Archivarium 2004

[Nycfilipina]

Hi...
for alittle less than a week my 37g tank has been cloudy.
only today it has gotten real bad.
TO to point it looks smokey inside.
I have 4 panda cories in there and 15 neon rainbow fry in a breeder net. yesterday I saw about 4 or 5 cory eggs. TOday I think 3 caught fungus because it looks all white and fuzzy/spikey.
the ammonia was at 1.0 so I did a 25% WC and when I retested the ammonia was at 4.0!!! So I added some ammolock. no nitrites and les than 20ppm nitrates. temp 78
I've been doing 10% wc every other day because of the fry.
I feed the fry 3 to 4 times a day and I give the cories 2-3 pellets at nite. They are gone by the morning.
I also have 2 melon swords and 3 stems of ludwiga, 1 floating in with the fry. I have a compact florescent double 65w lighting.
I try to keep the lighting 12hrs on. Last nite I turned it off after about 13 hrs....
the water also looks like it has a lot of dust or grime only on the surface of the water.
tank has been set up for alittle over a month now and this is the only time it has been this cloudy.
I was treating the tank after a week it was set up for ICH, but cleared up after 2 weeks, then started with new carbon and biospira....biospira hasn't kicked in whatsover.
Any input would be greatly appreciated. tia
_________________
Half of my heart is in Iraq...
until you come home, I will pray for your safe return.

[Dawn]

Do you have another tank that you get some filter media to seed this tank?

Anoher idea if the ich is gone... would it be possible to put the fish back into their original tank?
_________________
always late, but worth the wait

[Nycfilipina]

Hey, thanks for the quick response. I have a 10g that was cycled, but only for a week. It is now going through a mni cycle , which is taking forever, due to over feeding on some daphnia.
I had put some biospira, but that seemd to not work because the ammonia is still high and not going down.
_________________
Half of my heart is in Iraq...
until you come home, I will pray for your safe return.

[Dawn]

Your welcome. Honestly, if this were my tank I would preform a large water change and I mean somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 - 90 percent. I understand that you have fry that need to be fed more often, but perhaps you could cut back to 2 feedings daily along with water changes daily until this cycle has completed.

I had the same problem with my first tank and at one point I thought I'd never be done changing water... it eventually did come to an end. *WHEW* There are other water conditioce like prime that will also help with the nitrite spike that is soon to follow, so you might want to consider that in your plan.

And if possible look for a source of used media to help seed your tank... Any chance you know a good clean LFS that might give you even a handfull of gravel?
_________________
always late, but worth the wait

[Nycfilipina]

I already have PRIME. That's what I use to conditon the water before I add it in.
I had used the ammolock after doing the water change because I retested and saw the ammonia was at 4.0
I have a petsmart, but don't know about thier gravel. I saw some dead fish insome of their tanks.

_________________
Half of my heart is in Iraq...
until you come home, I will pray for your safe return.

[Dawn]

I've heard if fish are already in the tank that biospira won't work... I really can't remember why though. Yes, I've used ammo lock before too and it does make sence to use it. You're doing a good job and everything you can do at this point. I'm just a fan of water changes when there are problems like this, even if things are being added to help protect the fish. The only thing that will cause the ammonia to fall, as I'm sure you know, is the growth of the biological filter.

Good luck!
_________________
always late, but worth the wait

[Josh Hansen]

Ick medication will have knock the nitrifying bacteria population down. You will have to wait for the nitrogen cycle to finish and if you are impatient there are other nirtrifying bacteria chemical brands you can use. Another thing is worth trying is geoliquid to clear up the cloudy water.

Good luck

from Josh

[Nycfilipina]

thank you all for the input and advice. I had put new carbon cartridge in the second slot in my filter last nite because it was unbelievalby cloudy. Icouldnt' see through the other side of the tank! This morning, it doesn't look cloudy anymore.

Thank you all again.
_________________
Half of my heart is in Iraq...
until you come home, I will pray for your safe return.