6 month old tank cycling again?

[ouch]

My tank is about 6 months old now, but it seems like it is cycling again :s The water keeps getting more and more cloudy. I suspect it was because i did too many water changes last week because the only other thing i did was add a plant and an otto...could that have been the cause of it? Also my ammonia increased from undetectable to the first bar on the test kit, my nitrites are at zero and nitrates are at .12.
I usually change my water once a week...should i increase, decrease, or stick to once a week water changes?
Is there anything i can do to make the water uncloudy faster?

 

[greenmaji]

changing the water doesnt do this... you probably replaced all of your filter media too quickly or killed the bacteria accidentally during a cleaning.. keep an eye on the ammonia.. small frequent water changes will get it back up to speed again..

 

[Guest]

What size is your tank? How much water do you change at one time? Usually the water changes won't cause cloudyness, but i only change about 10-30% per week, depending on the bioload. What kind of filter do you have and how do you change the cartriges?

 

[ouch]

I have a 33 gallon tank and I use a fluval 404. I probably only open my filter once every 3 months for cleaning but the last one was around 3 weeks ago and it after i cleaned my filter i didnt notice any change. Usually i do a 20% water change. But last week i did 20% maybe 4 times.

 

[Guest]

it actually sounds like you might be having one of those bacterial blooms and a minicycle with your amonia and nitrates. I would do about a 50% water change to reduce the ammonia, and then do small water changes every day if there's still ammonia. keep testing the water daily and keep doing water changes until ammonia is at zero.