Something nasty in my water!

[Deano]

The white particles are still there, dont think its excess pellet particles.

Im totally confused as to what it could be. My neighbour has been keeping tropical fish 4 years and he has neva seen it before

 

[Mogo]

If it doesn't seem to bothering your fish, I really think it may be just really fine particulate matter. I've seen it before, more often in tanks with larger fish that dig. If you know someone with a diatom filter, you could ask to borrow it and run it for a couple hours on your tank and that should take care of the problem. Otherwise, you could try one of those micro filter inserts as I mentioned. It's not as good as a diatom, but should make a serious dent in the amount of floating particles in a 12 gallon.

Is your tank lid tight fitting? Could be dust and other household debris entering the tank and adding to the problem.

 

[goldene]

Out of curiosity would you describe the white particals to look something like dandruff in the water also has it stuck to the airline tube at all like chalk?

 

[Deano]

Yeah i would say it looks like dandruff but i havent noticed it sticking to anything

 

[goldene]

I have a new tank set up 6 weeks now, and it keeps coming then it will clear then it comes back again and the water goes kind of milky then clears, the filter does not seem to filter the bits though and it bugs me, do you have sand by any chance because when I had gravel in my other tank I never had the white dandruff problem?

 

[Deano]

No i dont have sand i have gravel. Ive noticed a few white particles landing on the plants just now.

 

[goldene]

With me having goldfish they tend to stir up the sand so it makes it worse, I have just been checking out the diatom filters and possibly one of them might work at clearing it 'didn't find a price though?' it says you can use it just to polish the water as it filters smaller particals out, the cause can be over feeding.

 

[Mogo]

In my experience, I find it happens more often in sand bottom tanks. Keeping a good sized clean up crew helps quite a bit for sand substrate, granted they are compatible with the other fish in the tank. IME, I've also found that sand substrate tanks with wood decor have the problem more often, decomposing bits of wood get stuck in the sand and get stirred up.

 

[goldene]

sounds like my tank then 'sand and wood' but why is it white like dandruff.

 

[guppygirl]

Just curious...
What kinds of food are you feeding? What brand, kind, etc.
I have noticed that Tetra Colorbits cloud the water ALOT.

 

[Mogo]

Good question. I don't know why it's white Perhaps all the little bits fade and lose their colour from being in water for a long time?

If it's mostly in the upper most portion of the tank, it's probably just light particulate matter. Have you tried doing a couple water changes removing water from the top portion of the tank, but keeping a pump or powerhead on to keep it floating around? Give this a try and see if it helps. It may take several wc's like this to reduce it, depending on how much you have.

 

[goldene]

I am due for a clean out anyway so see how we go after it, let us know how you get on Deano.

 

[Deano]

Yeah will do.....going to do a water change tomorrow and see if there is any change.

 

[mistrymachine]

My sister 120 gallon tank does this everytime the nitrates start to get high.Dont know if this has anything to do with it??

 

[goldene]

Nitrates are fine,