Cloudy Water

[sic0198]

Ok, I have a problem with my aquarium. It's cloudy (white), I felt I should post this here because I think it can be harnful to my fish. What do I do to correct this? We asked a pet shop dude about it, he said to just feed 'em enough to keep them alive a let it sit for a week or so, he claims that because we (stupidly) did a 50% water change to try to remedy this ourselves, it didn't fix it so he told us to leave the tank be for a while and in a while it would clear up on it's own, he said it needed to cycle again because of the water change, but I'm concerned I've heard this is very stressful to the fish. Anyone used this? And is it any good?

Here's the wild card, I have a Black Knife Fish in this tank. Can I use this stuff in the tank with the Knife Fish?

Hopefully, I have not (as I suspect) already killed them, I hope I can fix this.

And if you have anything else I need to know please post it.

 

[WILDER]

Need alot more info i'm afraid on size of tank in gallons or litres, how long has it been setup, and full stock list of how many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite,nitrate,and ph.

Don't believe what half of them products say, to keep a tank healthy takes alot of maintance and care, and commitment.
Cloudy water can be due to a bacterial bloom, over stocked, over feeding, and a filter that not up to the job.

 

[sic0198]

Need alot more info i'm afraid on size of tank in gallons or litres, how long has it been setup, and full stock list of how many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite,nitrate,and ph.

Don't believe what half of them products say, to keep a tank healthy takes alot of maintance and care, and commitment.
Cloudy water can be due to a bacterial bloom, over stocked, over feeding, and a filter that not up to the job.

It's a 29 Gallon Tank. Ammonia was close to zero a few days ago, I am unsure of it now. But it's over stocked (but the fish seem to be doing fine atm) but here goes.

2 Bala Sharks
3 Australian Rainbow Fish
2 weather loaches (1 regular and 1 golden)
2 Clown Loaches
1 Dragon Goby
2 Red-Tail Sharks
2 Buenos Aires Tetras
4 Zebras (not cichlids)
1 Marble Molly
1 Pleco
1 Black Knife Fish

I'm going to be upgrading to a 55 pretty soon.

It's been setup since June.

 

[WILDER]

Sorry i don't know where to start that tank is severely overstocked can see why the tank is cloudy.
Bala shark are a shoaling fish and should be kept in groups they need large tank of 90gal, same with the clown loaches.
Black knife fish needs large tanks too.
Plus plecs are massive waste producers.
I would rehome the clown loaches and bala sharks as that tanks way to small for them.
All you should have in that tank is meduim size fish.
I would research the fish before you by them.

Just noticed red tailed sharks should never keep in two's they can't tolerate there own species, plus they need a 40gal as they are very aggressive fish as they get older.

 

[QuotheRaven]

The cloudy white water happens when there is a large bloom of sudden bacteria as wilder said.
Also the substrate if not washed properly.
I had the same sort of problem in my new 75 gallon however it was clearing slowly I added a second filter plants and my fish (cloning cycle) and within about 2 hours the water was crystal clear .

 

[sic0198]

I knew buying all the fish was going to be a problem, but I just kept looking at it and deciding it needed more, ahhhhhh.

Anyway, everything I have right now is small. For right now they are pretty healthy despite the water problem, so for right now I may add some new plants, buy a new filter and hope it clears up.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[WILDER]

Yes a new filter will help alot as the filter you have is not coping with the load of fish in the tank, just run it along with the old one, wet the sponges in tank water and squeeze some old sponges onto the new ones to get them going.
Your tank might cloud up again in a couple of weeks but it just the new filter sponges maturing.
I would hurry and get the new tank, as they will become ill as it well overstocked for a 30gal, i would get a bigger tank if you can then a 55gal there not much more expensive anyway.
Good luck.