Cloudy Water

Hi all,

Tank was doing outstanding, until yesterday. I was away for the weekend and asked someone to feed my fish. Apparently, they thought it would be smart to dump the entire jar of fish pellets into the water to feed them (there are only 3 fish). 4 hours later when i returned home, the tank was extremely cloudy, couldnt see a thing. I did a 5gal water change (tank is 90g) because thats all i had at the time. I am in nthe process of mixing more, but am afraid the fish wont make it. Any suggestions on what to do? Please help!!!

 

I would test the Ammonia,Nitrite and PH. If you are reading ammonia doing a WC may do more harm then good because raising the PH makes the ammonia even more toxic. I would get some Prime to detoxify the ammonia first(if you indeed have it). Then do the WC.

 

Just a very large WC and run some carbon.

 

+1

Also, try to remove the uneaten food. Vacuum the surface of the sand and rocks; squirt between the rocks with a turkey baster; add a canister or HOB filter with mechanical media to trap suspended particles, etc...

 

Everyone is missing the most important thing.
NEVER LET THIS PERSON FEED YOUR FISH AGAIN!!!!

In all seriousness though whenever I go away and need to have someone watch over the tank I always do a good WC/cleaning a couple days beforehand and use medicine cups to premeasure food. I premeasure the food to half of what I might normally feed and tell them to feed every other day just to be sure (Many times the guys can use a 1 week diet anyhow). By doing this I avoid the problems associated with leaving that responsibility to someone else since many nonaquarists seem to think fish need to eat half a bottle 3 times a day.

 

Thanks for the advice. Problem is I cant vacuum because i have over 100 snails on the rock and sifting thru the substrate

 

You can still vacuum, I suck up a few snails every know and then. Just pick through the waste water afterwards and throw em back. I am sure I miss a few every now and then as well and with so many snails 1 or 2 down the toilet, although I feel bad for the poor snail, does not make an impact on the tank.

 

Ok so tested water. Ammonia and nitrites very high, what do I need to do

 

Using API kits, ammonia is at 8 (the highest) and nitrates/ites are at 5 (also the highest)

Added two capfuls of prime to tank.

Anything else?

 

Water change asap. Do a big one.