Help! Cloudy water, death, sadness :(

[mschaffer66]

Sucks that the first post is always the critical one eh?

Ok, so I have a 55 gallon fresh water aquarium. It housed 5 african clawed frogs, a large pleco, and a large goldfish.

It had one of the Penguin HOBs and life was fine for quite awhile...like 3 years.

Well a few months back we lost our pleco. I figured it was just because he had gotten old.

The aquarium got almost no direct sunlight, but a little ambient light, and lights on from around 4:00-10:00pm.

Everything was fine again for awhile and then we moved the aquarium in the room to where it gets a little more sunlight(maybe a problem?)

Not too long after the water started to get cloudy and stayed cloudy no matter how many water changes I do. It also seems to have a whiteish film on spots of the tank.

A couple weeks ago we lost one of our frogs. Kermie, we have had him for probably 5 years, little guy was through **** until we figured out that they don't just eat goldfish food, got nuked until we figured out how chemicals work, and made it through a cross town move and a whole new home. The day before he died he was swimming a little weird and the net day he was floating. I kinda figured he ate a rock, sometimes they do that I've heard...

Well everything seemed fine for a week or two. Water still cloudy, but everyone kicking.

Last night I put a new filter on. Rena XP2. I've always wanted to get into the canister filters for noise, maintenance etc... So I did a sizeable water change, dosed it with Amquel, and put the new filter on.

Today I get home from work and our goldfish, Gifelte, is floating. He was huge, like maybe 8" long and a pound or two. I think he actually thought he was one of the frogs because he would hang out in their little frog piles

The only thing I can say is he has what appears to be red marks at the bases of his pectoral fins. Other than that I don't know what happened.

I'm trying not to freak out and hit the aquarium with every chemical known to man and do a 90% water change because I know that could be worse than whatever is going on.

I don't even know where to begin...help please...

Thanks in advance.

 

[mschaffer66]

Also it doesn't seem like the filter is doing anything. I see a lot of junk floating around and based on their GPH rating it should turn the water over like 3 times an hour. Which means that water should have been filtered like roughly 72 times now?

 

[NYgiantsRP]

Did you seed* the new filter?

If not, you could have started a cycle*.


*seed - put the old filters media in the new filter to get the BB** going in the new filter pads.
*cycle - the water needs to go thorugh a nitrogen cyle to deal with other bacteria in the water.
**BB - benificial bacteria.

 

[mschaffer66]

I did not seed the new filter

And actually the old penguin filters went out with the trash today.

It was cloudy before I even put the new filter on.

Also, I used to replace those little C sized penguin filter pads quite often. In my reading right now I'm starting to think that was a bad thing? You usually just rinse them out and reuse them?

 

[joel618]

I did not seed the new filter

And actually the old penguin filters went out with the trash today.

It was cloudy before I even put the new filter on.

Also, I used to replace those little C sized penguin filter pads quite often. In my reading right now I'm starting to think that was a bad thing? You usually just rinse them out and reuse them?

Your beneficial bacteria live on the filter pad. Just rinse them in a bucket of tank water when you do a pwc

 

[mschaffer66]

I just got home with one of those API Master Kits...ouch was that expensive

I'll report back with some numbers in a little bit.

 

[joel618]

I just got home with one of those API Master Kits...ouch was that expensive

I'll report back with some numbers in a little bit.

Well worth it. It will save you money in the long run. Instead of replacing all your fish.

 

[mschaffer66]

Ok so we have:
PH:6.6
Amonia:1.0ppm
Nitrite: Somewhere between 2.0 and 5.0ppm
Nitrate:160ppm

Considering the Goldfish is dead and there is nothing we can do about that now I guess I am shooting for water quality that is good for the frogs...

Also the water stinks, kinda like swamp water.

 

[jlk]

Water changes are must here! Ammonia & nitrite should be zero & your nitrates should be less than 20ppm. You will need to do wcs until you can get these numbers under control & then check your water daily & do wcs as needed to get the numbers back under control. It would also be worthwhile to check your tap water for ammonia/nitrites/nitrates/ph so you have a baseline for your tank water. Im sorry about your frog & your fish

 

[mschaffer66]

So you are saying just straight water changes for now? No chemicals?

I have Prime and Amquel, any suggestion as to which one I should use when I change out the water?

Also what kind of percentage? Half?

Thanks for the help

 

[joel618]

So you are saying just straight water changes for now? No chemicals?

