Cloudy Water

[Sploffs]

Hiya,

I recently bought my son a tropical fish tank.

its been set up approx 5 weeks, for a shaort time it was nice and clear, but now its just cloudy, so I took a 3rd of the water out, and replaced it, my friend cleaned my filter, but didnt realise you shouldnt wash it in clean water, but thats what we did.

I then went to get some advice they told me to take half of the water out, and not to feed the fish for 4 days, today being the fourth day I assumed the tank would be nice and clear again, but I think its worse.


Any advice would be great. Thanks.

 

[bUcky]

had that problem once and all i did was a 20 percent water change everyday. and made sure i didnt overfeed.

but u probably need to find out why b4 u can start treatment.

 

[cujoho78]

Hi. Cloudy water often means a bacterial bloom, which is said to be common in new tanks. You can do a series of small water changes to help clear it up if it is bothering you. Other members would be better able to help you if they knew how big the tank was, what fish you have, and they'll also need to know the ammonia and nitrite levels of the water. If you are new to keeping fish you should look at some of the pinned articles concerning cycling or fishless cycling. Ammonia and nitrite are toxic and will cause fish death if they get too high. How often do you change the water? How often do you vacuum the gravel on the bottom? Both of these things should be done weekly or bi-weekly depending on your set-up. Most people would recommend changing 10%-25% of the tank water during each water change. If uneaten food or fish waste is left to rot on the bottom of the tank, cloudy water and ammonia/nitrite problems can result. I hope this will help point you in the right direction. Good luck.

 

[Sploffs]

Well, first of all, thanks for replying both of you.

I am very new to keeping fish, bought it for my sons first birthday as they amuse him, only at the moment he can't see them very well lol

I'm not entirely sure about the size of the tank, it is only a small one........Just had a look on some sites, at tank sizes, think it would be a 10g.

I have the temp on 26

I have one small catfish

3 zebras (I think they're called.)

and I have 3 other fish.

I know I'm not very helpful, sorry......

They're all small fish, I did have 2 guppys, and 2 kissing fish, but one of the kissing fish died of shock, and the other killed the guppys so I took that one out of the tank, and recovered the dead fish, you think that has anything to do with the water?

Sorry I can't be of anymore help.

I did take 20% of the water out today, not seen a change as yet, but will keep doing it.

I keep getting told different things to do, no one has said to clean the gravel, how would I go about doing this? remove the fish, and and rinse the gravel?

Perhaps I should buy a book - just seems a waste of money now, was told it was quite easy to keep a small fish tank.

 

[Sploffs]

Oh...sorry, how would I find out about the ammonia and nitrite levels?

 

[cujoho78]

Hi. People normally clean the gravel when they do their water changes. You can buy a gravel vacuum for very little money which is basically a siphon. It will pull some water out and with it goes the fish waste. They are pretty simple devices but they get the job done. You can buy test kits for ammonia and nitrite as well as many other variables. I use Aquarium Pharmaceuticals liquid test kits; they are pretty good value for the money.

 

[clareriley]

this does happen alot in new tanks or so thats my experience.. always after a week or two when you think awww isnt that crystal clear haha. sometimes its to do with the gravel.. sometimes its just the tank climatizing itsself as some put it. do small water changes every day and im sure it will be fine. my daughter will be 1 in April and she loves our fish.. she can watch them for hours.

 

[Sheridanp]

Same problem with me. I vacumed one bucket today and yesterday. I will continue to do so. I also did a water test, here it is:

PH low range- 7.6
Ph high range- grey/blue, off the list.
Nitrite- 0.3
GH Test- 60mg/L
KH- 150mg/L

My tank is incredibly foggy right now. I guess I'll keep taking that bucket of water out and feed them less, because I get a little carried away with the food.

 

[clareriley]

Same problem with me. I vacumed one bucket today and yesterday. I will continue to do so. I also did a water test, here it is:

PH low range- 7.6
Ph high range- grey/blue, off the list.
Nitrite- 0.3
GH Test- 60mg/L
KH- 150mg/L

My tank is incredibly foggy right now. I guess I'll keep taking that bucket of water out and feed them less, because I get a little carried away with the food.

Getting carried away is what I used to do, I used to be that busy getting ready for work years ago I put food in and just went to work.. now I put a little food in, if its gone a little more.. theres never much left over..