I NEED HELP!!!!

[talk2mejjv]

My tank is going crazy. I don't know what to do. OK, so here's what's happening. Within the past three weeks I've done two 30% water changes because my tank is majorly cloudy. Some people mentioned that it may be a bacterial bloom but it has been in the tank now for weeks. I thought those were supposed to go away. The water looks like it has a greenish tint to it though. So it could be algae. If so, what do I do? My fish are acting unhealthy, which leads me to believe that something is majorly wrong. They don't have an appetite and they are staying in small spaces without much movement. I've done water test with strips but I don't ever know what that stuff means. My pH seems to be the same as always. I don't see any major problems with anything else. What could be causing this? I want my fish to be healthy and I want my tank to go back to it's clear days. Please Help. I'm going crazy! Thanks in advance. I need some major instruction.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I would invest in a liquid test kit. They are more accurate IMO than the strips.

Did you get values for ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAtes?

Do you have live plants in the tank? Does it get direct sunlight? How much light is over the tank?

How often do you feed? What is your regular maintenance (how often for water changes and how much)?

I need a tad more info to get a better understanding of the problem.

If the cloud is greenish tinted, then I'm assuming its a an algae bloom. But usually the fish don't stop eating or act differently, so I'm assuming something else is going on here.

 

[GIS Guy]

The testes should come back with:
0 for ammonia
0 for nitrIte
and
a low number for nitrAte.
That would indicate a properly cycled tank.

 

[talk2mejjv]

I have a little sunlight that comes in the side of the tank, so I have covered that. I have also started feeding my fish every two days instead of daily to see if that will help. I normally do a water change every two weeks or so. I hope I can revive my tank because I would hate for my fish to die. I'm working on this as hard as I can. I don't know what else I can do. Anymore help would be appreciated.

 

[SANND]

Not much else to do other than water changes. You might do them more frequently than every two weeks to help keep the tank cleaner. When was the last time you rinsed the filter floss(pad)? High nitrates in the filter can cause algae breakouts. Always rinse with dechlorinated water or you will kill off the good bacteria.

Try to get those ammonia/nitrite/nitrate numbers for us.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Did you get numbers for ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte? If so, what are they?

Also did you cycle the tank? You didn't mention it in your first post, so I was just curious.

 

[FroggyFox]

Until you can get us numbers I'd definitely do some searching on the board for "green cloudy" or "algae bloom". What seems to work best is a combination of blacking the tank out completely and lots of big water changes. You have to figure out what is causing the bloom, otherwise all of your work to make it go away won't mean anything because it will just come back. How big of water changes do you do every couple of weeks? I'd guess that doing them infrequently if they're not 50% changes that you're not getting all the gunk out of the tank that you should. I would start out doing a 50% water change today. Clean your filter media in dechlorinated water, then try another big water change tomorrow and throw a big blanket over the tank or tape black plastic bags around it so that no light gets into your tank. Your fish dont need light, they'll be fine.

Your fish acting strangely has me a little concerned because usually unless there is something else going on an algae bloom or a bacterial bloom really doesn't affect the fish. It wouldn't be lack of oxygen because you said you have an airstone. What type of filter do you have? how many and what types of fish are in this tank, what size are we talking about?