Unreasonably Cloudy Tank?

[Oswald]

I changed my fish oswald's 2.5 gallon tank water yesterday and today it is completely cloudly. Yesterday I put Melafix - Coppersafe - EasyBalance, into the water because of a small velvet outbreak! Oswald is secluded in this tank but the water is quite cloudy. I used recomended dosages for my gallonage. There is 20 wat bulb lighting/ heating. the 2.5 gallon i have reduced lighting to a couple hours a day due to the pesky protozoans.

What do i do!?

[BettaxFishxCrazy]

Hmmm, I haven't dealt with velvet, but it seems like the cloudiness could be from all of the different things you put in the tank. Are they all medications? I know what melafix is but not the other two.

[kelly528]

Dude whats with the medicine cocktail in your tank?! Ditch the Melafix it will do more harm than good. Is your tank cycled?

[Oswald]

Melafix says it mixes with all other medications! But coppersafe doesn't cause a cloudy tank? No i just started it as a hospital tank and put 100% new water in and conditioned it and balanced the PH.

[dramaqueen]

I agree with Kelly. Thats too many chemicals in the water.

[kelly528]

Okay first off, melafix (or even battafix, some might argue) is a no-no for anabantanoidine (air-breathing) fish such as bettas and gouramis. The tea tree oil does a number on their labyrinth organ, which is what they use to breathe air.

Second, it is always best to avoid medications if at all possible. Every med you put in the tank saps oxygen from the water and has side effects that may stress the fish. For example, slime-coat stimulating products irritate the fish's skin to make it produce more mucous. So my rule of thumb is only to resort to meds if

a) The fish has a parasite, which won't go away with warm, clean water and aquarium salt
b) The fish has a disease in which warm, clean water and aquarium salt have not helped enough

For everything else, I just use warm, clean water and aquarium salt.


Your hospital tank is cloudy because it isn't cycled. Squeeze some filter drippings from the main tank into the QT filter and it should clear up within a day.