I cleaned the filter this weekend,,the water is now cloudy, and fish have stuff on them. Why did the water turn cloudy? what am I supposed to give the fish now? they don't look healthy, they don'y even swim around like they used to,,,someone help please.
2006-11-26 23:28:56 · 7 answers · asked by maggiedimaria 1 in Pets ➔ Fish
How thoroughly did you clean the filter? The only thing you should do with the filter is rinse it in water you have taken from your aquarium. If you used tap water on your filter or if you used any sort of soap or cleaning products, that is the problem. Chlorinated water and cleaning products will kill the beneficial bacteria that grow in your filter and keep the aquarium balanced. So now you have basically started your cycle all over again as if you had a brand new aquarium. The cloudiness is the nitrifying bacteria trying to react to an ammonia spike from the cleaned filter. You need to do 20% water changes daily to keep the ammonia and nitrites down as it goes through the cycle again. I would also add a little freshwater aquarium salt to the water to reduce the stress on your fish. The white powdery stuff sounds like columnaris or velvet or some other bacterial infection. Look up fish diseases online and see if you can find what it is. If it does turn out to be a bacterial infection or "body fungus", I recommend a combined treatment with both Maracyn and Maracyn-2. Remember to remove the carbon from your filter before you treat them. I would also remove your biological filter media or filter cartridge before you medicate, so you don't risk damaging your biological filtration again.
2006-11-27 04:00:46 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your fish are sick yes, but it doesn't make it ich. When you say powdery stuff, then no it's not ich. Ich looks like salt grains on fish. The powdery stuff, is however, a fungal infection. You can get Mardel's Maroxy, available in a fish store. Follow the instruction on that. cut down a little on feeding, give them a fast day(no food at all).
The cloudiness is a bacterial bloom, caused by excess of nutrients. It should go away in a few days.
If it does look like salt grains, then get them ich treatment and follow those instructions, but still do the fast day.
Also add some medical salt to the tank to relieve stress.
2006-11-27 07:40:53 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Possibly velvet disease or a fungal infection, check out this link lists the most common aquarium disease and possible treatments; http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_disease2.php
If you rinsed your filter media under tap water its possible you killed a lot of nitrifying bacteria causing the amonia/nitrite cycles to be unbalanced which could account for throwing the water chemistry off. Try doing 10 % water changes every day or 2 and see if the water clears up, oscars are very messy fish which require large aquaria( for 2 a minimum of 75g) and and clean water to thrive.
2006-11-27 08:34:56 · answer #3 · answered by crazy.carabid 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
as the owner of an oscar, these fish get to be a big size 40 to 50 centermetres long and the bigger they get the harder it is to keep them healthy, if you not a hard core fish person they will become sick and then the fish will get depressed and die.you need to keep the tank cleaner. the changing of the water must not a shock to the fish cause this is where the trouble starts.think of it this way the air we breath is what keeps us alive if the air gets polluted we suffer. if you take the pollution out we get well. the water has to have 50% pollution, to little pollution and he will suffer, to mutch pollution will kill him too. your filter may not be big enough, you may need to clean your tank twice a week. really as soon as you can get professional help, cause it may be a long road to recovery
2006-11-27 07:56:40 · answer #4 · answered by jane_sutherland1966 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's sure not tarter sauce!
Check you water characteristics and if need be, take some pictures and get some advice fom the folks at the pet store.
2006-11-27 07:37:08 · answer #5 · answered by Tim C 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
my fish had ick for awhile i think.. they do have this ick medicine.. you have to put some in your tank for awhile then like change most of the water.. put new water in.. and then put more medicine in..
you can find it at your local pet store
2006-11-27 07:32:09 · answer #6 · answered by steph 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
your fish are sick.
check the PH and ammonia levels of the water.
2006-11-27 07:33:30 · answer #7 · answered by He moonwalked on my <3 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