55 gal mixed planted - clouded, help

[fishgirlnewbe]

Hi, I'm fairly new to aquariums, my last tank was 30ish years ago. My roommates put me in charge of this 55 gallon with Black Moors, a calico fancy goldfish, an over grown comet, a small assortment of tetras, a common plecto and a siamese algae eater. The problem is the tank keeps clouding up. I do weekly water changes, vacuum the gravel, have reduced the amount and frequency of feeding but nothing helps - any suggestions would be helpful. I'm considering a complete start over....

 

[arcab4]

hi there! welcome to MFT!

- first issue is that you have like some tropical fishes (tetras etc) mixed in with coldwater fishes (goldfish)
- the other issue is probably the tank is overstocked. too many fishes for that size tank.
- and goldfish are notorious for being a huge waste producer and thus probably your cloudy tank water since you've said you've cut down on the feeding.

what i would do i think is either pick the goldfishes or the tropical fishes and donate the ones you decide not to go with to your local LFS. and then go from there initially.

what kind of filtration system do you have?

 

[fishgirlnewbe]

The tank isn't mine and my roommate wants the remaining black moor and the calico, the comet can go. As for the rest there are maybe 2 platys, a mollie, maybe 8 very small tetras and the plecto and algae eater. The tank has a large Marineland Bio filter that has 2 large wheels and slots for 2 filter cartridge on each side. The substrate is medium-sized aquarium gravel. Not sure what the plants are, they kind of look like swords. Currently there is one cartridge on each side. The light is an led that has daylight and night-time blue

 

[CAPSLOCK]

If you can give the comet to someone with a pond, that'd be ideal. They really get too large for most tanks anyways, and prefer the cooler temps of a pond. Since he's a pretty big fish already from the sounds of it, hopefully him being gone will help lower the strain on the tank and improve water quality.

Sometimes carbon in the filter will help clear up the water. Also plants absorb some of the waste product from fish, so healthy plants are a help to the tank as a whole.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Yeah, that's a grossly overstocked tank, so water quality concerns are going to be an issue. I'd try to re-home the common pleco and comet like said. I've seen common plecos so big, they can't easily turn around in a 55g tank. I've seen some pretty big common or comet goldfish too. They must take some time to grow this big. I've got a ~2yr old, very pretty comet in my 55g that's barely 5" long along with 3 fancies.

 

[fishgirlnewbe]

I'm trying to get roommate to setup at nice 10 gallon setup that the former guppies were in for the tetras and let the Comet, the Black Moor and Calico have the 55 gallon. The reason the guppy tank was taken down was it was located were it got constant ambient light and the water was always green with algae. She doesn't want to add furniture to the room. Would more filtration on the 55 help and more frequent vacuuming? I vacuum and do water changes about once a week, but 25 to 30 percent of the water doesn't allow much of the gravel to get cleaned. Thoughts - the bio filter has two filter slots on each side, would adding the second cartridge on each side help?

 

[FishDad]

Cloudy water usually means a bacteria bloom. Worried it might be cycling. Has this been constant or is this a new development? Also, when was the last time you've changed the filter carriages? Did you clean the tank recently?

Go ahead and set up the little tank, but use gravel from the 55 to jump the cycle. You'll have to wait a bit before adding fish - and gradually at that.

 

[Aptfisher]

Yeah what fished says is right. Use stuff from the existing tank on the smaller one and that'll help with your situation. This way will result in less maintenance unless you like vacuuming the tank all the time.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Yeah, but the key to the matter is, all the filtration and gravel vacumming in the world won't help an over stocked tank. More water volume and more frequent and larger water changes will.

 

[fishgirlnewbe]

Cloudy water usually means a bacteria bloom. Worried it might be cycling. Has this been constant or is this a new development? Also, when was the last time you've changed the filter carriages? Did you clean the tank recently?

Go ahead and set up the little tank, but use gravel from the 55 to jump the cycle. You'll have to wait a bit before adding fish - and gradually at that.

I change between 25 to 50 percent of the water normally every week and the filter pack once a month. Lately due to injury haven't been able to. This is a fairly new problem with this tanKevin when it had a very heavy bio load. The population is now around 8 tetras, a gold mollie, a chinese àlgae eater, and what I think is a common plecto. He has dark brownish spots on an olive like color. Other smaller tank has to wait for roommate to agree to it, so could be awhile

 

[fishgirlnewbe]

Can one of you recommend a good set up for a Betta malie? I know they require warm water, gentle current and a nice clean home. I was thinting about between 3 and 5 gallon due to the space I have. It's a side table that is about 16"Sq Are there any good quality Betta kits in that size out there?

 

[arcab4]

these are more unique ones.

Umbra FishHotel Aquarium
http://amzn.to/1OTKqAm

or my friend actually uses this. he's growing some herbs on top. works fine for him and you get to do some aquaponics too!
Back to the Roots Water Garden
http://amzn.to/1NbKBBp

but if i had the room, i would consider the fluval edge tanks. they just look super nice.
Fluval Edge Aquarium with LED Light
http://amzn.to/1NbKF44

 

[FreshyFresh]

Petco is running it's $1/gal sale, so a 10g would be great for a male betta or a few female bettas. I personally prefer a group of female bettas.

 

[fishgirlnewbe]

Cloudy water usually means a bacteria bloom. Worried it might be cycling. Has this been constant or is this a new development? Also, when was the last time you've changed the filter carriages? Did you clean the tank recently?

Go ahead and set up the little tank, but use gravel from the 55 to jump the cycle. You'll have to wait a bit before adding fish - and gradually at that.

Roommate won't set up 10 gal tank and to make matters worse she just went out and got enough tetras to populate the big tank plus 4 more fancy goldfish (I'm not sure what 3 of them are but one is a Black Moor) and a school of the yellow ones that have the black on the tail that looks like Macky mouse. I'm ready to let them deal with it and watch the fish die as much as it sounds bad. She won't listen to me about splitting the goldfish and the tropicals. To answer your question - I was doing water changes every week (25- 30 percent) and changing filter media every 2 weeks. The cloudy water was before water change and 3 goldfish reduction. Short of watching her very expensive purchases die, is there anything I can do to help these poor fish? Adding charcoal in addition to the filter media? ANYTHING

 

[CAPSLOCK]

They make an ammonia reducer that you can put in the filter - like a carbon packet but it is for ammonia.