Water Softner

[Brookelynnb]

I have a water softener at my house, and my tank has been very cloudy for a while. Will this effect it?

 

[Mbuna12]

Water softeners remove dissolved mineral compounds and don't add anything to change the water except for its DH hardness.heres a list of things that will cloud water

.adding fish and invertebrates
.large cleanings i.e. stirring up gravel
.overfeeding
.adding driftwood

 

[Mbuna12]

Also toxic leeching poisons from non aquarium grade rocks and some plastic

 

[Brookelynnb]

So is it good or bad?

 

[Mbuna12]

No it's not the water softener did you do anything on the first list lately you probably don't have lectins toxins so was it anything else unusual you did lately

 

[Brookelynnb]

Well my tank had been fine for about 5 months. It has just started being cloudy for about 2 months, although all of my parameters are perfect (shown by water tests)

I noticed 4 days ago, that my pleco had ich, and 2 days later my angel fish died, and last night my pleco died. I'm not sure why though. I had been treating the water with AquaSafe Ich Tablets, but that's not the problem.

 

[Mbuna12]

Okay that's bad. I need you to answer some questions to figure this out.

1.does your filter use activated carbon
2.have you used two different treatments at once like ick treatment and another medication
3.did you clean the tank,add new fish or ornaments or change anything at all
4.how old is your test kit it might be expired giving you bad results

 

[Brookelynnb]

It's a brand new test kit, and I have even been doing the strips to be 100% sure. I have had the same ornaments the whole time and I have an activated carbon filter. I just recently added the angel fish about 3 weeks ago, which is where the ich came from if I had to guess.

I still don't understand why my water is so cloudy.

 

[Mbuna12]

Okay that explains the ick. Activated carbon remove ich medication so that how they got ich. The angel fish death was unrelated you still have to tell me whether or not you've cleaned the tank.if you want to know how to clear up the water. You can do a 50%water change or add a filter wool to your aquarium

 

[Brookelynnb]

Well I took the carbon filter out of the tank when I did the treatment, so it wouldn't take all the medicine out. I actually left it out for a day to be sure I gave the tab time to work. I do anywhere from 10-30% water changes weekly, using a gravel vacuum.

 

[Mbuna12]

Yah if you stirred up the gravel at any point that might to it. Still a bit of a mystery but I would focus on clearing up the water.

 

[Brookelynnb]

Yes that's what I'm doing! Everything died off so im just letting the water cycle & doing frequent water changes! Thanks so much for the help.

 

[Mbuna12]

You mean all the fish died

 

[Brookelynnb]

Yes! They are all dead, except for my frog. I moved him though!

 

[Mbuna12]

Sorry to hear that. Hope you can clear the water up

 

[Brookelynnb]

Thank you.

 

[jlk]

You may want to take some time to read up on water softeners as well. There are some good articles out there- heres one of the better ones.

The Soft Water Aquarium: Risks and Benefits