Need help with water problem

[Sabrina]

Hi,
An hour ago I did a 80 liter water change on my display tank, exactly like I always do except this time I had the new canister filter to deal with, I had a bit of trouble getting it to start again after the water change, but it did, so I turned the lights out and walked away. Ive just turned the lights on to wake my fish up for theirorning feed and I'm in total shock, there is debris everywhere, it looks like its snowing in my tank!! It was clear before the water change, what on earth has gone wrong? There is white little flakes, hundreds of them everywhere, please help

[Sabrina]

This is a video I took just now, my discus are breathing in what ever that stuff is!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BEYyaR0tKs

[Sabrina]

Ok so I got calm and turned the tank off, I was suspect of the canister filter instantly so I pulled it apart completely, I threw the bag of white ceramic noodles and the bag of carbon in the trash, I put brand new ceramic noodles in and also instead of carbon I put a layer of filter wool in. Ive turned it back on, the tank is cloudy and full of snow still, I still have no idea what has gone wrong but those white flakes had to come from somewhere. I hope this doesn't harm my discus

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[RogueDiscus]

Sometimes a whitish bacterial film develops on new tubing, including the inside of your filter hoses. When you restart the filter, it eventually comes loose and flows in to the tank. It's annoying, but I think harmless. Some people will hold a net over the outflow into the tank just to catch this. This might be what's going on. I just looked at your video and the particles look smaller than what I have seen come out of the tubes, so I don't know. The film will develop on the outside of airline tubing also. Maybe it's flaking of of them.

[Sabrina]

Hi Rogue,
Hm maybe it was white film from the new tubing, I really don't know, I checked my tap water and it was clear. Its hard to know at this stage what happened, I will be keeping a close eye on the tank today to see if it clears up at all. I tend to panic when things like this happen and act fast to try and fix it, in haste I probably do the wrong things making it worse than it was. Fingers crossed it clears up soon and it doesn't harm my fish in the process

[two utes]

Sabrina
You need to turn both your heater if its going to be exposed, and also your cannister filter off while doing water changes...just make sure you remember to turn them back on when you're done to avoid further problems.

Also if your ph is low you can remedy that by placing a couple of handfuls of shell grit in a piece of stocking and placing it in the canister

[DJW]

Was the tank cycled? If the tank is cycled, its not a good idea to throw away the noodles, it can cause a loss or set-back of the cycle. Better to rinse them in tank water and keep them.

[Sabrina]

Hi Joe and DJW,
I did have both the heater and canister filter turned off during the water change. I took water readings before the water change and my PH was 7.0

It has just dawned on me what may have happened!! After Rogue's suggestion that white film builds up in tubing I now remember that during this water change I also turned off the air pump, which I always normally leave going as it only runs the sponge filter and the air curtain and the water never gets low enough during a water change to worry about turning off the air pump. SO it was the first time the air pump had been turned off in 2 months, those hundreds of white debris flying around the tank had to have came from the air curtain tubing or the air curtain its self when I turned it back on because I noted that it struggled to start!!! I think ive just found the problem guys, it did say on the box of the air curtain that build up can happen after long periods of use, you just need to rinse it under hot water to remove the gunk now and then. Because that air curtain is attached to the back wall of the tank I had not noticed it being covered in film/gunk. This is the only explanation for what happened to the water this morning!

I lost cycle on this tank a week ago DJW, I messed with the HOB filter media and stole the sponge filter for another tank, hence loosing my cycle. The canister filter was not cycled either, its only been running 2 days, so throwing out the ceramic rings and carbon would not have made things any worse than they already are. The reason I threw them out is because I panicked and thought they were breaking down in the canister, and hence, turning my water cloudy and full of white debris. Which I now know wasn't the case, so I wasted perfectly good media. I need to learn not to panic in these kind of situations

[Sabrina]

Ok so I'm having trouble since this fiasco this morning, my adult discus are totally freaking out at every little thing. I went to feed them and I turned the LED on, well holly molly the 5 of them went crazy, slamming into walls, jumping out of the water and hitting the glass lids and crashing into one another! So I immediately turned the light off and walked away from the tank, they stopped as soon as I did this. I then waited awhile and tried to feed them, again discus flying into the walls and jumping out of the water
I left them alone again for an hour or so, then went to inspect the debris in the tank, again they spooked and went crazy. Why are they doing this? One of them hit the wall so hard it stunned its self and sat on the bottom of the tank for 5 minutes before it moved again. I'm frightened they are going to kill themselves, should I cover the tank in a blanket for the rest of the day to try to clam them down?

[bluelagoon]

Sometimes a whitish bacterial film develops on new tubing, including the inside of your filter hoses. When you restart the filter, it eventually comes loose and flows in to the tank. It's annoying, but I think harmless. Some people will hold a net over the outflow into the tank just to catch this. This might be what's going on. I just looked at your video and the particles look smaller than what I have seen come out of the tubes, so I don't know. The film will develop on the outside of airline tubing also. Maybe it's flaking of of them.

+1,yes just a bit of slug until the BB take hold.Not really an issue.I've seen this in new hoses before and has happened to me.

[geo57]

Ok so I'm having trouble since this fiasco this morning, my adult discus are totally freaking out at every little thing. I went to feed them and I turned the LED on, well holly molly the 5 of them went crazy, slamming into walls, jumping out of the water and hitting the glass lids and crashing into one another! So I immediately turned the light off and walked away from the tank, they stopped as soon as I did this. I then waited awhile and tried to feed them, again discus flying into the walls and jumping out of the water
I left them alone again for an hour or so, then went to inspect the debris in the tank, again they spooked and went crazy. Why are they doing this? One of them hit the wall so hard it stunned its self and sat on the bottom of the tank for 5 minutes before it moved again. I'm frightened they are going to kill themselves, should I cover the tank in a blanket for the rest of the day to try to clam them down?

You get some crazy stuff going Sabrina, I think it is important to have enough places for fish to seclude to when stressed. I have 7 discus in my tank and when i go to clean it they disappear. After I'm done they slowly start to emerge. I keep a dark tank, low lit and give them lots of places that each fish has a location that they disappear to if they feel threatened. Think physical and mental health for your fish, they are in a confined area.

[Sabrina]

Yes i do George! I will put more plants in today for places to hide

[LoGeek]

Sabrina, what is the name of that huge Anubias you have on the driftwood? Really nice!

[Sabrina]

Hi LoGeek,

Its called a Chinese evergreen aquarium plant, its very pretty. I'm going to remove it today though, because my discus wont allow me to turn on the LED lighting its dying and gone yellow on the leaves.

[kilnakorr]

Hi LoGeek,

Its called a Chinese evergreen aquarium plant, its very pretty. I'm going to remove it today though, because my discus wont allow me to turn on the LED lighting its dying and gone yellow on the leaves.

Pretty sure its a terrarium plant and not suited for aquarium.

"This is a Terrarium Plant. Terrarium Plants are amphibious plants that thrive in terrariums but are not strictly speaking, "true aquatic plants". These plants are commonly used submersed in aquariums and sold as aquatic plants in most pet shops. PetWave recommends that you use them as temporary display plants. Their shape and colour adds real variation to a planted aquarium. Depending on light and water conditions after some months, they will generally need to be replaced."