# Help - Cloudy Water /Fish Breathing Heavy



## John S (15 Jul 2012)

On Friday I did my long overdue makeover of my 165l. This consisted of capping my shoddy looking eco complete substrate with gravel and replanting. Everything was removed from the tank and the filter kept running with the fish holding container. 3 hours later the job was done tank refilled, with only about 30l of the original water, all water was treated with Prime. The filter pipes were cleaned but not the filter. Tank was crystal clear.

Yesterday morning the tank water was cloudy, all fish seemed fine but I did a 25% water change - this failed to make any difference with the water. On getting up this morning the tank is as cloudy as ever and the fish are breathing heavily but have good colour. I've just done another 50% water change and they seem happier.

Have I triggered a cycle here and what is the best way to deal with it or could there be something else going on? I don't currently possess a test kit.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## darren636 (15 Jul 2012)

sounds to me like you have ruined the action of your substrate. What was shoddy about the eco complete? Do a water change every day until you are happy.


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## Gary Nelson (15 Jul 2012)

Eco complete is great stuff.... Sounds like you have capped off your good bacteria that was on your old substrate. 
When I did a rescape I scopped up a few containers of old substrate, put in the new stuff, then tipped old over new for the bacteria to re-colonise again... Plenty of water changes over the week should help


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## John S (15 Jul 2012)

Thanks guys, I thought that might be the case. I did a lot of reading up before doing this and there were some conflicting reports as to whether is was a wise thing to do. I took the advice that the filter should take care of things while the substate settled. Not so long ago on a smaller tank I replaced the whole substrate and had none of these issues so thought this would be OK.

The reason for doing this was I've had the eco complete for about 2 and half years, over this period it has started to lose it's colour with particles ranging from black, grey, brown and white. Consequently the substrate looks like the remains of somebodies barbeque charcoal. That's the reason for the 1cm cap. It looks much better but sounds like I've got a tricky few days ahead.


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## Gary Nelson (15 Jul 2012)

davem said:
			
		

> Thanks guys, I thought that might be the case. I did a lot of reading up before doing this and there were some conflicting reports as to whether is was a wise thing to do. I took the advice that the filter should take care of things while the substate settled. Not so long ago on a smaller tank I replaced the whole substrate and had none of these issues so thought this would be OK.
> 
> The reason for doing this was I've had the eco complete for about 2 and half years, over this period it has started to lose it's colour with particles ranging from black, grey, brown and white. Consequently the substrate looks like the remains of somebodies barbeque charcoal. That's the reason for the 1cm cap. It looks much better but sounds like I've got a tricky few days ahead.



How long has your filter been running on this tank? If it nice and established it should be ok and the cloudy water could well be a bacterial bloom.... Nothing to worry about then as it will clear in 24-48 hrs


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## John S (15 Jul 2012)

Hi Gary, filter has been running for 9 months. It's an Eheim 2078.


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## Gary Nelson (15 Jul 2012)

davem said:
			
		

> Hi Gary, filter has been running for 9 months. It's an Eheim 2078.



That should be nice and mature then, I'd just keep your eye on your fish and if in doubt do a water change... Hopefully though the tank water parameters will correct themselves and the water will start to clear.


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## John S (15 Jul 2012)

I hope so. thanks Gary


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## John S (16 Jul 2012)

Well the tank looks worse than ever this morning, also lost a Cardinal tetra yesterday. A water test at LFS shows high ammonia /nitrite. They suggested Ammolock, I got it but haven't used it yet and have just continued water changes. I might try it looking at the tank today.

I read that lowering the PH of the tank will decrease the toxicity of the ammonia? This tank does run Co2 but I didn't run it yesterday as  first thing the fish were struggling to breathe. So should I run the CO2 or not? The fish currently have no breathing issues and look healthy?

Lastly would there be any benefit in putting a bag of mature filter media into the tank itself?


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## darren636 (16 Jul 2012)

get that ammonia treatment in pronto. Pal. Big water change first.


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## sr20det (16 Jul 2012)

Get some bio cycle booster in there, might speed up the process.  Are you sure you used prime?  Might be worth dosing to the tank in whole


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## John S (16 Jul 2012)

Yes it was Prime. It's what I always use. The ammo lock is now in. I'm going to take some media from another Eheim filter on an established tank and add it to this one.


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## sr20det (16 Jul 2012)

If its still cloudy, might be worth moving fish to a bucket with some aeration, to avoid losing any and await the tank to clear a little maybe?


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## san-ho-zay (16 Jul 2012)

Salt is a good preventative against nitrite poisoning. I don't mean the quantities that used to be ladled into tanks in the past -- a tiny amount like 1/10 tsp per 100 litres is all that is required. It's the chloride ions that do the job -- I don't quite understand the process but they stop the nitrite attaching to the haemaglobin and reducing it's capacity to carry oxygen.

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/salt
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/c ... p?sid=2850

I believe Prime also carries instructions to deal with temporary nitrite levels?


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## John S (16 Jul 2012)

Thanks everyone. Looks like you can double dose Prime. So ammolock and Prime are in. Will add salt and seeded filter media later. Fingers crossed.


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## John S (16 Jul 2012)

The effect of the ammolock was quite astonishing. I'd said previously they fish looked healthy but they were a bit agitated. Within minutes they seemed much calmer. Tonight they are coloured up, no clamped fins and want to be fed.

I looked up  using Prime to help me through this(on Richards suggestion) and it looks like you can use it for ammonia and nitrite spikes. So far, so good and fingers still crossed. Thanks again for the suggestions.


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## John S (17 Jul 2012)

Just a further update incase anybody else gets in this mess.

 Nitrites very high last night, after dosing with Prime it is to be expected as apparently Prime just neutralises the toxic part but it still shows up. 24 hours on and the water is much clearer with nitrites dropping like a stone.


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## darren636 (17 Jul 2012)

good stuff.


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## Gary Nelson (17 Jul 2012)

davem said:
			
		

> Just a further update incase anybody else gets in this mess.
> 
> Nitrites very high last night, after dosing with Prime it is to be expected as apparently Prime just neutralises the toxic part but it still shows up. 24 hours on and the water is much clearer with nitrites dropping like a stone.



That's good to hear, hopefully all back on track now then


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## awtong (18 Jul 2012)

Sounds like your quick action has remedied the situation.

Andy


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