Can adding live plants cause cloudy water???

[Stelladea]

I have a fully cycled 20 gal freshwater tank with a Whisper power filter and 4
giant danios and 2 corys. A week ago added 2 small Java ferns (the only live
plants in my tank). All water chemistry yesterday morning was fine. Yesterday
afternoon I did my usual weekly 30% water change, cleaned out the intake tube
on the filter which was full of gunk, and added 3 more Java ferns (after
washing them in warm water).

This morning, the water was slightly cloudy (which it hasn't been since I first
set up the tank 3 months ago)! Ammonia was zero, but nitrites (which have
always been zero since the tank cycled) were up slightly (less than .25 ppm,
but detectable nonetheless).

What did I do wrong???!!! Should I remove the plants? Any help would be
sincerely appreciated!!!

[Marc Goldstein]

[This followup was posted to alt.aquaria and a copy was sent to the cited
author.]

You didn't do anything wrong. Any time you add or subtract a living
creature to a tank, particularly a smallish one like a 20 gal, the
balance of bacteria will change a bit. Ususally just adding a plant or
two is no big deal, but in a small tank it could be significant.

My own theory, however, is that either cleaning the filter tube released
a bunch of organics which then caused a bacterial bloom (cloudiness and
nitrite spike), or maybe the water change upset the bacterial balance a
bit. Did the gravel get disturbed? Stirred up detritus could easily cause
the bloom.

Don't remove the plants, just monitor closely the various levels and
watch the fish for stressed behavior. The tank should settle down soon.

Marc

In article <199807121821...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
stel...@aol.com says...

[Bryan G. Stevens]

Just a thought,

Were the plants washed in chlorinated water?

BGS