Fish are dying - Cloudy water with tiny flakes.

[jarrodaden]

What is this?

[Somefishguy]

Is it this?

http://www.planetinverts.com/are_hydra_harmful.html

[jarrodaden]

What ever I have doesn't seem to have arms or legs of significant length.

These are very tiny. About the size of a grain of sand.

I can also see something threadlike on the pump outlet. Looks like cotton. Maybe my filter needs changing?

[cameracorpus]

The hair could be hair algae or nematodes. Are you sure what is floating around is alive? I had trouble with particles until I removed some guilty decorations.

[geoff_tropheus]

probably scale or scum. Just clean it out from your canister hoses or pump cases.

Are you cycling a tank?

Is this floating around?

[ddaquaria]

I read your title and thought you were in Denver with me...

Snowflakes everywhere right now.

[jarrodaden]

Yes, I use a cannister.

It turns out that the "stringy" stuff was java moss which looked white under the bright light.

I can't say that this snow is a living thing. It is very, very tiny. It is definitely coming out of the pump whatever it is.

I am starting to think that the pillow foam in the cannister might be degrading or maybe it is just time to clean it.

I just got this filter used. He told me it had been cleaned about three months ago.

It might be time to clean the cannister.

Where do I buy the "pillow foam" and what exactly is the name of the product that I am looking for?

[geoff_tropheus]

filter floss, ....just about any petsore will have it.

City Pets is your best bet for it

Not sure where you live or I could suggest a different pet store.

[jarrodaden]

photos.





I cleaned my filter tonight and if anything it made it worse. Someone please help me.

[danielp]

Use a HOB filter. I've had problems in the past with heavy particulate matter in my water and a HOB has cleared it up.

Keep running your canister while doing this.

[jarrodaden]

danielp - I was extremely skeptical but also very desperate for a solution. Suprisingly, there was a remarkable improvement after running a small spare HOB that I have overnight.

I still have no idea what was in the water. My theory is that the old fiber media in the cannister started to break down and got pushed out into the tank.

Due to this, I opted to try the polyester filter floss during my cannister cleaning yesterday.

[cameracorpus]

Same issue as yours

I have the same issue with a PennPlax 700. When I start it, it pukes lots of the white stuff. I've learned to put a net in front of the output hose. Your best bet would be to completely disassemble the old filter and clean it out, impeller housing and everything.

[danielp]

Glad to hear that it is working. Let it continue to run for a couple of days.

I have a 75 gallon plant tank with a eheim 2223 and everynow and then after a water change i'll run a HOB to help clear the fine particulate matter.

[jarrodaden]

I have the same issue with a PennPlax 700. When I start it, it pukes lots of the white stuff. I've learned to put a net in front of the output hose. Your best bet would be to completely disassemble the old filter and clean it out, impeller housing and everything.

I am a cannister newb. If my eheim 2217 has a separate housing for the impellar then I may need someone to tell me how to open / clean that.

I am convinced that the white stuff is between the pump outlet and the tank. I had also considered trying to push a ton of water in that hose to try and clear it out.

What I can't understand is why the HOB is fixing a problem that the cannister can't seem to handle.

[Mzungu]

What I can't understand is why the HOB is fixing a problem that the cannister can't seem to handle.

I'm with ya there!