Habitat - Indoor :: Suddenly getting cloudy looking slimy smelly water!

[Love of Animals]

Is it a green cloudy? Or a white cloudy? Green = Algae bloom. White = Bacteria bloom. If you get a master test kit from API you can test your water to figure out if your tank is fully cycled. A cycled tank should read 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, 20-40 Nitrates. If you have a reading in ammonia or nitrites or no reading in nitrates your tank is not fully cycled. Wait out the bacteria bloom it needs to happen for you tank to cycle. Make sure you clean the filter with treated water only.

[nickvicious]

It's definitely more white, but there is a green tint.

I did a water test and it had low levels of ammonia (0.2?)...whatever the 2nd box is on the strip, and one for one of the nitrates or nitrates was also low (2nd box), but I can't remember which one. I wish I wrote it down. Should I do water changes until the ammonia levels drop or just see if it cycles itself out?

[steve]

How long has it been cloudy? And what type of filter media do you use?

[Love of Animals]

I did 10 - 20% water changes every other day while my tank was cycling. Now I do a 20% water change once a week to remove nitrates on a fully cycled tank. Those test strip are inaccurate. To get real readings you'll need a test kit. As Steve asked how long has it been cloudy and what type of filter and filter media are you using?

[nickvicious]

How long has it been cloudy? And what type of filter media do you use?

It's been a little over a week.

I use a Penn Plax Cascade (the largest modle) canister filter. With it I have a the sponge thing which name eludes me right now, followed by carbon media and 3 of their bio-floss things that catch debris.

ETA: I don't have substrate right now, if that makes any difference.

[Love of Animals]

Just keep doing partial water changes every other day and if you clean your filter clean it in tank water. Make sure you treat your water for chlorine and cloramines before you put it in and wait to see what happens. Since you have an ammonia reading your tanks probably not cycled. Sometimes the cloudiness gets worse before it gets better. If you get a good testing kit you can tell if your tanks cycled by the readings I gave you in the post above.

[richieboy]

Can you fit anymore bio media in? The rings, or stars or balls. If you have room, put more in. I think it's the most important media for a turtle tank.

[nickvicious]

Can you fit anymore bio media in? The rings, or stars or balls. If you have room, put more in. I think it's the most important media for a turtle tank.

Oh yeah. There's plenty of room there. What's rings or stars or balls?

[Love of Animals]

Sounds like you would need something smaller like the ceramic rings. Just go to a pet store web site and type in bio media or filter media so you can see what your looking for. Most of the time you'll see the Fluval ceramic rings come up. You can place any brand media in your filter.