the last time I changed my tank I did a little more than 1/4 of the tank cos it was extra dirty and now I can't get the water clear and it is cloudy and always green now! I know it is algae related but derned if I cant get rid of it!! has anyone ever had this problem before? :blink: :( :unsure:

Hi
How many fish are in your tank? How Big is your tank?

I had the same problem, just this week. I have a 20 gallon with one black moor. I put her in a 2 gallon bowl of water, then I drained the 20 gallon and cleaned it in the bathtub.
I didn't use anything except the scrubby thing that you buy at petsmart and a washcloth with plain water. I rinsed it, dried it and set it back up. Filled it and put her back in. All my water tests good, so I had no problems with that.

I am not telling you to do this, but this is what I did.

I had tried this stuff called aqua clear by tetra, and it caused her to get sick. That is why I did what I did the way I did it, it was an emergency.

Now I am slowly raising her salt levels because she started turning white.

The only time I have ever seen an indoor tank go green is if it is sitting near a window and getting direct sunlight.

If you change to much the tank might lose some good bacteria, and other things which could cause the tank to crash i think...

I do weekly 30-50% water changes on my tanks. I don't think changing 25% would have a large affect. It certainly won't harm the good bacteria as they should be in the filter, gravel, etc. If you don't normally change water, then adding in fresh water may increase certain nutrients that the algae were lacking to have a growth spurt. The fresh water may then help the algae grow. For example, maybe there wasn't enough nitrate for algae to grow before but your tap water has nitrate.

My page on aquarium algae is at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/plants/algae.htm and has some ideas of how to control it long term. There are short term fixes but they have their own problems (such as lowering oxygen levels).

Karen, are you sure it's called "Aqua Clear?" That's the name of the Tetra filters. What is the active ingredient in it? If it's potassium permanganate, that can be pretty toxic if the fish gets too much of it. It oxidizes living cells.

It came in a small yellow bottle and you add one drop per gallon. I only added 15 drops and I have a 20 gallon. 3 days later she look horrible, fins turning white, flashing silver and there is no one else in there with her.
BTW, I always add a little pond-zyme (beneficial bacteria) to the tank.
I will go look for the name of the other product, because I threw the bottle out.
Here t'is



http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?...search&keepsr=1

Well, I looked at that page and then found the page on Tetra about the product. There is no mention of the active ingredient at all. Shame on them! I hope the bottle at least mentioned it. All chemicals are supposed to have MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) but I couldn't find one on this product. If I had to guess, I would say it was potassium permanganate. Was it pink/purple?

It was clear.

Ok. It may have been a polymer like what's in AccuClear by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals or maybe even something like hydrogen peroxide. The first doesn't harm fish directly but can really lower the oxygen levels while the second is toxic at high doses. Or, more likely, I'm totally wrong, and there's something else in there. As a chemist, I know there are tons of possibilities.

Robyn,

I bet you are right. I was worried more about her affect the day after I added that stuff. She started turning white, not swimming, hanging towards the top of the aquarium, even her top fin was sagging. That is why I did a 100% water change, I felt that it was important to get her out of that water! I think she is a sensitive fish too.

I don't like using chemicals. This is the second time I've had a problem with chemicals.

Cwoods, how is your tank?

Thanks Robyn