Paracleanse and maracyn

[Aquatic fanatic]

Has anybody had trouble with maracyn and paraclense making their water cloudy. Started treating for a bacterial infection 2 days ago and my tank is now super cloudy. Also happened to.my 75 gallon tank when I treated it for parasites. Im.following the instructions closely. Almost lost all my fish in my 75 I guess the meds depleted the oxygen. Idk I just need help.

[Cory]

Why do you think the meds depleted the oxygen? Do you run an air stone? What were the water parameters?

[Aquatic fanatic]

When I woke the next morning all fish had labored breathing and my galaxy pleco was actually laying on his side breathing super heavy. Parameters was 0,0,10. I don't have an airstone in the tank, but I have tons of surface agitation though with 2 canister filters with spray bars and a wave maker pointed towards surface. I then changed 50% of the water cause I didn't know what to do and the fish was 100 times better in a matter of an hour or so. 

[Cory]

What was the pH of your water? In general I recommend an airstone in all aquariums. WHile having lots of surface agitation is good, too often people get a false sense of security about the levels of oxygen in their aquariums cause they aren't testing for it.  This is especially exacerbated if they have live plants in their aquarium as they consume oxygen when the lights are out. Leading to much lower levels of oxygen in the morning.

Without knowing more, and being able to see it first hand, my guess is your tank was perhaps near a tipping point with oxygen levels. Adding the meds, caused this to dip, if any bacteria died, or parasites died from the meds, this causes waste, which could lead to bacteria consuming more than normal oxygen during this process. This could have caused a domino effect.

However this is all an educated guess as without being able to test the water in real time, it's only one possible scenario.

[Aquatic fanatic]

My ph. Is 7.6. Right now my 40 breeder got its second dose of maracyn lastnight and it is super cloudy this morning. Is that normal? My 75 doesn't have plants. I'll look into putting airstones in all my aquariums for here on out. Do I need airstones even if I'm running sponge filters? My 40 breeder I'm treating now has a spongefilter that suctions to the glass and a large aquarium co-op spongefilter with an airstone in it. I was worried when I got up this morning and my 40 breeder was so cloudy. Don't want a repeat of what happened to 75 yesterday morning. Thanks!

[Kirsten]

For the cloudiness, maracyn in particular can put a dent in your biofilter, which can cause a little cloudiness. Some medications can also change the viscosity of your water, making breathing a little harder. Sounds like you're running an airstone through a sponge filter, so that should help with the oxygen levels. Did you suspect any particular illnesses to treat with a full course of both meds at once?

[Aquatic fanatic]

I ordered them to treat my new fish with. The 40 breeder is newly setup and when I stocked it the serpae tetras 2 days developed mouth rot. I've lost 5 of them already. The 75 gallon had stringy white poop so I used just paraclense in it. The 40 breeder got both cause of the mouth rot and because they was new fish.