new cichlid tank is foggy, Help!!

ashleyjoy1989

hey all,

i got a new tank for christmas and decided to make it a cichlid tank, as i already have a tropical community, and a crayfish tank. well we set it up and let it do its 24 hour filtering before i tested it. the pH was high because it hadn't been treated yet. so i treated it waited a few more hours to take a water sample to the store. they told me my water was fine, so we bought our fish. we only got 4 so we wouldn't overload ourselves, the tank or the new fish. last night i was watching tv and noticed the tank seemed a little bit cloudy, but assumed it was because we haven't put the background on yet and its against a white wall. this morning i woke up and the tank is much more foggy than it was last night. is this because its a new tank and has to work itself out? i dont remember it happening to my tropical tank but then again i put the background on as soon as i set it up. i don't want to treat it anymore because i don't want to stress the fish anymore yet. any ideas? knock on wood no one has died, so i want to kick it in the butt before they do...cichlids are expensive!!!
thanks in advance

RedRaider15

What type of cichlids do you have, and how large is the tank. This could possibly be a bacteria bloom, or not I just need a little more information. What type of substrate do you have?

Fresh salt

From what I understand this is a new tank that has not properly cycled. If this is the case the cloudiness you are seeing is the tank going through the cycling process.

RedRaider15

When I first started with Cichlids I had no idea how to cycle. This same thing happened to me, but it went away in a few days. Could you possibly post a picture.

Byron

I agree it is most likely either related to cycling, or the substrate, or a bacterial bloom. All can occur in new tanks.

I am also concerned over the "treatment" mentioned, can you explain what this refers to?

Byron.

ashleyjoy1989

i'm thinking it must have been cycling like you guys have mentioned as it seems to have almost gone away.
as for the treatments i mentioned, my pH was WAYY to high so i put a pH balancer in which got it down to normal, and a water conditioner to level everything out. both always seem to work and never have that effect on my tropical tank.
its a 20 gallon tank, with just the aquarium gravel on the bottom.
we have 1 bumblebee, 1 kenyi, 1 jewel, and 1 electric yellow.

buzz4520

20 gallon isn't big enough for african mbunas: 1) not enough room to claim their own territory 2) not enough water to support their bio-load 3) all the fish you've got listed will get 4-6 inches easy, i had a bumblebee that got to 7 inch (in a 55g) before he died.
the electric yellow is the least aggressive fish in your list and will most likely be the one to get picked on so keep a close watch on that. i'm not trying to be negitive about your set up, just trying to save you some heartaches down the road.