Just got my test results back

[DEL 707]

Could use some help.

I used to have a small fish/shrimp setup.

1 day I notice the water is suddenly cloudy so I do a massive water change, situation didn't improve so I ended up doing more water changes over the following days. At 1 point I ended up doing a water change at 4 in the morning because I noticed how bad things looked when I got up for a glass of water. Fish were gasping and shrimp were trying to escape.
The next day I threw the towel in, saved all the fish/shrimp I could and gave them to the local fish shop. Then I scraped the tank. It's still sitting empty.
This all happened around the beginning of March.

This all coincided with me changing my RO water supplier, my usual place shut down and so I had to go elsewhere.

Wanting to get to the bottom of things I ordered a water test kit from ATI labs.
I filled up the water vials and was about to post them off to the labs when the pandemic started, I couldn't get to the post office and just plan forgot about it.

Anyway, I finally posted off the water samples and got my results back.

The ask to send tank water and RO water, but both of my vials contain just RO water. So there's 2 sets of tests, but both should be the same.
Can anyone look through these results and see if there's anything wrong with the water?

Test 1 "Tank Water"

Test 2 "RO Water"

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by DEL 707

[jayc]

What I see out of norm for your tank water is .... that it is practically RO water.

Which leads to me asking .... what are you using to remineralise the RO water you use?

Living creatures cannot live in pure RO.

[DEL 707]

Both samples I sent off were RO water.

I was using Salty Shrimp GH/KH+ to reminerlise my RO water.

Since I was using a new supplier, I wanted to check to see if there was anything wrong with the water I bought.

I'm just trying to do a little detective work to see what went wrong with my tank. I don't have any of the original tank water, it's been sitting empty for months.

[jayc]

5 hours ago, DEL 707 said:

Both samples I sent off were RO water.

I see. That makes sense then. The "Tank 1Tank water" title threw me off.

Test water 2 is certainly better. 

Whoever you bought Test water 1 from needs to change their RO filters as it is letting a lot more minerals through. But it's certainly a lot less than tapwater. 

Cloudy water can be caused by many other factors, so I wouldn't say the source problem is the RO water specifically.

 

[sdlTBfanUK]

Firstly, sorry to hear about you having a problem after having such a great start! It is unlikely we will get to the bottom of that problem at this stage as the tank was shut down months ago?

What sort of 'cloudy', can you remember? Greenish is usually algae and white/milky is usually bacteria bloom? I have had the white milky cloudiness a couple of times in newly set up tanks and that cleared in a day or 2 without any input from me, but I didn't have anything except snails in the tanks at that time. The PH rising and dropping as mentioned in the other post may have caused havoc with the cycle and if it was bacteria bloom, the bacteria would have drained the water of oxygen so that the fish would be gasping (at a guess)? Did you test the water parameters at that point?

Did anything die with the cloudy water?

Are you planning to have another try? Or has this experience put you off completely?

Simon

[DEL 707]

The tank went white/milky.

The tank had 10 tetras, 3 amano shrimp, some nerite snails and an army of red cherry shrimp. They were breeding like crazy.

When things went cloudy, I did start losing some cherry shrimp. I got them out and started to do water changes. But as the days went on, I lost more and more. It was quite a gut punch when I had to throw in the towel to save what I could.

It has put me off keeping fish. A friend is coming to collect the tank off me in a few weeks when he's down my way.

I used to live in London, kept quite a few different tanks over the years, with no tap water and no problems. Even had a few marine tanks. Switched over to RO for my 5ft reef tank.

Moved out into Kent and tried a 3ft planted tank, nothing but algae problems, which put me off for a few years.
Thought I'd have another go with a smaller tank and RO water to make sure everything was perfect.
I was hoping the problem was the RO water I bought, but it seems like it's somethings I did.
I just wish I knew where I went wrong.

[jayc]

If you ever try again, we would be happy to walk you through the process with our opinions and experiences.

[sdlTBfanUK]

Sorry to hear you have given up but I certainly understand as I have been there a few times myself. It is such a shame as it was going so well up to that point for months! Very upsetting after you had spent so much time and effort getting everything where it should be.

I suspect you had a bacteria bloom by the sound of it but there is no way of knowing why or if at this stage.

As JayC says above, 'should' you decide to have another go at some later date we will be pleased to help as much as we can!

Simon