted tank. I have done a silent cycle with a heavily planted tank before and it worked fine, but I always suggest fishless cycling otherwise.

 

[d1anonly22]

well i suggest a twenty five percent change one day and another twenty five percent change the next day. that's a way around it.

 

[new2betas]

She needs to do whatever size change brings the nitrite down to safe levels for the fish...25% may not do it. That is the point I was trying to stress to her.

 

[d1anonly22]

im just saying im friends with a marine biologist who owns his own store a pretty thriving one at that and he tells me that that is way to much of a water change and that it starts the cycling all over again and that that is to stressful on the fish. i just dont want her fish to die because shes actually my girlfriend and i got to pay for them. three fish already died a golden alge eater and an albino catfish, and an upside down catfish, they never seemed crouded they loved it, we just got behind on water changes hince the bad nitrite , the main worry was was this grayish almost sand like stuff clouding the tank and setling on the decour.