Cloudy water help!

[utopianaurora]

Good morning! A few days ago I tested my tank and it was perfect. I had two clowns, 2 scarlet hermits, and a blue long goby (can’t remember the actual name). I went to the fish store the next day early (had tested night before) and I bought two snails, and another scarlet hermit. I happened to test my tank and the ended up reading at Nitrate 25 and Nitrite 5. I got anxious and decided to do a water change and removed about 20%. I put the snails in and they were stuck to each other and then ended up immediately dying. I also switched out my filter. That night I didn’t realize the water was too high and the surface agitation was too low. I woke up to fish dying from lack of oxygen. I was able to save the fish and the crabs. The snails had died for sure. :( After I removed the snails my tank got cloudy. I thought it was this fake plastic Seaweed, but it keeps getting worse even after removal. It’s probably a bacterial bloom, but what do I do? I added clarifier-twice. My tank is about 3 weeks old now.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Did you test ammonia? If the nitrite was at 5, then I assume there was ammonia? I'm just wondering why the snails died so fast.

What size is the tank? Having all that livestock at only 3 weeks is going very fast in this hobby and going fast doesn't work well. I normally don't add my first fish until 3-4 weeks after the tank as been filled with water.

It think you should test the water (not with API test, get salifert or hanna testers), and wait for the bacteria bloom to pass, it will pass on its own after about a week, you have to wait for the bacteria to balance out. Don't change the water, it will make the bloom last longer. Make sure to have good flow and good oxygenation to the water, bacteria blooms lower the the oxygen level, also run some activated carbon it will help.

 

[Tahoe61]

Your tank is likely still cycling. Don't add any more clarifier. You just have to slow down. The link below will provide the basic information for cycling a tank.

Cycling a Brand New Reef Aquarium

The cycling stages of a brand new reef aquarium.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

You will go through that a bunch for the first 6 months while everything stabilizes. Don't add any chemicals and hold off on any livestock/fish/corals until you are truly stable.

Nitrite isn't a big deal to most reef inhabitants, unlike freshwater, but ammonia definitely is.

 

[nment92]

the snails probably died because your still cycling. When adding inverts you should drip acclimate that will give them a much better shot at success.

 

[utopianaurora]

Thank you for the info! My tank is MUCH clearer today. Whew