Cloudy water - yeast?

[nickyc]

Was doing general maintenance on Saturday and realised one of my Nutrafin canisters had backfed into the tank. Irritated beyond belief as I finally bit the bullet 2 weeks ago and bought a pressurised system, but it was out of stock so I've been waiting on delivery. So ripped the Nutrafin out, did a 50% water change, added an extra filter and thought that would do it. Yesterday it didn't look any worse, but not sure it looked better either. Tonight I can barely see the fish though!

I'm going to do another big water change tonight, but what else should/could I be doing?

The pressurised system arrived today, but I'm worried about stressing the fish more - most of them look fine, but one who was a bit under the weather anyway is gasping at the surface. Would an airstone help or hinder??

Thanks in advance for advice

 

[nickyc]

Discovered part of the problem... the pipes on the external filter were kinked - probably from putting it back together in a rush on Saturday. Have done another 50% water change and put the airstone on. Have dosed ferts as usual and some excel as no CO2 on the system at the moment. Still not sure if there is more I should be doing? New CO2 unit sat on the table 🙁 Fish looking happier 🙂

 

[ceg4048]

Hi nicky,
More CO2 in the tank creates more oxygen for fish so having the CO2 canister on the table won't get your system stabilized any faster. Start with a low bubble rate and slowly increase until the dropchecker reaches the right color.

Cheers,

 

[nickyc]

Thank Clive - you confirmed my gut instinct, just need to persuade sceptic b/f! Tank not as cloudy as yesterday but still very murky. Working tonight but will do another big water change tomorrow and get the CO2 going!

 

[nickyc]

This is depressing! Tank still looks awful Did 50% change on Saturday and Monday, and set the CO2 up last night. Tonight it looked worse than ever - I could barely see the plants or fish that aren't right at the front. Changed 50% again tonight. Not sure what else I can do but keep up the water changes.

 

[ceg4048]

Hi nicky,
Don't worry so much. It takes time to clear. Just keep doing water changes when you can and the tank will be fine. Does the filter have a lot of yeast particles in it as well? If so you may want to carefully clean it. If you got contamination in the substrate you may want to do a bit of vacuuming with the water change. You are also not limited to 50% you know... you can change as much as you want, just remember to dose afterwards. :idea:

Cheers,

 

[nickyc]

Thanks again Clive. I cleaned the external filter on Saturday when I discovered the problem. I've since added my little Aquaball to help clear it - I'll pull that out tonight and see what's in it. Bigger water changes planned for the weekend - am waiting for payday to buy a water change pump though, so it's many many buckets at the moment!! Have got the CO2 on a low bubble rate, lowered the lights a bit and am still adding Excel and ferts.

Time to learn some patience!!!