Cloudy water in new tank with wilds

[DiscusBR]

Hi everyone,

Here I am, back to the hobby after a 2-year break. I set up a 75g in mid-November and did a fish-less cycling with pure ammonia. I am using a 80% RO / 20% tap water mix. The result in the tank is:

Hardness: 173 uS - 36 TDS
PH: 7.4
Temperature: 82F (28C)

The tank has pool filter sand and Manzanita driftwood, nothing else (picture below). Filtration is a 2217 Eheim canister filter.

Eleven days ago, on December 5, I got 6 wild Cuipeua discus from John (Snookn21). There are no other fish in the tank. The timing was not perfect, since the cycling was not 100% complete. I had no ammonia, but I was still getting nitrites readings (0.25). So I added a bottle of Tetra's Safe Start the day I received the fish and intensified water changes. I started doing 60% WCs every other day. When I tested the water in the first week after the fish arrival, the results were: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5.0 nitrates.

Eleven days after their arrival, the Cuipeuas are looking healthy and are eating Al's FDBWs. They are still quite skittish, especially when lights are on, which is normal. However, the water has become increasingly cloudy, despite frequent water changes. I just did a 60% WC and tested the water: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates. The 0 reading for nitrates is unexpected. I used two tests (API and Nutrafin) and both gave me a reading of 0.

At first, I thought that the driftwood was still leaking tannis, but it does not look like that is the cause of the cloudiness. The readings of 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites suggest that I don't have a mini-cycle.

To complicate things further, I am leaving on Tuesday for a 9-day trip. I was planning to stop feeding on the eve of the departure and just let the fish wait for my return. Now I am quite concerned about the source and possible consequences of the cloudiness.

Any thoughts?

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[DJW]

That would make me nervous too. Its possible the driftwood is putting something out to feed a bacterial bloom. You could remove it until you get back just in case.

Is the cloudiness better after a WC, then gets worse over time?

When I have had new tank cloudiness, it usually lasted 7-10 days. It has something to do with the populations of different bacteria finding a balance. The worst cloudiness I ever had was after cycling a tank up to 5ppm per day of ammonia. The water was clear until I added fish, then a couple days later the water would start out fine after a 90% WC and then 24 hours later it was awful. I figured that 5ppm/day was 3 times as much BB as the bioload of fish needed, so excess bacterial plaque or film was sloughing out of the sponge filters and feeding the bloom. The bacteria are blooming because there is something in the water to feed them. I gave the sponge filters a light squeezing and it got better.

The zero nitrate is weird, can't explain it. In an already-cycled tank, I think adding some types of bottled bacteria can be more disruptive than helpful.

[DiscusBR]

That would make me nervous too. Its possible the driftwood is putting something out to feed a bacterial bloom. You could remove it until you get back just in case.

Thanks, I agree it is a good idea to take the driftwood from the tank.


Is the cloudiness better after a WC, then gets worse over time?

It is better after a WC, but gets worse over time.


When I have had new tank cloudiness, it usually lasted 7-10 days. It has something to do with the populations of different bacteria finding a balance. The worst cloudiness I ever had was after cycling a tank up to 5ppm per day of ammonia. The water was clear until I added fish, then a couple days later the water would start out fine after a 90% WC and then 24 hours later it was awful. I figured that 5ppm/day was 3 times as much BB as the bioload of fish needed, so excess bacterial plaque or film was sloughing out of the sponge filters and feeding the bloom. The bacteria are blooming because there is something in the water to feed them. I gave the sponge filters a light squeezing and it got better.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have to figure out what is feeding the bacteria. The problem is that I leave for my trip in less than two days :(


In an already-cycled tank, I think adding some types of bottled bacteria can be more disruptive than helpful.

I think bottled bacteria might have caused the problem. I forgot that I also added Stability twice after the initial dose of Safe Start. I will not use these products again. Anyone with similar or different experiences?


The zero nitrate is weird, can't explain it.

It is weird indeed. So decided to test the water again 16 hours after the 60% WC. The picture below shows the results. The top line of test tubes have aquarium water. The bottom line of test tubes have tap water for comparison. Tubes are lined up in the order of the API test kit: ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. The last test tube laying sideways is Nutrafin's nitrate test.

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The results from the API test kit are strange:

Ammonia: shows no ammonia in the tank water, but shows ammonia in tap water (????)
Nitrites: No nitrites in both tank and tap.
Nitrates: 5.0 ppm in both tank and tap.

The Nutrafin test shows just a bit of nitrates.

I have no clue why my tap is showing ammonia.

The cloudiness remains strong. Here is a pic of the tank from the front:

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And here a picture from the opposite side from where the fish were:

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You can barely see the fish in the opposite side.

I am going to do another another 60% WC now and two other before my departure on Tuesday. I guess this all I can do. Any other thoughts?

[DJW]

Usually when you see ammonia in the tap water it indicates the city is putting chloramine in the water. Prime breaks the chloramine into its parts (chlorine and ammonia), removes the chlorine and leaves the ammonia, although the ammonia is now in a detoxified form. This means that when you do a big WC there is a small burst of measurable ammonia followed by a short appearance of nitrite, both of which are detoxed by the prime until removed by the filter.

[DiscusBR]

Usually when you see ammonia in the tap water it indicates the city is putting chloramine in the water. Prime breaks the chloramine into its parts (chlorine and ammonia), removes the chlorine and leaves the ammonia, although the ammonia is now in a detoxified form. This means that when you do a big WC there is a small burst of measurable ammonia followed by a short appearance of nitrite, both of which are detoxed by the prime until removed by the filter.

Thanks, nice to learn about that. It looks like I don't have major issues with my water parameters.

After another 60% WC, water looks better. Let's see if it is a turn around or if it will quickly become cloudy again. My water bill this month will be bigger than my paycheck...

[DiscusBR]

Picture from the same position for comparison:

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Looks better (fish visible), but still a bit cloudy. The tank does look better, however:

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[Second Hand Pat]

Hope this does not cause any issues for you Mauro.
Pat

[DiscusBR]

Hope this does not cause any issues for you Mauro.
Pat

Thank you, Pat. I will be worried during my trip, but I hope they will be fine. The water looks clearer tonight and I will do more WCs tomorrow. The good news is that the fish look fine and healthy, so there is hope.