Can't Get My Water To Clear Up, And Don't Know What These Bubb

[KingMaddog]

I have been having problems with my tank lately. I have this milky water and what looks like a film on top of my water that is collecting bubbles. I have done water changes with no help. I had algae on my glass but scraped it all off and did a water change a week ago and no change. It is a small tank 5.5 gallons with a Marineland Bio-Wheel 100. I have 4 Guppies, a Julii Cory, an ADF, and 3 Ghost Shrimp. Am I just overstocked? Here are a couple pics to see what I am talking about.

 

 

[KirkyArcher]

Over stocking in a well established tank does not cause cloudy water, but higher than zero spikes of ammonia will cause a bacterial "bloom" and that I believe is exactly what you're experiencing, don't expect water changes to clear the water in your tank (but still maintain them) after a week or so it should clear itself up, and chuck some rapid growing plants in there too such as Egeria densa!

 

[Liv15]

I'm not sure what you mean by a 'film' but I get like oily stuff on the surface of the water if a fish has died

 

[KingMaddog]

No dead fish, just these bubbles that seem to stick together and move around like they are on a "film". I never had this before and was reading that sometimes a tank can develope a protein film on the surface. If I dip my net in the water it comes out covered with the bubbles like a coating.

 

[looking-glass]

you should test your water and check what the readings are

 

[KingMaddog]

don't have a test kit at this moment. I know I need to get one. My friend gave me one but it was expired by 2 years and wouldn't work properly.

 

[looking-glass]

probably not - API test kits are the best you can pick them up cheap from amazon taking a guess though it could be your ammonia that can make your water cloudy i would do a water change and invest in some ammo lock type solution to detoxify the ammonia - the cloudiness should clear up on its own once the filter bacteria get to work

 

[KingMaddog]

Would a bag of Purigen thrown in the filter work too? I never used it before but keep hearing good things about it.

 

[looking-glass]

That should help remove the ammonia - id add more filter bacteria too to help fight future ammonia spikes

 

[KingMaddog]

Well I didn't do anything but let it run it's course and it cleared up. Maybe just a bacterial bloom I guess.