Do Melafix/Pimafix make water cloudy?

DarkSoul

DarkSoul

Mad Scientist
Mar 12, 2007
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London, Ontario
I did a water change yesterday, and had pretty well clear water before doing so, then I removed the filter pad that had carbon in it, leaving the other fine one behind, and adding another fine one that had been sitting around for a while.

Then I dosed some melafix and pimafix to the tank, to help my bettas fins heal, as well as to treat the tank itself for anything bacterial or fungal.

No point in QTing if he is gonna be sick again when you put him back in the main tank, so Im going to treat the whole tank.

does it make cloudy water though?
 
If you are getting cloudyness i nthe tank it would be due to the old fine pad you added, it's old dead bacteria being pushed into the water from the filter.

As for your question, no it doesnt cloud the tank water, eraser was correct it only suds up the top of the water if using an airstone or bubblewand, it's ok if it suds up, as it will disapate(sp) after a couple days.
 
well..... crap..... my water is cloudy, so it must have been the old filter.... however that filter pad i dont think was ever cycled, so it couldnt have that much bacteria dead in it.

will that clear on its own or should I do water changes?

yesterday is when I switched to once a week changes now, and i added a slightly smaller dose of mela/pimafix today.

the fishes fins actually seem to be worse now, in some cases, but better as far as not being transparent anymore. they are just more frayed now.

also, was it bad to remove the filter? Does the bacteria exist mostly on the biowheel? Im thinking i should safely beable to remove filters due to the bacteria on the biowheel itself..... correct?
 
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I find when I wash my filter pad and shove it back in, the water often goes cloudy for 12 hrs (or less), then clears right up. Depends how old my filter pad is... mine's due for a change, so this seems to be worse at the moment.

I don't run a biowheel (heavily planted tank), so I'm not sure about the bacteria living on there (certainly lots live in the substrate, which will repopulate your new cartridge).

As for the fin rot, I've been treating that recently and I found that it seemed to get worse at first, and then better.. and it healed slower than I thought. Everyone seems to be healthy again now, though (after about 2 weeks), aside from a nipping problem (that's a separate thread).

Anyway, I'm still pretty noob-ish, so take what you will from this.. ;)
 
sounds like a prob with the old filter pad - did you rinse it out before adding ? It may have accumulated dust etc.

I would remove it, rinse, do another water change, re-dose mela & pima. Those last two will not make water cloudy, as already stated.
 
it could be either the results of a bacterial bloom or something in the pad.

it is possible that some bacterial may get killed off by the mix of pimafix and melafix..
have you noticed any algae die off?

I have seen this happen when you do a black out and algae dies off too.
Luckily none of these tends to be very serious.
you can do more water changes to counter act the cloudy water use a diatom filter or simply wait it out.
I always suggest that you test the water to make sure there are no imbalances.
 
hmmm...mela/pima should not damage the bio filter, if you believe what the manufacturers say.

I would agree that you should monitor parameters carefully over the next couple of days.
 
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