Why is my breeding tank all cloudy??? Ten points for best answer!!!

Question

I am breeding gouramis, first time, and I still have my power filter running. He built the bubble nest on the opposite side of the filter in the tank. The filter is not disturbing it. It just started happening last night when he started to build the bubble nest, the tank got really really cloudy!!! I'm talkin' like sooo cloudy that you can't even see the back of the tank!!! So I had the filter off last night cause I always unplug the filter at night when I put them in the breeding tank. But I have been doing this for about a week and it never got cloudy like this. Could the bubbles from the bubble nest be making it all cloudy?? Could it be the pH decreaser I put in last night. The pH was at like 7.8 and I need it 7.0 for breeding so I put in a pH neutralizer that brings it to 7.0.

Answer these and any questions in the paragraph:

1) WIll this effect the parents???

2) Will this effect the eggs or fry???

3) Is this common???? (the cloudiness)

4) will this effect the bubble nest???

5) will it effect the breeding process of the gouramis??

Answer as many of these and the paragraph q's as possible!!!

ANd remember, 10 points for the best answer!!!

Answer 1

maybe you need 2 clean ur tank idk

Answer 2

I don't know abut breeding gourami's but the cloudy water is bacteria from your tank trying to cycle.  Was it cycled before you put the fish in for breeding?  When you turn the filter off it causes the bacteria to die and it has to keep trying to produce more to deal with the waste.

**

Answer 3

1)yes

2)yes

3)not for someone with experience keeping fish

4)no

5)yes

By shutting of the filter,all the beneficial bacteria have died off.Your tank is cycling,and the cloudiness is a bacteria bloom.This is when the beneficial bacteria explode into life.Leave the PH alone.The decreaser will cause a drastic drop in the PH.Then it will probably drastically rise again.A stable PH is better then one that is all over the place.Before you add fish to a breeding tank,have the PH where it needs to be.Leave the filter running 24 hours a day,7 days a week.I would start doing daily water changes to keep your fish alive.Start checking the ammonia,and nitrite levels.If you have another tank that is already cycled,Get some filter media from it and add it to your filter.This will speed up the cycle.Read this article,

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.ht...

Good luck!

EDIT:

Read the article I gave the link to.You WANT to have the bacteria.The bacteria "eat" the ammonia produced by fish waste and uneaten food.Ammonia is toxic to fish.The bacteria that eats ammonia  produces waste called nitrite.There is another kind of bacteria that"eat" the nitrite.Nitrite is also toxic for fish.The waste the nitrite eating bacteria produce is called nitrate.Nitrate is not as toxic,and can be removed with partial water changes.You should change 20 to 30% of your water weekly.Changing the water MIGHT wreck the bubble nest.But having ammonia and nitrite in your tank WILL kill your fish.Trust me.Learn about the nitrogen cycle before you try breeding fish.And never turn off the filter.READ THE ARTICLE.

Here is another one:

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/biolog...

Here is one on breeding fish,

http://www.fishlore.com/Breeding.htm

And some on breeding gourami,

http://www.essortment.com/all/breedinggo...

http://www.gourami-breeding.co.uk/

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/bree...

The easiest way to cycle a tank is with Pure Ammonia.This means it cannot have any soap in the ingredients.Ace Hardware brand is the only one I have heard of that has Pure Ammonia.Add a few drops per gallon and just let things sit.Our you can use raw shrimp or piece of raw fish.Tie it in some old panty hose,toss it in and forget about it for a month or so.Or you can leave the gourami in there.The uneaten food and waste they produce will make ammonia.You need to have a test kit to test the water for ammonia,nitrite,and nitrates.API master test kit is a good one.Here is a link for that,http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/pr...

If you keep the fish in the tank,daily water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels safe will be necesssary.If you do a fishless cycle,just get your ammonia source,put it in and forget it.Test the water from time to time to see where it is at.When the ammonia and nitrite reading are back to 0ppm,the cycle has completed.

EDIT:

What kind of filter do you have?Don't add any more chemicals.

Send me a IM if it would be easier.