Cloudy Water

[myssbehavin]

I set up my tank about a month ago and noticed the past 2 days the water has been cloudy. I have done partial water changes at least twice a week but am wondering how often to do the water changes?
How often are you supposed to feed the fish? I have tropicals now and feed them twice a day and both times I feed them they act like they are starved and eat it ALL.
I used to have a 55 gallon with an oscar but my oscar jumped out of the tank so I got rid of that tank and bought a 35 hex. I am so clueless with tropical fish
I have 6 tetra's, 4 guppies, 2 catfish, 1 red tail shark, 1 platy, 2 mollies and a WHOLE lotta snails
I feed them tropical flakes, shrimp pellets and algae wafers for the catfish and blood worms every once and awhile for a snack.
Overfeeding? Too many fish? Need more water changes?

 

[akudewan]

Hi, Welcome to the forum!

Cloudy water indicates a bacterial bloom. This usually happens if your tank is new, or if your nitrogen cycle is messed up. Do you have a filter, and is your tank cycled?

 

[myssbehavin]

I dont know if it's cycled I have a filter with the biowheel. How do you know if it's cycled yet?

 

[akudewan]

Hi there,

I'm guessing you just bought the tank and all the equipment, and then put in your fish, right? Then your tank isn't cycled yet. Well, don't worry, thats what most newbies do.

To know about the nitrogen cycle in detail, read the pinned threads: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=88643

I'll explain in brief:

Fishes excrete in the form of ammonia. This ammonia is toxic to the fish, and can potentially kill them. In our filters, we have something called a biological media. This bio-media starts housing friendly bacteria. The bacteria convert this deadly ammonia into nitrites, and the nitrites are further converted into nitrates. Fishes can tolerate nitrate a lot more easily compared to ammonia. In a cycled tank, all the ammonia will be converted to nitrates. Ideally there should be no ammonia in the tank.

There are two ways of cycling your tank. Basically, what you need is a source of ammonia. This can be done by adding a small, hardy fish (such as guppies or zebra danios) or you can directly add some ammonium salt. The second method is recommended, and it is called fishless cycling, since there are no fishes involved. Cycling your tank using fishes will give them a lot of stress, and they will most probably end up dead. Fishless cycling, on the other hand, will help save fish, and also help save time.

You will also need to buy testing kits. These will help you read the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels of your tank. I suggest you buy a good testing kit asap, as your ammonia levels may be high.

As far as the bacterial bloom is concerned (which makes the water cloudy), it is generally not harmful to the fish, and should clear out in a couple of days.