# Looking for opinions on what happened, heart breaking first freshwater aquarium attempt.



## NorthernGuy (Mar 21, 2021)

So growing up I had many aquariums until maybe highschool. All freshwater, and all seemed to be "fill it up and go" without any fancy science. Here I am 25 years later with a 4 year old daughter and because she has been trapped inside (for various reasons in the world today...) for a year I thought adding an aquarium to her room would be a fun project and something for her to help take care of.

We bought a 10gal Aqueon tank kit that came with "everything" needed to start a tank except the substrate and decorations. We bought the pebbles that were extra pricey and coated in "plant based" lacquer so they would be minimally toxic. I washed everything in clean clear tap water without any chemicals and we carefully filled the tank, plugged in the water-fall style filter, and added the package of "tap water treatment". After day 3 the water went cloudy with a bit of a skim on the surface. I used the net to sift that off the top because I wanted to see if it was powder from the substrate or filter charcoal (even though both were rinsed thoroughly), it didn't look like either. I began googling because I had never seen this before and saw TONS of articles saying cloudy water in a new tank is perfectly fine and it's best to NOT try and "resolve" it as you'll not get anywhere. Ok.

So we gave it another week or so and the cloudiness remained, it wasn't milky or anything but it was noticeably cloudy compared to crystal clear water. Again, everything we read said it should be fine. I made the 403 mile (648km), yes you're reading that right, trip to get her 2 goldfish. She really REALLY wanted "orange gold fishies". I picked up your standard goldfish x2, nothing fancy, made sure the bag was filled properly, that the temperature was stabilized for the trip, and I carefully travelled home with them in my truck. The fish did amazing on the drive home and were very lively and happy when I brought them in the house.

We wiped the outside of the bag (without and cleaners) and dunked it in the tank to let it acclimate. The difference in the bag temps from the tank temps were about 1 degree Celcius. We let it soak for an hour and slowly cupped some tank water into the bag to merge the fish in. Once everything seemed stable and happy we netted the fish and set them free to my daughters delight. We dumped the pet store water down the sink and tossed the bag.

She gave them names and sat at the tank telling them stories. Three hours later both fish were dead and she was crying her eyes out. It was mortifying.

They didn't float to the top, just "died" and appeared to hover where they stopped being alive.

After two days of talking about death and her crying about her new friends not being around anymore we drained the tank.

Having no idea what happened I scrubbed everything with fresh tap water (no chemicals). We ordered a bottle of tap water treatment along with some of the biological treatment to "build healthy tank colonies" for new tanks (this wasn't added before). I refilled the tank from sterile implements and we followed the instructions for the two bottles to treat the water. The temperatures are steady in the tank around 22 degrees C for reference.

Three days later the exact same cloudiness is back. I refuse to add any fish until I'm sure this cursed tank is fixed because it really was not at all a good experience the first go around and emotionally I don't think any of us can take what happened again. Fish will die but it's not fair to the fish or to my daughter if they are going to die like that.

What the heck am I doing wrong? I can say for a fact I put nowhere near this much effort into my tanks as a kid and never had an issue.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

You need to test your water, the cloudiness your seeing is most probably an ammonia bloom, and ammonia is deadly to fish. You must cycle your tank before adding fish.








How to Cycle An Aquarium


All new fish aquariums must be cycled in order to provide a healthy environment. Learn how this process happens and how it benefits your fish.




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## NorthernGuy (Mar 21, 2021)

2 months of tank cyling. TWO months. I'm in nearly 600$ in supplements, aquarium salt, filters, bubblers and air pumps, testing kits, you name it. I've done everything to make this tank viable and I'm probably taking it all down and throwing it in the trash officially beaten.

I emptied and changed the water after cleaning it. I added proper supplements to cycle the tank, immediately the cloudiness came back. I followed cyling and aquarium salt directions along with adding a bubbler and frequent filter changes. I bought testing kits and measured everything daily for months now. Finally got to a zero point for most things, no there was no ammonia bloom according to daily testing. There was a 48hr period where the "cloudiness" went away but then (completely untouched) it re-appeared and hasn't changed a bit. I brought my water to a pet store and they tested it, they said everything was right but the nitrate could be just a notch higher than measured but otherwise no issues. The cloudiness looks like a fog or mist in there rolling around in the current, I still have no idea what it is as there is no food (other than sunlight) in there to date for any kind of alien entity to live off of. 

