I have 2 questions about 2 tanks.

Question
Hi Chris,
My name is Kim we have a 10 gallon tank that has been up and running for about 6 months or more. We have 3 fantail goldfish in the tank, we resently moved them from a 5 gallon which my mom had them in. I know a 10 gallon isn't big enough for them, we're saving up to get a 30-55 gallon for them. The tank came as a set with filter & heater included, we arent using the heater. The gold fish have been in the 10 gal for about 6months at least. Everything was fine up until now, now the water is all cloudy and its a white color it's almost like it happened over night. I checked the ammonia level and its fine, same thing with the nitrite, nitrates, ph,chlorine, alkaninity,etc. all normal. we do water changes 1-2 a week & take out about 10% of the water each time. Any suggestions as to what the problem may be?

Now for my 2nd question...

We also have a 55 gallon tank we've had it set up for about 3-4 months, we started off with 10 fish (2 mickey mouse platys, 3 dalmation mollies, 1 lyetail molly, 3 swordtails (1 male, 2 female),& 1 julii catfish.) All died but 1 female swordtail, & 1 mickey mouse platy. When we test the water the ammonia level is 0.5-1.0 between stress & harmful. We thought that the cycle had stalled and added 3 Gurami's (not sure of the spelling) per our petco specialist. the ammonia stage has been there for over 3 weeks we're not sure whats going on with it. The PH is off too, we do 10% water changes on it 1-2 times a week. I feel bad that we're lossing all these fish, can you help me try to figure out whats going on? The tanks been up and running with fish for 3-4 months now. and the ammonia is still there, but no nitrite or nitrate. I'm so confused :(
Please help! Both filters are whisper filters.

Thanks for your time!

Sincerely,
Kim

Answer
Hi Kim;

The goldfish are probably just getting too big for the tank finally. Try running an air pump to give them bubbles. It will improve the vitality of the beneficial bacteria and hopefully the cloudiness will subside temporarily until you get a larger tank for them. You could add another small filter too. Don't try to keep the filter too clean either. Rinse the filter pads in a container of tank water when they get plugged instead of replacing them. The beneficial bacteria that lives in the filter pads helps keep the water clear. Rinsing waste out helps preserve the bacteria so it can go back in and do it's job.

If the 10 fish were added when tank was first set up the 55 gallon may have had a hard time getting through the break-in period initially with so many fish to start it out. Toxins such as ammonia and nitrite may have gone too high, or the stress caused them to become sick with something. It is very strange that the ammonia appears to be high now though. One thing you might check is the type of ammonia test you are using and what water conditioners you have already used. There is an ammonia tester that has what is called "nessler reagent". If you have ever used an ammonia binder in your tank such as ammo-lock, amquel, etc., they can cause it to appear that there is toxic ammonia present. Look on the labels if you think it might be a problem.

Test your tap water for ammonia too. I would be curious to know if it's coming in from there. Some water systems do...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins