Cloudly Water

[Bighead278]

I also posted this in the begginers discussion too but I need a quick answer. All my paramters were perfect so I bought a Clownfish and a cleaner shrimp yesterday.Ar,I am so mad, both died in about 2 hours.I think I did rush things a little and now I'm going to wait a month before I add anything else. But now my tank is really cloudy and 2 of my 3 hermits died and I found adead baby mantis shrimp(kinda happy about that though), what could be causing this?

[reef_a_roni]

I HEARD THAT SOMETIMES IN THE LIVE ROCK THERE COULD BE A SPONGE THAT IS DYING AND THAT CAN SOMETOIMES CAUSE CLOWDY WATER. i ALSO WANT TO KNOW, HOW LONG DID YOU ACCLIMATIZE YOUR FISH AND YOUR SHRIMP?

[reefin300]

Do you have a test kit? I suggest testing and posting your results. salinity trates, ammo. how long has the tank been setup? how much water movement do you have in the tank?

 

All qualifying questions.

[reef-luva]

Sounds like an UN-balanced nitrosomas bacteria colony.

New tank syndrome. Don't be so quick to say,"ALL' we're "perfect" as far as your parameters. Obviously something is not.

Maybe all the ones you tested we're "perfect".

But again, what do you mean by "perfect?"

All died within two hours?...somethings up.

If the shrimp died, you might have something pretty serious goin' on.

Please post your" perfect parameters" :/

[Upright Joe]

Sounds like ammonia - the cloudy water could be a bacterial bloom. You might want to double check your levels with a different test kit or take some water to a local store to have it checked. Also, I'd recommend doing some partial water changes asap.

 

Also, how did you acclimate the critters?

 

Lastly, in the future, only add one critter at a time.

[Bighead278]

Ok, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate were all at 0, my pH was 8.2,and the specific Gravity was 1.023(Should I rasie this to 1.025?). Tomorrow I am going to go to the fish store and ask them to test my water. I acclimated them for about 30mins. I have a AC 30 for flow and stuffed with filter floss. Tomorrow I also plan on getting the AC 500 and making it a fuge. The part I really confused is that before the shrimp and fish my water was very clear and now I can hardly see through it, 2 of the 3 hermits died which I had for most of the cycle and the 3rd one lost two leggs and is all the way in the back of his shell. Once I get this figured out I going to wait at least 2 more weeks before adding anything. I also found a bunch of animals in the sand that I think were in the rock, I think some are either brisle worms or flat worms and some other thing that I have no I wat they are. I'll post pics soon either to night or tomorrow(when ever my mom lets me use the good camera).

[Bighead278]

I did a little research and the other worm I found is a Penut worm, and the other thing is a brisle worm. Are they reef safe?

[Bighead278]

Would carbon help clear the tank up?

[Bighead278]

Anyone?

[Cellenzweig]

Carbon may help, but you need to identify the source of the problem so it doesn't happen again.

[Bighead278]

I also found a litle green worm, it's about 1cm big. Any idea of wat this is?

[janasleah]

Bristleworms are fine for the most part, peanut worms are great, I don't know what the green worm is, but unless it's a mantis, don't jump the gun on getting it out of the tank. You need to let things settle down for a while; carbon might help clear the cloudiness, but whatever killed the fish and shrimp is still going to be around. Wait about two weeks and test your water, then take it somewhere to be tested with another brand of test kit, so you can compare your results against someone else's (preferably a REPUTABLE lfs---not always easy to find).

 

I am certainly no expert, but I acclimate my critters for a couple hours, depending on what they are. Any snails? Any hitchhiker snails that could have died and fouled the water? How about a hitchhiker rock clam somewhere? I'm sure this is a stupid question, but did you add the lfs water when you added the fish and shrimp?

[Bighead278]

I only added a drop because that was the only way I could get my shrimp in the tank.I took it today to get it checked and the results matched mine.

[Bighead278]

Yay, today my tank clear up and is very clear. But the weird thing is this happened in like a hour? Is this normal to be hardly able to see through the tank and in about an hour the water becomes very clear?

[Bighead278]

Wow, I just tested my water and my ammo is 8.0 or higher! It might be lower because I'm not in natural sunlight. Should I add Amquel+ or Ammo-lock to lower this because I don't want the Life I still have to die.

[janasleah]

So all you have left, other than hitchhikers, is one hermit? I don't think I'd bother to take him back....that's about all you can do to keep him from dying from ammonia levels. Sounds like you're in the throes of your cycle, or something big died (sponge, clam, etc.) Either way, you're going to have to wait for things to balance out. You can do a significant water change to lower the ammonia levels for now, but I'm betting the cloudy water and ammonia levels are linked. Be patient, test often, and do water changes. At this point I don't think it's going to extend your cycle....ammonia of 8 should be plenty to get the bacteria growing!

 

I haven't ever used amquel or ammo-lock, so I can't advise on that...

[IThanos]

I can't say enough about Seachem's Clarity. A capful of this stuff per 25 gal will clear ANY and all forms of cloudy water super fast. Your water will look like you ran a diatom filter with activated carbon. Plus you can safely even triple the dose for quicker action. It's totally reef safe, infact my corals and anemone seem to enjoy it. Truly cant recommend Clarity enough.

 

Its a clear liquid but when you dump it in the tank it will instantly cloud your water a nice milky white while it goes to work. Within 60 mins your water will be crystal clear.

[Bighead278]

Thank you every one for your help. I made a big mistake for not taking the rock and worms out. Every living thing I found died, my worms, barnacles, duster, hermit. I should of put them in a new container. Well this is complety my fault and I paying the price.

[lavalars]

It sounds like your rock wasn't cured at all. I guess we all learn the hard way sometimes! Better luck next time.