After months of getting nowhere but showing all our testing as good I figured why not buy a fish. I arranged for my daughter to stay at her grandparents house to avoid the emotional turmoil we had last time and I bought 1 fan tail to put in there. I did everything right to introduce it into the tank safely and used even the pet store water in the bag to also help kick off any helpful bacteria. Day 1 he got some of the white "mist" in the tank on him along his body. No it is not white fin rot or anything like that. It's like the mist in the tank is a dust that never filters out. The fish ate food and LASTED MORE THAN THREE HOURS which was a new record. He is still alive now, we are on day 3, but I don't know what to make of this. Almost his entire fan tail is gone, just strands left. If I had a beta in the tank I would assume he was attacked but nope just my "aquarium of death" is dissolving him. PH measures fine, nothing else is off the charts or in a danger zone according to the research. I just have a tank that has a self sustaining, fish murdering, lifeform that can't be got rid of.

I am heartbroken and every time I go by my daughters bedroom my heart sink seeing that tank sitting there "cycling" and getting nowhere. Back in the winter I wanted this to be a fun project for her and I just have nothing left for it and can't believe the time, money, and tears that has gone into just keeping a single goldfish alive.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Ok, so cold hard facts, cycling takes time. You haven't posted 1 number for your tests you've been doing. Ammonia must be 0, not 5 or close, 0. And your cycle can take longer than 2 months, shouldn't but if your messing around with it, it can.
Most all Fresh water fish are bullet proof.
You don't need anything to help cycle your tank besides just a plain old shrimp you get from the store, most times new peeps add to much or not enough and it messess up the process of cycling the tank.


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## NorthernGuy (Mar 21, 2021)

I've not heard of the shrimp move, I was told by the pet store aquarium expert that she uses the Cycle product from Nutrifin. It was a recent purchase so it's not old stuff leftover as far as I can tell. Our ammonia never read even a trace on the test strips so that was at least ruled out. My wife had found the mention of using untreated sea salt as aquarium salt which I've since now found an article completely debunking that saying sea salt will kill freshwater fish (even when used in aquarium salt ratios). That being said the "white misty cloudy of death" predated any salt and any other treatments we tried.

The fish passed away yesterday. I followed online instructions and disinfected the tank with plain bleach. I rinsed it -thoroughly- several times over with sterile gloves and all. I let it dry in an isolated room (so no chance of the cat stepping in it) and have since rinsed it again and refilled with clean spring water from bottles (not distilled). I added in the cycle as per instructions and only added the gravel and 1 porcelain ornament inside to give any new cultures somewhere to start from. All new filters of course and the entire filtration system was disinfected and rinsed thoroughly. It's been 30mins and no cloud (ha).

One thing I did notice is that I had purchased (30$ no less...) these round clear gel balls of culture that were supposed to be amazing at cycling a tank. You add 1 per week as per the instructions. They were purchased from a pet store I'm not dealing with anymore. When I drained the tank I found every one of those balls INSIDE the tank still un-dissolved. Because they are crystal clear they were invisible in the water, it wasn't until I syphoned it all out that suddenly these glass pearls appeared at the bottom. That was a waste of money.

Temps are steady in that room right in the "green zone" as per both thermometers. As I said I re-added cycle and the water treatment and will continue the "new tank" schedule for it. If anyone has any ideas throw them out there. This is my last go at the tank though, it's just been a crazy disappointing trip especially for our daughter during quarantine times. I apologize if my previous posts were emotional. I'm just a dad trying to do something nice for his 4 year old daughter and feeling like I'm failing miserably even though I'm doing everything I can to do it right.

EDIT: Here is a link to a video of the "cloud" before this last drain and re-attempt. Like I said this cloud showed up like 2 days into the fresh tank roughly both times and other than the one time vanishing for a day or two it remains and just won't go away. So far like I said it's clear now, but give it a day or so and we will see.









New video by Jeremy Johnston







photos.app.goo.gl


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