Urgent Care :: Milky white water

[Kiranin]

Last week I bought my turtles some charales (Chirostoma) ((which they loved)), a new carrying tub (for the vet) and a small filter to compliment the other one I have. The thing is, that the day after I placed the filter and the fish, the water started becoming murky, and looking a bit like lemonade, the day after that the water was almost completely white, and a very disgusting smell (like rotting fish) started to appear. So I took my turtles and the filter out, and Changed all the water, and washed everything that was in the tank then I looked at the new filter and noticed that it had some media inside which contained zeolite and carbon, so I took those out and washed it again. When I finished and put my turtles back in the tank the same happened 2 days later so I took the new filter out completely, and repeated the process and so I haven't changed the water again since then because of the turtles, I feel it'll be bad to change it so often even under these circumstances.

My turtles have been doing fine though they eat, poop, swim and sleep as they normally would but I don't know what to do with the water.

I assume it might have something to do with the filter or the fish seing as they were the newest thing before this happened.

So if anyone could please tell me first of all why this is happening and second, what to do about it I would greatly appreciate it.

[Caphits]

Could it just be super small air bubbles in the water? Try not running your filter for like 10 mins, and see if it goes away.

Also, you should check your water for stuff like nitrates, and whatnot.

[SpotsMama]

Your tank is "cycling". Here's a link on it. Read down to the part on the nitrogen cycle. That's what's going on with your tank.

http://www.redearslider.com/water_quality_issues.html

I think the new fish must have added a significant load of ammonia to the tank and the nitrifying bacteria exploded as a result. Given a little time, the bacteria will neutralize the excess ammonia and then adjust to the appropriate quanity to process the existing level of waste, and then the water will clear up.

Once your tank has cycled and the water is clear, take care not to kill all the beneficial nitrifying bacteria or the tank will just have to cycle all over again. That means only rinsing the bio media in the filter in tank water and don't put too much in the way of salt or chlorine in the water.

The problem would be if the bio load is now too great for the filter and tank size so that the tank is never able to complete the cycling process. If the water doesn't clear after a week or so, then you should think about getting a bigger tank, better filter, or moving some of the kritters out.

[Azfar]

new filter syndrome maybe because I had this experience when first time using the filter.. but after 2 times changed the white cloudy water, the water become clear.