jackson617
Aquarium Advice Newbie
I'm so sorry this is long, but it is ultimately how I ended up joining this site.
We had our fish tank setup for several months already. Everything was going great until two weeks ago the water got really cloudy (milky color). I searched for causes of cloudy water and how to solve it. I went to the lfs and one lady told me I need to put bacterial supplement in, so we did...still cloudy--even more so than the days before. I did a pwc and it looked like it was clearing up (just a little). I took a sample of water in a couple days later and everything was high. Another lady insisted I add aquarium salt. Tried it-no results. Searched your forum and everyone insisted to other users to get ammonia down with more pwc's and limit feedings. So I was feeding every three days-I felt so bad it seemed like they were starving.
Then another search later it seemed as though the tank was going through a bacterial bloom. Then I read not to rinse the filter in tap water, but to use tank water instead. So I thought I must have thrown the tank off by doing that. I didn't want my son to lose any fish and I didn't want to hurt them by doing so many pwc's. So again, I searched your forum for answers on that. Hubby finally got home from being out of town for 3 weeks and I showed him the tank. I told him I've been lurking on this site for a while now. Common question asked was if anything new was added to the tank (no). I told him nearly everyone recommends Seachem Prime and ditching the strip tests and getting a master test kit. So we went out last night and got them both. We tested the water and decided to do a 20% pwc to get the ammonia down, everything else was fine. As we were refilling the tank my husband asked me what I used to put inside the castle tower to keep the gourami from getting stuck again. I said a piece of fabric. He pulled the fabric out of the castle and it was DISGUSTING! It was turning yellow and smelled really bad. He said "I bet this is the problem." After this water change using Prime our fish were more energetic! We did lose 1 Gourami during this ordeal.
On a happier note, this morning the tank was getting clearer. I’m hoping this was the problem. We will see. EVERY search for cycling, bacterial blooms, water changes, and solutions brought me back to this site. I have to thank this site for helping me out so much. I’ve learned a lot from this site and decided today I am joining! You all are awesome and full of so much knowledge . I’m looking forward to picking your brains in the future, lol.
We had our fish tank setup for several months already. Everything was going great until two weeks ago the water got really cloudy (milky color). I searched for causes of cloudy water and how to solve it. I went to the lfs and one lady told me I need to put bacterial supplement in, so we did...still cloudy--even more so than the days before. I did a pwc and it looked like it was clearing up (just a little). I took a sample of water in a couple days later and everything was high. Another lady insisted I add aquarium salt. Tried it-no results. Searched your forum and everyone insisted to other users to get ammonia down with more pwc's and limit feedings. So I was feeding every three days-I felt so bad it seemed like they were starving.
Then another search later it seemed as though the tank was going through a bacterial bloom. Then I read not to rinse the filter in tap water, but to use tank water instead. So I thought I must have thrown the tank off by doing that. I didn't want my son to lose any fish and I didn't want to hurt them by doing so many pwc's. So again, I searched your forum for answers on that. Hubby finally got home from being out of town for 3 weeks and I showed him the tank. I told him I've been lurking on this site for a while now. Common question asked was if anything new was added to the tank (no). I told him nearly everyone recommends Seachem Prime and ditching the strip tests and getting a master test kit. So we went out last night and got them both. We tested the water and decided to do a 20% pwc to get the ammonia down, everything else was fine. As we were refilling the tank my husband asked me what I used to put inside the castle tower to keep the gourami from getting stuck again. I said a piece of fabric. He pulled the fabric out of the castle and it was DISGUSTING! It was turning yellow and smelled really bad. He said "I bet this is the problem." After this water change using Prime our fish were more energetic! We did lose 1 Gourami during this ordeal.
On a happier note, this morning the tank was getting clearer
. I’m hoping this was the problem. We will see. EVERY search for cycling, bacterial blooms, water changes, and solutions brought me back to this site. I have to thank this site for helping me out so much. I’ve learned a lot from this site and decided today I am joining! You all are awesome and full of so much knowledge . I’m looking forward to picking your brains in the future, lol. 
