Fish Fungus? and Milky Water!! Ahhh

[karizen4fishes]

okay two problems.. number 1. our water has been milky white/foggy for about 2-3 weeks now.. i've down two 50% water changes and 3 20% water changes.. that is what petstore said to do.. they also had me try "CLARITY" which didn't work but i got my money back for that.. they suggested "BAD BACTERIA"... they weren't too sure.. its even worse in my small tank.. water is as follows

Ph. Good
Hardness. Very hard
Nitrate. 0
Nitrite. 0
Alkaline or whatever. High

also the ammonia keeps jumping from 0-1.0.. so so weird it will be a 0-.25 then next day .50-1.0 then back down again.. is this normal.. tank was cycled for 5 weeks.. everything was fine i had spikes then went down before adding fish- did a 50% water change before adding fish.. did NOT remove filter.. its been about 2 months or 3 months since we've had tank.. i just got a new filter on March 19,2010

the nitrates/nitrites do NOT rise or peek when amonnia is high.. that is a problem right? they always stay at zero



Problem Number 2.. i am not able to get pictures for my Powder Blue Gourami but i will explain as good as i can..

we introduced him about 2 weeks after the initial fish were put in.. well we introduced two of them.. he looked perfectly fine.. in the last week i have noticed. under his eye and next to his mouth (on his face if u will) there is a red Sore... it was small.. then looked to be going away.. just looked at it today and now its even bigger than before.. he swims around, he eats food, he's not sluggish or lazy, he comes to the front of the tank.. he's not skidish or anything.. i doubt this is normal so i was wondering what it might be..

maybe he has been bitten and its a wound.. im not sure, at first he was teased a little by the Dwarf Gourami that was put in before him (i know its was his tank before the powder blue was introduced).. but within a day or less they stopped messing around all together.. they seem to be friends.. they dont chase each other or anything..

fish i have in my 55 gallon tank (FYI i will be gettin another tank when fish get bigger as i dont want to OVERLOAD my tank i have now)

2 Plecos.. Rubber Lip and Spotted..
3 Gourami's.. Dwarf and 2 powder blue
2 Bala Sharks.. (which will be moved when they get big)
1 peacock Eel
7 Zebra Danios. Very Small But Fun to Watch..
6 Giant Danios.. Very Fun to Watch.. Might be having babys soon.. i think i have a pair!!!
1 Small Angelfish

we dont plan on adding to this tank as we consider it full or maybe a little to full?

i have used water conditioner and Clarity

I also do regular water changes each week even at the same time as i have it scheduled..

water temp is 76 degrees and stays at 76 degrees

thank you for your help whoever can!!

blake

[Jay]

Hey Blake...Welcome to the forum

First the numbers...

Ph. Good ...What is Good?
Hardness. Very hard...My GH is?
Nitrate. 0...It is very unlikely that a tank up and running has no NO3
Nitrite. 0
Alkaline or whatever. High...My KH is?

We need to know what the numbers are if we are going to help you. You might want to read the getting help sticky at the top of this sub forum.

There may be a testing problem as 0 nitrates in this tank is impossible.

What is your water source (city/well) and what are the numbers there.

How often do you feed.

What kind of filters are you running.

How often do you vacuum your substrate.

What is your substrate.

Take some of the water and put it in a WHITE coffee cup and look down thru it. Is it really white cloudy or does it have a green tint.

Let us know.

[karizen4fishes]

alright sorry

Ph is 7.6
Hardness is 250
Alkaline is 180
Nitrate and Nitrite are both 0
i dont know what to say.. they are both zero when i test nothing happens to those two squares on the test strips...

Local petstore told me my tap water was fine.. i had that tested

the water isn't green when put into a white coffee mug.. it is foggy/hazey white

i only feed my fish 2 times a day- morning and night.. 9-10 am in the morning i feed them Brine shrimp.. at 7-8 pm night i feed them Flakes

My filter is a Marineland penguin 200 it sits on the back of the tank.. i just got a new filter the other day.. the old one was clogged and not filtering water..

i vacuum 1-2 times a month.. i do vacuum the whole tank.. but i dont get every single bit of course

I have Fake plastic plants in my tank and i have no substrate... i was told substrate was only for a tank that will be using live plants by the petstore worker