I have Prime and Amquel, any suggestion as to which one I should use when I change out the water?

Also what kind of percentage? Half?

Thanks for the help

All you need is prime and buckets. The more new water the better imho.

 

[CatmanDru]

Ok so we have:
PH:6.6
Amonia:1.0ppm
Nitrite: Somewhere between 2.0 and 5.0ppm
Nitrate:160ppm


Also the water stinks, kinda like swamp water.

Those are toxic levels. the ammonia should be below 0.25

It would be prudent to do a partial water change (PWC) to decrease the levels of those toxins.

I've never seen nitrates posted that were that high.

So that others may better help you, how often do you do a partial water change? And what percentage of the water do you change? 10%? 20%? 50%?

 

[jlk]

Use the prime (dose to size of your tank) for all of your water changes to help detox everything. You probably should start with a 70% pwc because your numbers are so high. I would test again (wait 15mins for water to circulate b4 testing) & see if the wc helped. If it didnt sufficiently lower your numbers, do another 70% & test again. What i dont know is what type of water frogs prefer because right now your water is pretty acidic & i dont know what the numbers are out of your tap are. You may have amm/nitrites/nitrates/low ph for your tap water as well. So, check your tap before starting the wcs so you have an idea of what your dealing with before you begin! Good luck! Hopefully, someone here knows something about frogs & can help some more!

 

[jlk]

Note on api kit- amazon sells it about $10 cheaper than the big chain pet stores for future purchase! You can also buy the individual tests if you run out of just one type of test on amazon as well (most chain stores dont carry individual tests).

 

[mschaffer66]

Ok, so I just did probably 60% water. I'll do more again the net time. I wasn't sure so I just kinda errored on the side of caution.

Our tap water is pH 7.6 and 0ppm for the rest of the stuff.

I just read African clawed frogs are fine with pretty much any pH between 6.5-7.5

I usually do a 25% water change once a month...but honestly there are times I forget

I put in a full cap of prime which it says is good for 50gal, so thats a little more than I would need normally.

 

[mschaffer66]

Edit to my last one. I'd say tap Nitrates are probably a little over 0ppm. Maybe like 2. Its probably a little more yellow than halfway between the 0 and 5ppm if that makes sense.

 

[librarygirl]

Nitrates that high are a problem. Your water changes should ideally be weekly, about 50% is advisable. Otherwise nitrates build up and become toxic. Also your fish, etc use up minerals that are in the water and water changes help replenish those nutrients.

Also with ammonia and nitrite it seems your tank is in a mini-cycle probably from changing the filter. As was stated above daily water changes to keep ammonia and nitrites as close to 0 as you can get them (even if this means more than one large water change per day) using Prime. Once the tank is stabilized again (ammonia and nitrite staying at 0 on their own without water changes) I'd advise a 50% weekly water change to replenish nutrients and keep nitrates down. Good luck. Sorry about your fish and frog.

 

[mschaffer66]

Nitrates that high are a problem. Your water changes should ideally be weekly, about 50% is advisable. Otherwise nitrates build up and become toxic. Also your fish, etc use up minerals that are in the water and water changes help replenish those nutrients.

Also with ammonia and nitrite it seems your tank is in a mini-cycle probably from changing the filter. As was stated above daily water changes to keep ammonia and nitrites as close to 0 as you can get them (even if this means more than one large water change per day) using Prime. Once the tank is stabilized again (ammonia and nitrite staying at 0 on their own without water changes) I'd advise a 50% weekly water change to replenish nutrients and keep nitrates down. Good luck. Sorry about your fish and frog.

You guys have been very helpful.

I feel bad. I've been a very bad fish/frog dad We didn't sit in the family room with them for the longest time so it kinda became out of sight out of mind. Now that we have started using the family room we are out with them every day...I want to do better!

 

[mschaffer66]

I also thought you had to replace those HOB filters...do you have any idea how many filters I've gone through over the past 3 years?

3 filters with 4 pads each...

Lots

And not only was it wasting money but it was hurting the fish.

What do you guys think about chemical media in the filter baskets? Is that something you don't need if you do proper water changes?

 

[mschaffer66]

So that water change yielded:
pH 6.8
Ammonia: .5ppm
Nitrite: .5ppm
Nitrate: still way high like maybe 80-100ppm

As I type its draining down for another change. I'm going to go down like 75% or so then probably check it before bed and go back at it again tomorrow after work.

At least its going the right direction