The Puffer Forum

hey guys!
thanks for all the advice and putting my mind at rest in my last post. im hoping someone can offer me some advice again please
got my little guy in a large tank, water quality is fine, ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate 10. I tested it just ten mins ago. right, the issue: a couple of days ago the water in the tank went cloudy. its always been crystal clear (this tanks been going for about a year or so) I do regular water changes too, and there was one due that day so I thought it would most likely clear up, it didn't, its still cloudy. I use sponge/charcoal in my filter, its always been good, and I haven't washed it out in anything other than tank water. the outlet of the filter peeks just above the water surface so that it breaks the surface and gives plenty of movement.
im wondering if anyone can offer any ideas as to why this has suddenly happened? theres only one thing that has changed in the last couple of weeks, I keep having to turn the heater down as its pretty warm at the moment and the temp keeps creeping up, last night it was up to 84 which I know isn't good, so heater got turned down again and the temp this morning is about 81. I know that's still a little high, but when im out all day I don't want to leave the heat off either, the heaters now set at around 72 but temp is still up so must be the ambient temp doing it. sigh..... im so paranoid about my little pufty, though his usually (constant) black belly (which I was worried about in my last post) is lovely and white at the moment, though since his default is black, im not sure wether he is happy or not. :/
oh..... the other thing is, that this morning when I looked at the tank, there were several Malaysian trumpet snails hanging around on the glass near the top. I knew there were some in there once over, pufty ate some of them and I assumed the rest were dead from the brackish water, but theyre alive. ive just never, ever seen them like out like that in this tank - does that mean anything?
anyone reckon I should do another water change? even though the parameters are ok? or is it possible that something has caused the tank to go into a cycle or something? checked around for uneaten food etc and theres nothing. its a mystery, and a worrying one at that.
many thanks in advance for any offerings

Are you cleaning the substrate, especially under all decor?

Yes I usually use a gravel vacuum after removing the fake logs and plants, they then get a scrub to remove the algae. Thinking of doing another good clean and a water change this evening though, or would this do more harm than good?

well I did it anyway..... hasn't done a bit of good, ive even put a second filter in there, but the water is still cloudy, and now looking very green so im thinking algae. keep looking online for solutions to algae bloom but everywhere I look its either vague advice or ads for chemicals which I don't want to use.
the only thing I can think of to get rid is to keep cleaning, but I don't want to over do it, and no matter how many water changes I do I feel like there will still be some left and isn't that just going to grow?
any ideas why this has suddnely happened and what I can do to be rid of it please?
puffer is acting normally and eating like a pig so fairly sure it isn't bothering him right now, but still want rid
thanks x

You could try seachem clarity. A very safe chemical additive that does seem to work at clearing up cloudy water. Otherwise extra mechanical filtration with a fine polyfilter could do the trick.

nicole82 wrote:hey guys!
many thanks in advance for any offerings

if you suspect it's algae, high phosphate levels and/or excessive lighting may contributing to the problem
the heater is probably unrelated, but if it does not maintain a consistent temperature, you should replace it
OTOH, if it's the ambient temperature that's an issue, your heater is probably OK
MTS: their numbers can be reduced by reducing the food that is available to them
sometimes you see them, sometimes not as much
mine tend to appear at night or when the room is dark
they can be very hard to control, they are VERY prolific, I don't think brackish water is a problem for them
also, having VERY hard shells, they may do damage to the puffers' teeth if he is crushing them to eat them
if the empty shells are in one piece, he has probably learned to nip & suck the snail out of the shell