Help I don’t know what has happened, my filter was not working for about two weeks and I woke up this morning with it so cloudy and stinky. So I went to my local fish store and brought a hang in filter and put some of the sponge from my old filter into my new one but the cloudiness won’t go away and my tank reaks. 😭 The second photo is how it was a couple days ago. What do I do??
Posted by keiao
1 Comment
Your tank has fully crashed because the filter was off for two weeks, so all your good bacteria died and you are now seeing a massive “New Tank Syndrome” bacterial bloom (the clouds) and likely an ammonia spike (the stink).
To save the fish, I’d do a 50% water change immediately to dilute the toxins, add an airstone or lower the water level so the filter splashes (the bacteria are sucking up all the oxygen), and stop feeding completely for 3-4 days. Any food you add now is just poison.
Don’t scrub anything or replace filter media. Just wait it out, maybe add some bottled bacteria like Seachem Stability, and let the new filter catch up.