White Cloudy Water + Dead Fish after water change HELP!!!

eviltuna

Hey guys, I have a cycled 46gal bow front tank setup and running with an Aquaclear 70 HOB and Rena XP3 filter. Here are my water paramaters after the water change:

Amonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5ppm
pH: 7.6

Anyways, usually after a water change my water all milky white for 6-8 hours, but on my most recent water change(yesterday) after a couple hours I noticed my fishes acting funning and 1 fish lying at the bottom, after investigation, I found 2 dead fishes and the rest were huddle at the top of the tank gasping for air, so I immediately removed the survivors to my hospital tank and checked my water. I did what I usually do for water changes appropriate temprature, added water conditioner, waited about 20 minutes for everything to settle before turning on my filters again.

Anyways, the water still hasn't cleared today so I decided to do some investigation and after I opened my Rena filter I noticed a funky smell and there was some white growth on the filter and the sponge media. Is this a bacteria bloom? What can I do?

herefishy

Could there have been some type of cleaner in the bucket(if that is what you used)?

eviltuna

I use a python to change the water and all my buckets/scrubbers are for the fish tank only.

Amphitrite

How long has the tank been cycled for and what fish do you have in there?

It's possible that the local water authority has maybe put some kind of treatment in the water, but that wouldn't account for the white growth on the filter media.

You said that the water turns milky for a while after each water change. Has this always happened? What sort of water conditioner are you using?

Oh, and what sort of substrate do you have in the tank?

When you change the water in your quarantine tank, does the water also turn milky in that?

Sorry for all the questions, but it'll help in identifying the problem.

eviltuna

The main tank has been cycled for over 3 months now. I live in a new development and I do notice the water does smell like they put a lot of chlorine in it, I use Big Al's Water Conditioner and use plenty for the amount of water I change, I have 10 mbunas in the tank of a couple different species. Yes, the water in this tank always turns milky white after a water change but the fishes didn't have any problems before in the last 3 months of weekly water change, and the cloudiness goes away in around 6-12 hours. I am using Aragonite as my substrate.

As for the quarentine tank, I just have water in a bucket left over night and add water conditioner to it, however the quarentine tank does not turn white, I just thought its from leaving the water overnight. Anyways, I've taken apart both my filters and they both have a funky smell, any recommendations? I don't want to the fishes in the hospital tank too long, I was thinking of just draining the tank, give it a good clean, change the substrate. But if there is a better way, I'd like to know it before doing this.

Thanks

Amphitrite

Hmmm, I wouldn't like to advise a total cleaning of your tank at this point as you'll likely have another cycle on your hands which will stress the fish out further. Do you have any decorations in the tank, if so what are they?

What sort of test kit are you using to test the water parameters, liquid or test strips?

eviltuna

I just have rocks in the tank, I'm using an API master test kit, i think its API, its one of the liquid kits. Do you think I need to replace my filter media?

Amphitrite

It could be something to do with the filter media. Was this a brand new filter you put in the tank?


Is it possible for you to post a picture of the white growth on the filter media?

icom

1st thing,switch water conditioners..get some Prime ,NovAqua +,Amquel+..something else besides the BigAls

could be that BigAls conditioner,after the 1st/second time of the milky water,I would have switched to something else just to see if it was the BigAls stuff causing it


I wouldnt be "over dosing" the conditioner either,use the recomended amount for the amount of water being added