Cloudy Water With 0ppm Ammonia...what Could Cause It?

[electric yellow]

Hi!

My communal tank seems to have a cloudy water problem.

I changed it last week (25%) and it went REALLY cloudy. So much so i could hardly see the fishies. I changed 25% again last night because i thought it would improve it but it has only slightly improved it.

Water stats:

Ammonia: 0
NitrIte: o
NirtAte: 0
ph: 7 neutral
Heat: 26-28deg Celcius
Decor: gravel, driftwood, rocks and plants

I thought the ammonia may of been through the roof to cause the cloudynedd but it doesnt appear so. I carbon pouch in the filter which is due for removal but that wouldnt cause it.

Any ideas? It doesnt seem to be affecting this fish...but i dont know that swimming round in water like that is to crash hot for them.

Ive never had an issue with cloudy water before from water changes..

 

[Colin_T]

is the water milky cloudy or green cloudy?
milky cloudy is a bacterial bloom usually caused by too much rotting food in the tank
Green cloudy is an algal bloom and is caused by too much light and too many nutrients.

Cut back on the feeding and do some daily water changes and gravel cleans for a week.
When you clean the filter wash the filter materials out in a bucket of tank water. Don't wash them under tap water.

 

[humpy_the_humphead_wrasse]

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[emmag21]

I have a similar problem atm and ive done large water changes the past few days to reduce it but it doesnt to appear to have made much difference. Ive been advised to reduce feeding, reduce light to 8-9 hours and get some more plants so im going to see if that helps xx

 

[backtotropical]

Bacterial blooms are caused by Heterotrophic bacteria, which are not the bacteria we culture in our filters, commonly referred to as 'Beneficial Bacteria'.

The Heterotrophic bacteria are the bacteria which break down the organic waste in the tank (eg. Excess food, fish waste, dead fish, dead plant matter etc etc) into ammonia. These are very different bacteria to the filter bacteria.

The filter bacteria live life in the bacteria slow-lane, taking around 24 hours to multiply, but the heterotrophic bacteria which cause the blooms reproduce in 15 - 20 minutes. When there is an excess of organic waste in the tank, the heterotrophs multiply to deal with it. They are larger than Autotrophic bacteria (the type which filter bacteria are) and therefore don't attach to surfaces so easily. Rapid reproduction + difficulty attaching to surfaces = Bacterial Bloom.

The reason water changes won't really help is because the bacteria are able to reproduce so quickly. When you remove them by water changes, the bacteria left in the tank will multiply to make up for it. To keep on top of removing the bacteria by water changes, you'd have to do at least a 50% change every 15 minutes. You do the math.

The only danger to fish in a bacterial bloom is oxygen depletion, beause whilst floating in the water column the heterotrophic bacteria will be in an aerobic state (require oxygen). I've never actually heard of fish suffocating because of a bacterial bloom, but its worth adding some extra aeration if possible.

The reason bacterial blooms occur when water stats are ok is purely due to the organic waste. Bacterial blooms will actually cause ammonia spikes because so much organic waste is being broken down, and the slow filter bacteria aren't quick enough at reproduction to counter the rise in ammonia production. This is contrary to popular belief as most people think that ammonia will cause a bacterial bloom. Not true.

Reducing feeding will help as there will be less wasted food lying in the substrate, and cleaning the substrate (gravel vaccing) will also help enormously. However, if you just leave it be, it will disperse in its own time when the amount of organic waste has returned to a normal level. Emmag21, i'm not sure how reducing lighting time will help. I think you have been mis-lead there.

Humpy, nitrate doesn't have to be present for ammonia and nitrite to be broken down. Nitrate is the end product of ammonia and nitrite being broken down, but can be removed by several means, most commonly water changes and live plants feeding on it.

Electric Yellow, a good gravel vac every couple of days until the bloom disappears will help, or you can just sit it out. Also, to re-cap in answer to your original question, blooms cause ammonia spikes. Ammonia spikes don't cause blooms.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

BTT