Cloudy BB tank w/ 4 piwowarski's driving me crazy: pictures inside - opinion why?

[Harry Marsh]

Driving me crazy

I've had these fish a week. They're beautiful, great personalities....eat well and appear very happy. I love them
Two have already pair. I'm down to 4 in this tank (and happy)

Tank was clear before, as the first picture shows.
I've since changed one filter and taken out most of the plants, to try and get the aquarium clear again.
I'm trying anything


As you can see. Fish are beautiful when in front of tank. Dark looking shadows in back of tank

i do 50% water changes daily (sometimes two 50% water changes)

I have seachem 'clarity' and 'stability' chemicals here. I've played with both
I use Prime in my water changes
We have soft, good water here. I have two breeder tanks in the back that are perfectly clear and clean



When the tank was clear, i had 10 rummynoses, 4 harlequins and some corys (and was waiting to pick the 'right' fish...which i finally did)
Currently have 3 rummynose, 2 corys and 4 large Red Turk Alex Piwowarski discus (and it is cloudy)

I left for vacation for a week about a month ago. I came back to the tank covered in brown algae (lights were on timers and evidently not 'on' enough)
I have gotten rid of most of that

I started with one whisper30, one emperor 400 HOB
I've taken the whisper away (wondering if it was cause and replaced with an aquaclear70)
The emperor400 is still there...but about to be the next casualty
I'm using bio balls in the whisper/aquaclear filter....the emperor has the bio wheels

The tank is not new.....2 months old or so
But, the large discus in it are new (maybe a shock to the system)


Thoughts? Is this a bacteria bloom?
Too much light on this aquarium?
It's a very clear (suppoedly) acrylic sea clear aquarium, black background
Should I not do a water change for a day or two and see how it reacts?

????? Driving me nuts

Should I wipe tank down and do three 50% water changes until clear?

Before picture:
http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/3126/clearbi.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/696/clearbi.jpg/)


Current pictures during feeding time, to get fish to the front of the tank

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/6207/cloudy1.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/822/cloudy1.jpg/)

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/6727/cloudy2.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/267/cloudy2.jpg/)


http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/9567/cloudy3.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/710/cloudy3.jpg/)

[Northwoods Discus]

I seems you increased your bioload quite a bit and took out sources of filtration/nitrogen cycling with your plants and a mature filter. You replaced it with a new larger filter. Was that a cycled filter? If not you reduced your bacteria colonies drastically. Also you may need to filter out particulates with some type of filter material. Biological filtration with bio ball but no mechanical. Up your water changes until the new filter cycles and add some mechanical filters and hopefully that will help. Nice fish by the way.

[stephcps]

agree you may need more mechanical. Also try some carbon...it helped clear my cloudies. I found though I needed to either remove it or replace it as soon as the tank started clearing or it would start all over again. Very well could be a bacterial bloom....water changes should help then. Also, what r u feeding?

[Chad Hughes]

It looks more to me like an algae bloom. The reason that I say that is due to the amount of light that your tank is exposed to. I see a large window behind the tank plus you have a light strip on top. I'll assume that you are running the light PLUS you have what apperas to be a good bit of sunlight. This would normally be OK for established, balance planted tanks as the plants outcompete the algae for nutrients. The bigger the bioload (more fish) the more you feed and the more nutrients are available in the water column. With that amount of light, algae begins to take hopld and often appears as cloudy water. I'd remove as much of the natural light as possible. Sunlight can really wreak havok sometimes.

Hope that helps!

[Harry Marsh]

I feed a mix of flake and bloodworm

Just did a 50% waterchange. Here is the result

much clearer (but, still cloudy)

I think I'll give it 2 hours and do another 50%
Should I simply continue until it's clear again?



The new filter I put in had the old bio balls in it, to preserve bio filtration. I am guessing, not enough
But yea, the emperor 400 has no bio filtration other than the bio wheels...which I think are poor

I think i'm going to replace it with an aquaclear 110 and add in lots of the bio balls in the filter

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/4689/cloudy4.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/193/cloudy4.jpg/)

[Harry Marsh]

I kind of suspect algae too
There's a big window behind, but the back of the bank is blacked out

However, I have one 48" T5 strip with two bulbs
And also the larger pedestal light is a 48" T5 setup with 4 bulbs (two white, two blue)

Cloudy made me turn them all on...


Picture in an hour or two after a second 50% water change...and we'll see how it looks

[Skip]

why would you mix these ADULT fish..
that are not cheap.. with tetras?! without qt!?
i concor.. putting a tank in front of a window is no bueno..
also no water change for a week.. probably cause the algae to increase.. i have noticed that with my tank.. getting some brown if i let it go without a water change for several days.. but not when WC are reg

[Harry Marsh]

The tetras were for cycling...for a month or two. They were there before the discus by a month or two
Plan on taking them out. Only leaving them in as a signal, at the moment (if I'm doing something wrong...I figure the 3 rummynose left would die before the discus and tell me there's a problem)

The other tetras I had in there are in another aquarium, but left 3 in. Everything looks healthy.

Canary in the mine?

Second water change in progress. Looking clearer. I may threaten a third water change.


But yes, i'm sure it still gets a lot of light from the window. Maybe I'll add a blind


Other thoughts, suggestions?

[Skip]

ok.. you need to REVIEW QT procedures.. adding existing FISH with NEW FISH could be disastrous!!!!

you don't know if the TETRAS are carrying something they are IMMUNE too.. BUT DISCUS are NOT!

Indians, Europeans & Small pox.. same thing..

ALSO.. let the TANK CYCLE.. you will keep having problems.. if you can moving filters and replacing them with new ones.. just let it work.. keep up with water changes.. and stop tinkering.. PATIENCE!!

[Brokenrack]

I had a very simular experiance. Seemed like water changes didn't help at all and my bio kept crashing. Then I noticed the water in my aging barrel kept clear if I didn't put prime in and cloudy when I did and left it over night. and then I went away for 4 days and when I came home the water was clear. Anyway, I think there is way more chloramine in my water so I double dose with prime and cut back on the water changes and now my water is clear.

[dadecountyalan]

nice fish. if you can change the background color to something light. your fish will look way better

[ExReefer]

nice fish. if you can change the background color to something light. your fish will look way better

Completely agree. I tried a black background with my Piwow RT's and the fish became less active and dark. The photo of them huddled in the corner in post #5 is a sign of stress.

[jimg]

the cloudiness will go away when tank full cycles/matures unless it is green

[YSS]

why would you mix these ADULT fish..
that are not cheap.. with tetras?! without qt!?
i concor.. putting a tank in front of a window is no bueno..
also no water change for a week.. probably cause the algae to increase.. i have noticed that with my tank.. getting some brown if i let it go without a water change for several days.. but not when WC are reg

QT which fish? The new adult discus or the existing tetras?