# Cloudy tank :)



## Tazzy_toon (Jul 25, 2011)

So, I have slowly been losing Cherry Shrimp, so I checked my parameters about a week ago.
Amonia and Nitrite were zero,
Nitrate was about 5 ish,
Ph was a little high at 7.4
Kh was 4

It is a 15g tank with 4 aquatic dwarf frogs, 1 beta and about a doz cherry shrimp filter with 2 sponges, one for a 20g that is in the middle and a 5g sponge on the shrimp side. Still don't know why the shrimp where dying, about 3 and yesterday I noticed another and was going to do another water change today but i had to go out for a couple hours, when I got back the tank was totally cloudy/foggy. I imediatley did a water change and checked for amonia which is still zero and tank is still very cloudy 

I plan on doing a small water change each day. I will test my water again tonight, but I just don't have time right now, any ideas?


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## neoh (Apr 22, 2010)

how long have you been running this tank? It sounds like a bacterial bloom. What is your beta doing? Shallowed breathing, red gills, bloody streaks, gasping for air at the top of the tank?
Is it green? or cloudy? Do you have any rocks in the tank, or driftwood? How much do you feed? How often do you feed?

I would also reconsider testing your ammonia levels again. Could be phosphates, excess light..

Bacteria need oxygen. A few grams of bacteria consume about the same amount as an adult human, again posing a threat of de-oxygenation in the aquarium. This could be another cause for concern. I would try to get o2 levels up in your tank, using an air pump and surface ripple.


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## Tazzy_toon (Jul 25, 2011)

Sorry, i should have thought of adding that information. The tanks has been running for approx 5 months was seeded with a sponge filter from my 33 g while running the smaller 20g filter for about a month. I have noticed some diatoms tho (brown soft type of growth which also seems to have exploded) I feed the shrimp one wardly shrimp pellet once ever 2 days occasionally 2 days in a row. The finish it in appox 2 hrs. Betta gets one pellet daily, and occasionally (once a week or so) some blood worm followed by a day of fasting. The frogs get half a cube of blood worms every other day.

I have 3 very small pieces of driftwood, one cactus wood. one small oyster shell and a small clay pot. Java moss, elodia, java fern and dwarf hair grass, floating water sprite and a few other small plants.

I use lights 6hrs on 2 hrs off and 6hrs on. Heat is at 22c

I'll see if I can make a trip to the pet store for a full spectrum test. I only have the basics.


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## vicz24 (Jan 19, 2012)

I had the same problem on my 55 gallon tank for a few months, I finally got rid of the cloudy water a few weeks ago. The tank had been running for a year with no problems then in Nov. it started getting cloudy for some reason. What I found was that even though I rinsed my filters, the bacteria was still in the filters, even after adding 2 more filters in the tank to try & help. When I finally found where the bacteria was & killed the bacteria in the filters a few weeks ago my tank has stayed crystal clear again.


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## Tazzy_toon (Jul 25, 2011)

how did you find where the bacteria was?


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## Tarobot (Jun 27, 2010)

er... i think youre losing shrimps because of the betta.


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## Tazzy_toon (Jul 25, 2011)

lol, if you read my siggy, you will notice that they are seperated. Although one did escape to throught the whole when it was just tiny and has been living peacefully with the beta for over a month. I do think that when I get babies the betta sucks them off the wall. Because he's always got his face up to the divider watching them.



Tarobot said:


> er... i think youre losing shrimps because of the betta.


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## Tazzy_toon (Jul 25, 2011)

Looks all better this morning. Go figure. Still have to get to the lfs for a full water test to find out the cause.

I did another small w/c with a thorough gravel vac, rinsed the sponge filter really well and this morning it's virtually crystal clear.


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## vicz24 (Jan 19, 2012)

The way I found out where the bacteria was coming from was just be elimination, I have sand in the tank not gravel so it wasn't waste sitting, I had taken all the plants out & had rinsed them, cleaned all the ordiments, & even with near full water changes it still came back in a few days, so that only left the filters them selves. So once I killed the bacteria in the filters all has been well.


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## Luke78 (Apr 24, 2010)

Tazzy toon,

Seems like things are settling down from what you posted.5 months is still fairly new for a setup,and the colonies of good bacteria are still in the process of multiplying to levels set for their surroundings.Diatoms(brownish algae) you described usually is the first to appear in a newer setup.May i ask how you rinse your sponge filters and in what? Aquarium water while doing a water change is best,and not run under tap water.Whats the size of the sponge? and is it adequate for the size of your tank?



Tazzy_toon said:


> Looks all better this morning. Go figure. Still have to get to the lfs for a full water test to find out the cause.
> 
> I did another small w/c with a thorough gravel vac, rinsed the sponge filter really well and this morning it's virtually crystal clear.


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## Tazzy_toon (Jul 25, 2011)

Hi Luke, I rinse everything in the water from the water changes. I have 2 sponges because the tank is divided into 3 parts, I have the sponge rated for 20g in the middle with the betta and a small sponge rated for a 5 gallon on the end with my shrimps just to keep it extra clean, I don't have anything with the frogs because i don't want them to use it as leverage to jump over. lol.

I do change my water pretty consistantly, about 10-15% per week. However, i was only gravel vacuming one section per week on a rotation. I only use a manuel syphon, so it's a pain to have to restart the process, so i'm thinking I should get a new syphon with a hand primer (not sure if I've used proper terms, but hopefully you get the idea)


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## Jasonator (Jul 12, 2011)

Throwing some floss for media is a good idea. Filters out smaller stuff.


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## Tazzy_toon (Jul 25, 2011)

How would I get floss into a sponge filter??


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## Luke78 (Apr 24, 2010)

I don't think you can, unless you managed to put some on top some how or around it, but it would defeat the purpose of what its suppose to do.The old school 'corner box' filters could hold floss and what not but haven't seen those around often, or even made anymore.


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

Vic, stupid question...how did you kill the bacteria in the filters? We're having a similar issue with our 55g, although I was going to hook up a UV sterilizer tonight to see if that helped. Normal filter cleaning and changes haven't done the trick, although the problem comes and goes rather than being constant.


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## Tazzy_toon (Jul 25, 2011)

I believe you can still get them online, I was looking to get one for the Crayfish tank, I figured it might be an easy way to filter the tank, but I went with an undergravel filter for that one in the end (easier to get.)


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