Water Problems

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I have other tanks so I don't think it's the tap water. I removed all my fish, by the time I got home the water was extremely cloudy. My pleco eyes are cloudy and all three fish have damage to thier fins. The water started to foam and started to smell rancid. I'm it's only been getting worse so I think I'm going to take everything out and start from scratch.

I want to get a more detailed reading on the water as I am curious as to what really happened. Thanks for everyones help.
 
meghanashley;2370701; said:
I am battling what I am now feeling is a losing battle. I have never had problem like this before. My water has turned cloudy the ammonia level is at 4 (I've never in the last 8 years gone over 2 and that was uncommon, even when starting a new tank).

I'm not sure what is causing this. My bio load recently was cut in half as I swapped a 2'3" tire track eel for a 1' the water was perfect before the swap with the extra boi load. I upgraded the filter about 4 months ago,(was fine before 10 days ago). I switched my substrate to sand about 6 weeks ago. After that I'm running out of ideas. The suction on the filter is good.

I hate using chemicals but I've resoted to Amnio-Lock It's not helping. Water changes are not helping. The cloudiness has been getting progressivly worse everyday and the amnonia stays at 4. Everything else is minutely off, the only disconcerning test results are the ammonia.

Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
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I have to ask. When you say that your ammonia level is "4" but had never been over "2". Are you talking about ppm? You should have NO testable ammonia in a established tank what so ever. Should always read 0. Also a filter rating does no good to what size tank it can really be put on. A filter for a 90 tank as the only one on a 72 is not enough. If you have a reading for ammonia it could be as simple as being under filtered. Need to increase your bio.
 
Yota;2381324; said:
I have to ask. When you say that your ammonia level is "4" but had never been over "2". Are you talking about ppm? You should have NO testable ammonia in a established tank what so ever. Should always read 0. Also a filter rating does no good to what size tank it can really be put on. A filter for a 90 tank as the only one on a 72 is not enough. If you have a reading for ammonia it could be as simple as being under filtered. Need to increase your bio.
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I was refering to the ppm. I am aware that I should have a 0ppm and as I stated in the past decade that I've kept fish that I never have gone over a 2. My 95% of the time reading is at 0, but **** happens. Especially when you keep messy predatory fish, but I'm glad that you have never had any sort of ammonia level in any your tanks.

I think that there may have been a chemical reaction of some sort in my tank, maybe something got in there that I'm unaware of. The smell that is now omitting from the tank is un-natural.
 
when you have a bacteria die of you'll get a funky smell and get high ammonia so something happened to your bb
 
meghanashley;2381400; said:
I stated in the past decade that I've kept.....**** happens. Especially when you keep messy predatory fish, but I'm glad that you have never had any sort of ammonia level in any your tanks
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Wow. I never said that. I was asking to see if it was .02 .20 2.0 what? Different things cause different readings and what can be done is different. I'm glad for your decade of fish keeping. :cheers: Guess my 23 years of fish keeping could have helped out so little cause you are on top of it. I'll go and feed my guppy now cause i'm out of ideas when it comes to predatory fish and the mess they make.
 
Your comment came off as condenscending to me. If it wasn't intended as such, then sorry. Frustrated is all.
 
Yota;2386505; said:
Sorry if it came out that way.

Is anything changed ?
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I'm probably just being overly sensitive.

I decided to empty the tank and start fresh. Depending on the clarity of the water when I go home tonite I'll start cycling it. The only happy fish is my pleco, the tank he's in I was trying to grow natural filtration, the algae had turned into 5" long grass it looked beautiful with the powerhead making it flow. Alas though it has all benn consumed. The other two are in rubbermaids and sullen.

I bought this Dr.Tim's (it's bb to start up a tank) before I ended up dumping the water. Anyone use this? I want to get my fish back in the tank ASAP.
 
meghanashley;2381400; said:
I was refering to the ppm. I am aware that I should have a 0ppm and as I stated in the past decade that I've kept fish that I never have gone over a 2. My 95% of the time reading is at 0, but **** happens. Especially when you keep messy predatory fish, but I'm glad that you have never had any sort of ammonia level in any your tanks.

I think that there may have been a chemical reaction of some sort in my tank, maybe something got in there that I'm unaware of. The smell that is now omitting from the tank is un-natural.
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That happened to me when in my ignorance I bought a 55 gallon tank filled it with water, plugged in two brand new HOB filters and moved two 15 inch pacu into their new home. In that uncycled tank, we got a major ammonia build up with very cloudy water and then a massive bacterial bloom. Our pacu almost died, and we had to move them back into their old home to save their lives. Our whole house was filled with an incredibly bad stench. My hands were in that foul water, and I had to use bleach to get the stench off my hands.

Somehow your tank has gone into a major cycle. You must have had a major die off of beneficial bacteria in your filter media. My understanding is that Dr. Tim was the one who developed BioSpira, and he has now branched out on his own and has developed a product that does not require refrigeration. His product should help you get your tank cycled again.
 
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