Cloudy water after plant/driftwood addition?

[Jjensen187]

Have an established 30g tank, well stocked. Levels were checked prior to addition of plants and read ammonia:0 nitrite:0 nitrate:5-10 and ph around 7.6-7.8. Decided to add a few plants and a piece of lfs driftwood and my water began to have a white cloudy appearance. Also lost a guppy after plant addition. Levels haven't really changed either. What could cause this?

 

[BBradbury]

Cloudy Water

Hello J...

Even if you thoroughly rinse plants or decorations, you can still have small particles in the water. The planting or placing process can also disturb the substrate and cause cloudiness.

I do weekly large water changes in my tanks and sometimes this causes hazy water. I have a spare HOB I hook up and run for a couple of days on a tank with cloudy water and that usually does the trick. I keep pads of polyfiber I cut into pieces and just put the small, cut pads into the filter. The polyfiber is very effective for filtering out the small particles that cause water to look cloudy.

As far as the death of your fish, I don't think the act of planting was the reason. If you're keeping to a sound water maintenace schedule, then the fish was likely old or injured in some way.

B

 

[potatochobit]

did you rinse and soak the driftwood before putting it in the aquarium?
sometimes guppies die, might not be related
try a water clarifier if it is cloudy more than a day, its normal sometimes

 

[Jjensen187]

I rinsed the driftwood in hot water but didn't soak it.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Agree with the others, cloudiness is most likely relatived to disturbing the substrate as a result of planting the plants and guppy death is most likely unrelated.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

im still soaking my driftwood, this is 2nd night and i change the water twice a day and add boiling water to it. how long do i have to soak it for then? i was told a week!

 

[aqua_chem]

If it's been cloudy for more than a day, it's probably not particulates in the water. How long has it been cloudy, and how soon did it get cloudy after adding plants?


Also, are the plants doing ok, or are they looking a little worse for the wear?

 

[Jjensen187]

It's been cloudy for about 3 days today being the 3rd. Before adding it the water was pretty clear, not crystal clear but not cloudy. After adding the plants/driftwood I noticed that night that it had a haze to it. It looked much hazier this morning. I don't believe it's the driftwood because the haze is white and not brown.

My java fern looked a tad bit worse than it did when I put them in.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

check out the filter. my filter pads need a good rinse in pwc tank water when i get this haze... thats what i think anyway.

 

[Jjensen187]

I was told by a knowledgable (or at least seemed to be) employee at Petsmart and he recommended I rinse the filter under water every day as it may be particles in the water (I'm on well water) and this will help clear up the tank. I was worried that this may wash away the bb though?

 

[potatochobit]

was this bulk driftwood? that could very well be the cloudy problem. Always soak bulk driftwood. It can contain salt and other residues. never use driftwood you found yourself in the wild without treating it as it can contain parasites. remember, driftwood is rotting wood.

my dad used to live out in the country, so I would go walk around and find these huge pieces of petrified wood for free. they were awesome and would have cost ridiculous prices at a store.

petsmart and other places sell select driftwood in individual pieces with tags attached, usually this is cleaned but you should still soak it a few hours.

anyway, what's done is done. pour some water clarifier in the tank.
soaking for a week is a little much, but some people want the perfect setup with no margin for error.

do a partial water change first is probably a good idea before the water clarifier. you can rinse off the filters in tap water afterwards it will not hurt the bacteria. just dont soak your filters in tap water.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

do u mean tap water???

 

[Jjensen187]

Yeah it was most likely bulk driftwood. I bought it in a store where they had tons in large bins. I'll try a 50% water change and rinsing out the filters tonight. Would using carbon benefit? I have two filters running but only one has carbon.

 

[aqua_chem]

Washing a filter tap water is a good way to nuke your beneficial bacteria.

Gently wash your filter media in your tank water when you do PWCs. Cloudy water can sometimes be caused by blocked filters bypassing.

 

[potatochobit]

what water clarifier does is bind to particles suspended in the water and causes them to be large enough to sink or get caught in the filter.

it does not react with carbon and is perfectly safe. however, depending on the amount, you can see it collect and make a film on your filters media.

you can rinse the filter in the bucket when you do the partial water change is fine. however, do not rinse the filters in the main tank or you would just be putting the little particles back in.

rinsing a filter under tap water for 10seconds does not cause the bacteria to explode on contact. like I said, dont go soaking your filters in chlorinated water, but rinsing them off and putting them back in the tank is the most practical method.

now, you do not have to use water clarifier, but it may take days for your water to clear instead of hours.

in the case of soaking the wood, yes you want to use tap water for the first soak or two. you want everything to die that might be alive. This is all just my opinion.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

soak for how long? x

 

[Jjensen187]

Well upon checking the water levels when I got home last night I noticed the ammonia level rose to 1. I immediately concluded that the plants were in fact decaying as they were beginning to turn a yellow brown color and had holes in the leaves. I took them out and did a 50-75% water change. Noticed the water had a yellowish brown tint to it, probably from the driftwood tannin but I've read it's harmless to fish. I also swished the filter bag in the pwc water and it was filthy. Made the water in the bucket very dark in color. I'm not sure why my plants would have started to decay which sucks because I just put an amono shrimp in there so he wont have a constant food supply.

The water this morning was much clearer but I'm hesitant to put live plants in my tank now.

 

[aqua_chem]

A lot of the plants you see in stores are grown emersed. Once they are submerged, they need to adapt. Unfortunately, their leaves are tooled for emersed growth, so they melt off. Some plants will melt from a change in environment too, other than just crypts.