please help. cloudy water. losing fish.

[scottcast90]

Ok. So 2 or 3 days ago I lost a 9" pleco and today I lost a calico ryukin goldfish. I have a 50 gallon tank. I've had my tank for about 9 months now and it seemed like everything was running smoothly. But after my last water change the water has been cloudy and the ph has dropped significantly. I've conditioned the water but a fear putting any ph chemicals because I know people who lost fish every time they used it. I have a Texas holey rock comming in the mail any day now...

So, I HAD an undergravel filter but after some research, I realized it was a HUGE mistake and thought that might have been the cause of the plecos death. So I removed the posts of the undergravel filter but left the base ( didn't want to pull up gravel from the bottom of the tank ) , and now ( 2 or 3 days later ) my ryukin died. I have no clue what's going on. Please help me out if you can.

Also, I have a new highfin spotted pleco, 2 new upsidedown catfish, a betta, and a pangasius catfish ( he's small now but I do plan on getting him to someone with a much larger tank. Didn't know they got as big as they do and I certainly don't want him to suffer in a 50 gallon when he's an adult )

 

[scottcast90]

These are pictures from each side of my tank so that anybody that can help, can get a visual

 

[jlk]

Hi! What are your exact numbers for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & ph What are you using to test them? Is there a filter on this tank now/what type/size? Is it brand new or did you have it running with the ugf for awhile before disconnecting it? The downside of stopping the ugf is you lost the biological filter aspect it was providing. Theres also likely a large accumulation of debris in the gravel & under the plates as well. Some more info will help!

 

[pocket22]

I had the same problem. If you have well water, do a 25percent water change but no conditioner. You will need some for tap, i believe. It is Ammonia high levels. 25 percent water change 1-2 a month.

 

[aptom203]

Looks somewhat like bacterial bloom, like you see in a tank that is cycling. It's likely that in taking out the under gravel filter, the good bacteria in your gravel has been starved of ammonia and died, resulting in an ammonia spike in the rest of your tank. The ammonia is what's killing the fish, and the cloudiness is a bloom of good bacteria. By switching filters, your tank is essentially no longer cycled- so keep an eye on the levels and keep doing water changes to keep the Ammonia down.