VISITOR'S QUESTIONS
27... Problems After Having Illness In The Tank
Your problem will no doubt have been caused by changing
all of the water in your aquarium in one go. In effect you are starting
out now with a new set-up, which must go through its natural cycling
processes just as a virgin set-up has to go through in its beginnings.
The difference in this case is that you already have fishes in the aquarium,
which are producing waste that the limited bacteria colonies cannot
cope with.
Excessive cleaning of all the filters at once, or the
changing of the gravel can trigger a bacteria bloom, this is due to
the removal of bacterial colonies that had settled on the filter media
or substrate.
The reason for your cloudy water lies with these bacteria.
White or grey cloudy water in most cases is caused by a phenomenon known
as "bacteria bloom" and is usually associated with excess nutrients
in the water. This will be the case in your situation because you have
effectively removed all of the bacteria that consume these nutrients,
i.e. fish and other waste products in the aquarium.
The bacteria are either re-establishing themselves,
or they are feasting on high nutrients, or both. In nutrient rich water
they can multiply at such a high rate that the water becomes cloudy
white.
I have no idea why your "fish guy" told you to remove
all of the water from your aquarium, this is never done once an aquarium
has become established, he should know that. By all means do substantial
water changes if and when problems occur, but over a period of days,
never in one foul swoop.
The same reasons apply to your high ammonia content,
this is due to the same factors, i.e. fish waste is not being efficiently
removed because of depleted bacteria colonies.
To be honest there is little you can do at this time,
you have already set up the tank and I assume the fishes are in it,
therefore I suggest you just sit it out and see what happens. Don't
change any more water just yet, let things settle for a while. Don't
feed your fishes for at least a week, this will help to reduce waste,
they won't come to any harm going without food for bit. You can add
some bacteria culture to the water, or to the filter, this will help
get things going a bit quicker, you can get that at your local aquarium
shop.
As far as using treatments to alter the pH , I would
recommend a product called "Proper pH " this will adjust your pH and
will help against a phenomenon known as " pH rebound", which is what
you have been encountering by using products like pH up or pH down,
these just alter the pH then in no time it just rebounds back again,
Proper pH fights against this pH rebound.
That's about it really, let things ride for a week
or ten days then do a small water change, and just let the bacteria
colonies re-establish themselves. I am sorry there is no magic cure
for this one, but it will come right in the end.
Check out these pages from my web site they will help:
Water Quality
and Setting up
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