help! water gone mega cloudy (with video)!!!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
sabmakj21 said:
Might be worth to move the fish to a temporary holding tank and start that tank over. Use some kind of quick cycling liquid like Seachem Stability or API Quickstart or something to restart your tank when everything's cleaned out really well. Make sure you remove those tiles too. Most cichlids are pretty hardy but you may have some casualties. Is your drip system have some kind of pretreatment for chlorine and other chemicals? If not it may have been slowly killing off your beneficial bacteria, thus leading to this breakdown.

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drip system was only running for a day and a half but i think you are right, with the water change and drip, aswell as the slightly cloudy water ive been having issues with for the last 3 weeks the balance has just tipped...
 
shall i do a 50% waterchange now, with tap safe off course, will this help???

EDIT; i just checked the black plastic tank in my loft (something i didnt do because its high up in the rafters, i just popped the lid and poked the silicone hose in), eeek its got a thick layer of brown algae over the water surface and all over the ball cock???? how can this sludge grow without light in what looks to be a newish tank? i am never drinking from the hot tap again! this really cant have helped although the water below is crystal clear it must be full of bacteria!? i will try to post some pics in a bit, my app wont let me at the moment so i will try to post from my laptop....
 
Well, a lot of your problem stems from not having enough biological filtration, so unless you can get that corrected ASAP, doing a massive water change won't do much. When I had a similar event like yours, I had to figure that something I did must have killed off a lot of my BB. If you can't clean out your tank to restart it, trying getting some BB in a bottle like Seachem Stability or the Tetra or API variety to add into your water after you do the WC, take out the charcoal and add more Floss and bio-media so you can catch a lot of the floating particles and have somewhere your BB can take hold.

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And don't turn on your tank lights and try to block out as much sunlight as you can.

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justarn said:
right just re tested the water and ph is up to 8.5, nitrites are 0, nitrates are at 20ppm, ammonia is up to 0.25 mg per litre??? treat tank with prime or safe to bind the ammonia & protect fish

i have thought about re starting the tank but i have nowhere for the fish too go...

im running carbon on the drip system but i have turned it off this morning you turned off the drip?as im sure its where all this started tbh, fresh dechlorinated water is a breeding ground for bacteria fresh dechlorinated water is not a breeding ground for bacteria. but insufficient BB creates uncycled conditions in tank, which can result in bacterial blooms.especially as my tank has been out of balance for a few weeks anyway so i wont be restarting it until everything has settled.. during an ammonia spike you may have to keep some water dilution going on to protect fish. ALL reports of ammonia in tanks are given directions to do water changes

i dont think its crashed completely though????
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probably not

justarn said:
i supected being right on the edge, i will get another fx5 asap i think ... how can i filter it out, im at a lose?
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this is the 3rd-4th time it's been posted here: Fine filter pad or poly floss material in fx5 to catch the visible planaria or whatever that stuff is that's floating through the tank water. Kolt said to do that & you haven't replied to the directions.
If you can add porous seachem matrix to your existing fx5 it could increase bioload capability before you get a whole new canister. same for seachem stability daily dosing as per directions for starting a tank cycle. Heck, even a large in-tank box filter full of matrix would help & be cheap
.
 
ok... i have a 35g with a load of established sponge, maybe i should throw that in the fx5 aswell? i have a load of brown ball pea sized media in the garage that came with another filter, whats that? i have some fine filter pads in the fx5 already in the top tray...
 
justarn said:
.............

EDIT; i just checked the black plastic tank in my loft (something i didnt do because its high up in the rafters, i just popped the lid and poked the silicone hose in), eeek its got a thick layer of brown algae over the water surface and all over the ball cock???? how can this sludge grow without light in what looks to be a newish tank? i am never drinking from the hot tap again! this really cant have helped although the water below is crystal clear it must be full of bacteria!? i will try to post some pics in a bit, my app wont let me at the moment so i will try to post from my laptop....
Click to expand...
This sounds disgusting and quite possibly dangerous. it needs to be cleaned, flushed, disinfected.
God only knows what has been put into your tank. the water could have grown toxins & slowly dumped in fish tank.
:-(
Therefore, I'd say a Lg water change with CLEAN water is safer.
 
justarn said:
ok... i have a 35g with a load of established sponge, maybe i should throw that in the fx5 aswell? i have a load of brown ball pea sized media in the garage that came with another filter, whats that? i have some fine filter pads in the fx5 already in the top tray...
Click to expand...
I would run that sponge directly in the tank for now, if the fish won't disassemble it.
I can't say what the other media is in garage, possibly eheim. that is pieces which are perfectly round.
just don't put anything used & possibly contaminated in there.

I'm surprised the fine filter pads in fx5 are not clearing up some of the stuff in tank water.
 
70% waterchange in progress and gonna go buy another large filter today on the credit card... some bb in a bottle and bio balls....
 
The brown pea sized is prob ehiem media mate I've got some in mine gets stuck in fx impeller once worn down , get a load of fine floss in your top tray , if you've got and spare power heads or internals lay about you could stuff one with fine floss as an addition for catching fine bits ,or make a makeshift one out of a drinks bottle and power head uaru joey style
Its happened to my tank in past water changes seem to encourage the bloom , as mentioned by the others more ceramic media or bio balls in fx middle and bottom trays and fine floss sponge top

Hope you get it sorted Justin

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