Okay, the first time it was okay...

[AleksofG]

Alright, I have a problem and I don't know how to fix it. I don't even know if it's a disease.

The problem started, oh, lets say about midnight on Monday...or would that be Tuesday? Oh well. Moving on, I came downstairs to get a snack and took a glance over at my beloved aquarium. (Background - bought tank from former shark breeder, 55 gallons, freshwater, has had for about 7 years, has two oscars, 6 inch and 5 inch, and a 6 inch pacu, cleaned once a week) Very odd, the fish that had decided not to eat this morning (very odd, they try to eat people that walk by) are now appearing to have trouble breathing. Even stranger...the tank is quite cloudy. Well, it's about time to clean so I'll do a partial water change. Then, a little water is taken out, a little put in, I'll wait to see if it gets better. A couple hours later, about 2 o'clock AM Tuesday, stil cloudy. Actually, it's even more cloudy. And the fish are quite pale and not moving much. Now of course I freaked out at this point and took the fish out, putting them in a bucket of nice clean water (took the chlorine out and put a little start right in, after all, it was just temporary) Then I completely emptied the tank, put new water in, filled it up, and started it over. Well, it seemed ok, I didn't have another place to put them so I put them back in after a while. (At this point I've very tired) I go to sleep, content that the fish are looking better and the water is clear.

Next morning I get up, the tank is cloudy. Rather irritated I put them in another tank I had, that was nice and clear and doing good. The fish almost immediately got better. I emptied the big tank, took it outside, and am now in the process of bleaching the whole thing and restarting.

Here's the real kicker. Now the new tank is getting cloudy and the whole problem is returning. The people at the pet store are clueless. Does anybody here know how to fix this. I'm a little worried it has something to do with my fish.

Any kind of help will be appreciated.

[FroggyFox]

what kind of time frame are we looking at? How long have YOU had it set up? Did you change the filters when you set it up?

What are your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate readings?

[fishboy]

Is it white or greenish?

Most likely a bacterial bloom. This is caused with excess feeding, decaying matter, or when you kill off some of your good bacteria and have to cycle over again. Unfortunately you emptied the tank, if you hadnt it would have been alot easier. I suggest you read up on fishless cycling, keep your other fish in that other tank for a while, and when it is finished with its cycle move them back into the original tank. It has nothing to do with your fish at all just the environment. Did you know what your ammonia,nitrite, and nitrate levels were? If you dont have test kits go out and buy some because you are going to need it for your cycle. Dont clean out your filters either, keep them wet if you can.

Read up on this

Fishless Cycling - Everything You Wanted to know...


Good luck,
Daniel

[AleksofG]

Ah ha! *pokes evil pet store ppl* Fiends! *Will not listen to them anymore.

I have had the tank set up like so for about 5ish years? Somewhere around there.
Readings...Can't remember. The ammonia was off, I think everything was. After doing some more reading it seems like it was really a bacterial bloom. The water was whitish. It also smelled funny, if that means anything. One thing I noticed was that the tank is cloudy (new one) but the fish are fine. They want to eat, actually, they are attacking my cats, but that's normal. I'll just do that fishless cycling thing with the old tank. I was going to buy one of those Aquarius Research filters, because it sounded neat and I need to give myself something. I would have kept some stuff from the old tank but the people who sold me the fish said bleach everything and throw out the gravel. Figures. But I still have the filters...and they are wet. That's a plus.

Anyway, thanks a bunch you guys.