Cloudy Water, Help!

[aquariageek]

Sorry about the n00b question, but we all have to start somewhere, right?

To the point...

For the past few weeks my 10 Gallon (Tetra whisper filter with bio-bag)(2 platys, 5 neons, 3 Dwarf African Frogs, 1 loach)has had cloudy water. It looks clear at first glance, but if you look closer, the water is full of very small particles. The particles are evenly distributed throughout the entire volume of water. So, I bought Jungle Lab's Water Clear, and treated it. Unfortunately, it did nothing but stain my water brown (which supposedly shows presence of organics?) so I did a partial water change. No results. I finally got so sick of seeing it, I took the fish out to a holding container, and (I know it isn't good, but...) did a thorough (very thorough) gravel vacuum and a 99% water change, and put in a new biobag and carbon, (the old one was only in for less then 2 weeks.) During the gravel vaccuum I sucked out a few little brown bugs(?) they looked like little mini potato bugs. Where they came from is beyond me. However, they are gone now, and even if they were not the KMNo4 would have killed them.

I put new water in, and after it was treated and at temp, transferred the fish back in. It looked great! Now, 2 days later- the water has the particles in it again. What should I do???

Any help IMMENSELY appreciated!!

aquariageek

 

[aquariageek]

Just a follow up, I saw something as I was reading around the threads....the particles are not green....

 

[rallysman]

it sounds like your tank is cycling. Expect some of the fish to die.
Search for cycling a tank on here and all of your questions will be answered.
you probably restarted the whole process by replacing the water and filter.

Also....welcome to MFK!

 

[aquariageek]

Thanks for the welcome!!

The tank is 2 months old...would it still be cycling??

Also, I am past 5 posts, but I cannot PM or view pictures...why is that???

 

[rallysman]

give the server some time to update.
If you removed all of the bacteria by cleaning the gravel, water, and filter very well it probably restarted the cycle.
I try to never use any chemicals and just let it cycle "naturally" but thats just me

 

[guppy]

Small tanks are easily overloaded. The most likely culprit is over feeding. Let your filter bag get well established and when you clean it just rinse it in tank temperature dechlorinated water. It is normal to have some particulates floating around and you say it does not really cloud the water so it is a minor problem, try feeding more carefully.

 

[aquariageek]

Small tanks are easily overloaded. The most likely culprit is over feeding. Let your filter bag get well established and when you clean it just rinse it in tank temperature dechlorinated water. It is normal to have some particulates floating around and you say it does not really cloud the water so it is a minor problem, try feeding more carefully.

Thanks, All!

I have been feeding more judiciously.

Sorry to ask you to explain again, but- when you say only to rinse the bag- you mean don't change the carbon? Just rinse the bag in treated water?

 

[sohfatfish]

I think he meant the biological filter media or your cotton wool.

 

[guppy]

I usual slit open the carbon container and replace the carbon with small fragments of lava rock or more filter wool. I am not a fan of carbon. But mainly I meant that what ever media that you are using should be just rinsed and reused instead of being replaced, at least until it starts to fall apart or no longer can be cleaned. This leaves a living colony of bacteria in the pads/ bags/ wads (depending on filter type). In larger filters there are often more than one filter pad so you just replace them one at a time and rotate the older ones forward.

 

[Miles]

Buy a better filter, the Whisper filters are horrible and they don't allow enough space for Biological media. Try an Aquaclear 20 or 30, with the Ceramic Bio-Max rings. You could also do a small Penguin Bio-Wheel.

Take Guppys advice, and be patient with feeding and stocking! Your tank is still cycling, and everytime you clean it, you are starting the cycle over. Allow some time for your filtration to get 'dirty'..