mrgolfball
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I have had my tank since February, I let it cycle with some small platies in it for about a month before introducing any new fish, the tank seemed to clear up just fine, it remained a little cloudy, I chalked it up to a sandy bottom. After the month was up I purchased a few Gouramis with the hopes to breed them, However the Male died from fin rot with in a week of getting him, one of the females died about 2 weeks after that. I though this might be from high nitrogen levels, but I took a water sample to the pet store and all is good. So I though it might be from poor filtration, i purchased and Aquaclear 150 and installed the new ammonia bag as well as a new charcoal bag and a new filter, Now I understand that it needs to cycle again and which it has had another month to do so. In the mean time I put some creeping charlie plants in which seem to be very dirty ( they keep dropping there leaves) however they have been growing like crazy. Now to my major problem... the tank always seems to be cloudy, i don't know if it is because I am over feeding them( a pinch or two once a day for 4 platies 2 gouramis and 2 corys) Or if it is still because of poor filtration or maybe it is because of the live plants... Oh yeh I forgot to mention that my new male gourami has now past on this evening, He was looking very lethargic and getting smaller and less active... Helpppppppppppppppppppppp, I am very frustrated and do not know what to do..............
The cloudiness could be an algae or bacteria bloom that often happens toward the end of a cycle when you have nitrates building up. Do you use declorinator for your tank whenever you add water? How often do you do water changes, how much water do you change each time and how often do you gravel vac? How long do you have your lights on each day? Is the tank in direct sunlight?
