Help! We have cloudy water and nothing seems to help!

[Talia114]

Hi,

We have a 125 gal tank that we set up a few months ago. Our water here is a much higher PH ie: around 7.5 originally. Weused water softners occasionally. Then we spoke with a local expert that suggested that we use PH 6.0 Seachem Discus Buffer to bring the PH down. We did as he suggested, but then our water turned cloudy. We use a Rena 3 filter (the recommended size) and have changed pads, etc. regularly. We've changed out approx. 20% of the water, every week, and it's still kind of greenish, grey, oily cloudy water. We also bought a reverse osmosis machine that has brought our PH down to approx. 6.4 and we've been using that on the water changes, but nothing is helping. It's so thick that you can't see many of the fish unless they come close to the glass or the top of the water, and we can't see the decorations, etc. We have a large piece of driftwood, but it was soaked for over a week, until the water became clear. It had already been boiled. Most of our fish seem to tolerate it pretty well, but our pregnant ones seem to die before having their babies.

We have 4 plecos and 4 corys...what else should we do? Since we bought the reverse osmosis, we've also set up our daughters tank, and it's doing wonderfully, except that there's still an oily look to it.

We will, in about 2 months, have a larger aquarium and we can move all of these to it, with the clearer water, but we would like to have it fixed beforehand. Any suggestions? We are about at our wits end...Thanks, Tamara

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Welcome to AA Tamara!

First off, do you have a test kit? If so, please post the results. If not, you need to purchase a liquid reagent kit. Your tank is still cycling most likely.

I would suspect that the fish are dieing because the tank is un-cycled. The cloudiness is probably an algae bloom. It's nothing to worry about and it common in new tanks.

The biggest piece of advice that I can give- Stop messing with the pH. Do not use chemicals to try and artifically alter it. Your pH is fine at 7.5. It is a common myth that fish MUST be in water with a perfect pH. The powders do not work. Fish adapt and will be fine at your level. I am keeping Rams and Rummies (sensitive to water conditions and best kept in the high 6's and lower 7's) in pH 8.2. Stability is more important that perfect readings.

Regarding the filter, stop changing the pads. When you toss a used pad, you are basically throwing away the good bacteria in the tank. If the pads build up and become scummy, just rinse them in dechlorinated water (or used tank water). The lfs will tell you to toss the pads regularly because you will then buy more pads from them. But it is not necessary. We haven't changed our pad in the 29 gal tank in about 9 months.

There are tons of stickies at the top of the forum. Read some of the articles about cycling and new aquariums. It is alot of info to ingest at one time, but patience is key.

 

[jim532]

Take the driftwood out of there for now it may be a small part of the problem even though you soaked it. also might wanna do the PWC more than once a week till this clears up. If this is as extreme as you describe I would do at least 3 PWC a week. If this cloudiness is an alge bloom, then cover the tank in complete darkness for few days.


jim

 

[Talia114]

Hi,

I just wanted to thank you both for your suggestions. We'll give them a try.

Tamara

 

[BillD]

If the water is cloudy (whiteish) it could be a bacterial bloom, rather than algal. It is quite common with a newish setup. When I get cloudy water, I do a water change of at least 50%, followed by another the next day, until it is clear. Three 20% PWCs will not have the same effect as one 50%. Also I would reiterate what Fishyfanatic said with regard to using the water without playing with it; there is nothing wrong with a pH of 7.5. The pad advice is also right on.