GOD HELP MY FRIEND!!!

krusk

krusk

Member
My friend tank's water turning white
I MEAN WHITE LIKE MILK!!!!
what cause this to happen?
fish, invert decompose?
I don't think water parameters will change the water color from clear to WHITE in a day(yes in 24 hours)
I told me that 1 damsel fish dead but he can not find the fish.
Live rock turning bad?
any suggestion!!!!
 
jakob4001

jakob4001

Member
also, what size is the tank and what do you use for filtration; 1 damsel death should not effect the water that quickly that badly unless it's a very small tank; test the water params & post; probably immediate water change will be need too
 
krusk

krusk

Member
He had 72 Gallon
the tank been setup for about 4 months
the subtance is cc
I have made 100% water change
replace cc with sand 120 lbl sand, 100 lbl are south down and 20 are live sand
and today he called and said, the water are turnning white again (over night)
I gonna try to make another 100 water change today
but I gonna leave the rock out for now turn off filters and only let power head to run for a day
he only have 5 damsels left in the tank
In this hoppy fish die is a big thing but at the state that we are 5 damsel die is not a big consider, we just want the water to clear and add the fish back.
any suggestion please post
thank you
 
drkegel

drkegel

Member
So you changed the substrate from CC to LS? Doing that can cause the white milky color of water as the sand sediment needs time to settle/be filtered out. If you did change the substrate and that's the cause of the milky water, then only time will get it to settle out, should take a couple days. HTH.
 
jester

jester

Member
what are the water parameters? Do not do another 100% water change.
What is the nitrate level?
 
krusk

krusk

Member
DrKegel
the water are white like milk before I change cc to sand
after making 100% water change and replace cc with sand, We still see white like milk after 1 night
 
fishfood

fishfood

Member
How much if any calcium has he been adding. My tank hit a saturation point with the calcium i had been adding and then it happened. White for 2 or 3 days. Calcium had been around 350 before this happened but now has never been below 450.
 
dirtybilge

dirtybilge

Member
Never ever do a 100% H2O change youl lose your cycle, 20% max. I bet the wihite water is a combination of calcium and bacteria in the water. leave the water in the and put some live sand and live rock in your tank you don't need much and leave it alone it will clear in a couple of days, slow down and remmeber saltwater needs alot of time to cycle!
 
drkegel

drkegel

Member
Dirtybilge is right, you should NEVER do 100% water change. By doing a 100% water change you may have stirred the sand enough to cause sediments and other stuff from the sand to rise up and cloud the water. I've seen that happen before, and it took a couple days to clear up. When I set up my 72 gallon bow with DSB, it took almost three days for the water to clear up entirely from the sand stir up.
But, if that happened when you had CC in the tank, and did 100% water change, the old water is all gone, so whatever was wrong, could have left with the old water. So you could have caused whatever was wrong to go wrong again all over again, or caused an entriely new set of problems with new uncycled water.
It's really hard to clearly understand what order you did things in to arrive at the point you are now. I'm just trying to help and make suggestions, maybe point out some things others haven't thought of.
Where there any medications added to the tank? Was it treated with supplements/additives?
 
fender

fender

Active Member
Could be a bacteria bloom. I have heard it happens occasionally. If it is, it will go away in a few days.
Just my .02
 
galina

galina

Member
When my two damsel's had died.. my filter was busted and i woke p to a completely cloudy tank.. my tank is a 30 gallon, and the fish seemed to be dead for a long time.
But I don't think 1 damsel would cause for a whole 75 gallon to do this.
It wasn't wise to do a complete water change.. you should never do more then 20%.
I just wanted to add the bit about my damsels dying.. and good luck.
Galina
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member
lets see, does it look (look closely) like maybe suspended particles, if so, it could be dust form the sand, even though it happened before the change, the change may have helped, but it still may have stirred up some dust
or an elevated clcium level
or if it is just hazey adn or cloudy, it very well may be a problem with the water chemistry, especially if something has died, or even algae
best place to start is a water test and look for the body
and you shoould not do water changes of that magnitude, buthey can in extreme circumstances be done, because they water does not cycle, really, there is such a small percntage of bacteria in the water itself, vs. the bacteria on the galss and rock and in the sand(or cc), which is now missing, unless you used ls, now that very well may have caused a recycle
and one dead damsel if not removed could cause that problem, it could be wedged or hiding in the rock somewhereor even in the filter pipe or something, it needs to be removed,and do a water test, IMO, the ammonia or trites may be high form the damsel and causing the problem
HTH
 
karlas

karlas

Member
NEVER NEVER do a 100% water change. you will restart the cycle all over again and are putting any critters in your tank in danger. adding sand to a tank will cloud it. SD is a very light sand and may take a few days to settle maby even a week or so. removing all the water like that you removed all the bacteria in the water and it will take time to rebuild itself. the sand will become completely settled when it has enough bacteria on it also. after it has settled take a turkey baster and blow it off the lr. also if you cycled with the damsels the first time that is not such a good idea. you can cycle with lr, ls, or throw a piece of table shrimp in the tank without risking the life of the fish.
 
jakob4001

jakob4001

Member
OK OK, I think we are ALL in agreement KRUSK shuld not have done a 100% water change unless extreme circumstances dictated it...and that by adding sand into the tank now, probably has cloudy water from that...so next thing would like to know is how are things going now KRUSK?
 
von_rahvin

von_rahvin

Member
what size pump do you have in your sump? (like my rhyme?) sounds like to me you are having an microaglea outbreak. you need to cycle the entire tank through you sump between 4-8 times per hour. it could be that yout tank is just not getting enough circulation.
 
krusk

krusk

Member
Hello all
the white like milk water did not cause by sand.
Try this test
get a glass and fill it with 2/3 of water and then add 1/3 milk to it.
that is how the water look like in my friend's tank(no joke), consider you can not see the tank's background
I'm really appreciated for any help and suggestion
I think i'm gonna add more live rock (about 10 lbl) to the tank and wait for few days.
I do a water test nitrate is little high
and nitrite is at 0 or other way around, I can't really remember which is which
any other suggestion
 
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