white cloudy water

[Dosan]

Hi All
I have posted in the hospital section but got no responses so I thought I'd try it here. I have a 5 gal shrimp tank with some flame and java moss, subwassertang and dwarf water lettuce. My water has gone milky white the last few weeks and it does not seem to be going away. I have done a few w/c and squeezed the sponge every time but problem still persists along with some deaths that seem to come along after these w/c and after some feedings too. Not sure if i can use Purigen in the tank. I have 85 rcs wilds and non's with ada soil and some cactus wood with 2 marimo balls. amm 0 trite 0 trate 5-10 ph 7.2 gh 6 kh 2 temp 78. I use equilibrium and dechlorinator with all w/c. and have noticed that the ph rises when I let the water age for a day or two. Ph straight from tap is around 6.8 but after a day or so it is around 7.6/7. Was thinking the new water ph of 7.7 was maybe affecting some shrimp and causing deaths. I have tried feeding everyday and also alternate days but the death toll keeps rising. Every couple of days I get some deaths so I'm getting pretty frustrated with my shrimp keeping skills. I feed them crab cuisine and algae wafers along with ada and shirakura shrimp wafers. Any help is most appreciated because I/m about ready to give up on the shrimp. Thanks, Luis

[Nicklfire]

smaller the aquarium the harder it is to maintain for sure.

Well if this was my tank this is what i would do. Get a bunch of water... sitting out so it chlorinate on its own.

Then i would do 50% water change every day or every 2nd day.

Seems like a bacterial bloom that you have.

If your going to squeeze that filter out then make sure you are doing it in OLD tank water, and not running it under a tap or anything, that`s just going to kill any beneficial bacteria you have.

How much are you feeding them.... You might want to feed them less during the bloom...

it's a matter of trial and error, maybe you want to wait till you get some more comments, i'd hate for you to take my advice and have them all die.

Answer some questions, maybe we can get more info

-what filter do you have and when was the last time you really washed it
-how long has this filter been setup
-over the past 2 weeks, how many water changes and how much water are you changing
-how long is your light on per day
-what is your feeding scheduale
-how long has this tank been setup and stabilized.

Also it's probably advisable to get a aeration happening in there.. lots of air is good

[EDGE]

ADA can caused algae/bacterial bloom at the start. ADA has a good amount of ammonia/ammonium soaked into the substrate and is normal for a hazy color if the tank is not well planted. How long have you had the ADA soil for?

Here is CRS fan tank. you can still see the haziness even after a couple of months.

http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/tank-...49/index4.html

I would stop squeezing the sponge and let the good bacteria build up. Everytime you squeeze the sponge, you are getting rid of the bacteria in there.

Lower the gH from 6 to 3 gH. 6 gH is fairly high for RCS especially with ADA soil and equilibrium. The equilibrium is causing your pH to go up to 7.6-7.8 which makes ammonium extremely toxic. Converting ammonium to NO3 is not instant. there is still a period where ammonium from ADA soil can still be toxic. NH4 is leech from the ADA soil where shrimps are in direct contact with.

[Dosan]

Thanks Nicklfire and Edge. To answer your questions I have a sponge filter that was part of a tank set up I bought from another member. Tank was cycled and I even got the cycled tank water to fill up. Bought this set up because I had major problems in my 40 gal with gravel. The tank was brownish cloudy the first few days I set it up but it was getting clearer then the cloudy white started in and has been present ever since, about 3-4 weeks. I've done w/c every week and did a back to back the first week of the bloom. I change about 15-20 % and do squeeze the sponge out b/c I thought it would filter better, I used tank water. Light is on anywhere between 8-12 hrs a day with a couple hours off in between, don't have a timer yet. Feedings are every other day now, which consist of 1/4 algae wafer broken up and 1 cm x 1 cm ADA or Shirakura wafer also broken up. I will reduce the gh with the next w/c and see if I get the same results. I will keep you posted, thanks Luis.

[tang daddy]

As edge and nickelfire said, it's definitely a bacterial bloom, you probably got rid of all the denitrifying bacteria when you squeezed the sponge. When I start tanks with new Ada soil I put filter squeezings into the tank.

It should subside in a few weeks, and hopefully you don't lose alot of shrimp to a recycle of the tank... Good thing they are cherries and can stand rougher water params, if they were CRS it would be a bad outcome!!

Good luck and I would try to purchase another seeded sponge filter to help sped up the process of cycling or perhaps even a hob with seeded sponge....

When you do water changes in future make sure to do about 10-20%, shrimp tanks don't like fluctuations, I only do 2-4 liters per week on a 15g.

[Dosan]

Thanks Chris. The sponge filter was cycled but I guess in my giddiness to see the tank more clearly ( I disturbed the ada which was not brand new when I filled the tank ) I created the bloom with the squeezing. I'll keep you all posted. Luis