[karizen4fishes]

well im just going to treat the powder blue with the Heat and Salt method.. because i noticed some spots on him today.. funny tho as he is the only fish in a tank with 15-20 to get it?? i will keep a very close eye on this guy and the others.. but is anyone gonna respond to my other problems??? i see everyone else gettin responded too.. im not "b*tching.. im just asking

THANKS

[Judge]

Sorry Karizen for any delay. I reread your post trying to see what Q's were not answered. AS far as I can tell you are still having an issue with cloudy water? It could be as simple as having way too many fish, especially with a filter that was not working. Also flake food is notorious for causing Nitrate and algae issues. I quit using them almost entirely. Also, many aquarists only feed every other day. That works fine in my SW tank but I feed my Discus only once per day. Keep in mind, we are not Petsmart or any other entity that is trying to sell you something so please take their advice with a grain of salt and research well before making choices.

When the petstore says your tap water if ok, exactly what does that mean? I would require them to provide numbers.

Sounds like you are on the right track with the gourami and possible ich. Just because none of the others have shown visible signs they can and probably will. Quarantine tanks are a must, especially if you are getting your fish from a questionable source.

You mentioned you have a new filter?? What kind did you get? On the ammonia issue, once the tank has cycled (and I am assuming you tested your water throughout the cycle so you know and watched the process) the ammonia should not go up unless you have had something die off or since the filter was not working properly it was not filtering out all the waste....has to be some cause to the ammonia going up.

What have I missed?

[karizen4fishes]

i did have a fish die about 2 weeks ago... just stressed out from teh ride home and didn't make it long inthe tank.. he was left over night because i didnt know he had died.. that did cause the ammonia to go up.. but since then..

water has always been cloudy/foggy.. maybe it is the flakes.. i barely feed them flakes tho.. at night when i do feed them flakes its almost nothing compared to the Brine shrimp they eat.. and the ammonia as of 9 pm central standard time on march 24th is now at 2.0... i am doing a water change right after i type this.. but i am not to happy with doing so many water changes to bring the ammonia back down everytime it spikes... its getting annoying but im doing it because i like my fish lol.. it is also hard on my little buddies..

i've done two more test on the nitrates and nitrites and they are still at 0..

i will get a tap water test.. again

the pet store said that my water from the tap is not the problem that all my readings were where they are suppose to be.. hopefully they know what they are talking about

about the filter i have a Marineland here is the link to which one i have


http://www.marineland.com/sites/Mari...=2006&mid=3226

in the GRAY box on the bottom of that website i have the 200B penguin power filter

that is what they petstore guy told me to buy for my 50 gallon tank..

and i just got a new filter cartridge to put in..


should i take everything out of the tank except the fish.. and just vacuum the crap out of the tank? i mean try to make sure every little piece is out.. only problem with doing that is.. i have a hand syphon and im afraid i will suck out most of the water.. and i have no water conditioner left to add to the new water i would put back in???

[Jay]

Your numbers look OK...hard water, but no big deal

I'm curious about several things.

You have no substrate...no gravel, stones, sand on the bottom?

What test kit are you using?...dip strips are not very accurate. It is impossible to have no nitrates in the tank as you describe it.

White cloudy water is one of two things...1) micro fines, are micro dust particles that will reflect light and appear cloudy, usually from new sand or dusty substrates or 2) a bacterial bloom caused by over feeding or an abundance of organic waste not being filtered out. The bacterial problem will keep happening until the root cause is eliminated.

I would cut back on feeding to once a day or every other day and continue the water changes. NO results in a week...you might want to explore a short term course of antibiotics...more on that if the food route does not work.

[karizen4fishes]

alrighty.. acutally.. i vacuumed like i said i was.. and the water has been clear for 1-1/2 or 2 days now.. hopefully it stays that way.. and yes i have moved to feeding them once a day.. but i do through in like 5 flakes for the eel because he loves them..


and i do have Rocks on the bottom.. the little colorful ones.. i thing u know what i mean..

the bottom was very dirty.. i got deep down underneath it all and a lot of crap was taken out.. like Brown water underneath my rocks.!! eww.. but hopefully its gone now..

the test strips i was using to test nitrite and nitrate is QUICK DIP.. the dip sticks.. i didnt know they had other test for this.. thought only had dipsticks of course i really didn't look to hard..