Foggy Water

[Kairi]

i changed my water about 4 days ago [30% change]. nothing was different then than it ever was; however, the water was really cloudy when i finished. i waited a day, changed it again [this time 45% change]. today, it was still cloudy so i finally gave in and tested the water. [my testing kit has been MIA til recently]

here's what i got:
ammonia:.25ppm
nitrItes:0ppm
nitrAtes:40ppm
pH:6.6

generally, my pH was around 7ish or a wee bit higher (still in the 7 range though)... would this cause cloudy water?

i added a dose of salt to the tank today, but we're still cloudy- what's going on?

 

[tnhowery]

Sounds like an ammonia spike is the tank relatively new?

 

[Kairi]

nope, sure isn't. the tank is close to 10 mos old.

it's not an ammonia spike... well, unless you call .25ppm a spike.

would that cloud the water?!

 

[InaneCathode]

nope, sure isn't. the tank is close to 10 mos old.

it's not an ammonia spike... well, unless you call .25ppm a spike.

would that cloud the water?!

Anything above 0ppm ammonia is a spike imo

 

[tnhowery]

i would check the tapwater you could have some in that and this could change from time to time...are you using any type of water conditioner? is there a fish that may be dead somewhere and decided to hide right before it died? Did you change the filter media or wash it with tapwater this would kill all of the beneficial bacteria and would give the tank a mini cyle.

My bet would be the ammonia i have seen this before after i have changed water due to high amounts of ammonia in tapwater.

And yes any ammonia is not good and i would consider it a spike.

 

[erk628]

Do you have sand or gravel in your tank?

 

[Aprilia997]

I would give at least a seventy five percent chance that your tank is having a bacterial bloom. If that is what it is it will clear up by itself in two or three days if you do nothing, if you keep doing water changes and it is a bacterial bloom it will just extend the length of the bloom. If the water has a slightly green cast to it then it is a algae bloom and water changes will cut down the amount of nutrients feeding the bloom.

 

[Kairi]

well, one of my heaters just popped.... weird occurance...

i have gravel in the tank. don't think there's a dead, hiding fish.... but i'll dig around tomorrow and look.

the water was greenish previous to the last 2 water changes... now it's just cloudy. not murky, just cloudy. i thought bacteria or algae myself.... the water smells a little green (sorry, i smell in colors sometimes) but apart from scrubbing my castle and plants, there is no algae in there to make it smell that way.

ammonia clouds water? very strange. i'll check the tap water tomorrow... see what it says.


hey- what causes bacteria blooms?

 

[cleekdaFish]

ya i aslo had this cloudiness in my tank too, i just changed 50% of the water like 3 days ago and now its clear

 

[Glod]

If it's bacterial bloom (the water is grey rather than green) it will clear up by itself when the food source is gone. Did you clean your filter recently ? a bit of die off would explain the ammonia, and the bloom.
If you take a bucket of tank water outside in daylight does it look green ? If so then you have an algae bloom, blocking out light to the tank for a couple of days will solve that, but if the cause isn't found it will just come back.

 

[Kairi]

no- it's not green (anymore) it was about 5 days ago- and i changed a good deal of the water, and now it's white-ish. the tank is a good 5 feet in length, and laying on the couch and looking into the side, i can't see but maybe halfway into the tank. it's pretty murky today.

i'm wondering if there was an algae bloom if once it died, that didn't cause a bacterial bloom. think that's possible?

whatever it is my fish don't seem to mind too much.

 

[erk628]

no- it's not green (anymore) it was about 5 days ago- and i changed a good deal of the water, and now it's white-ish. the tank is a good 5 feet in length, and laying on the couch and looking into the side, i can't see but maybe halfway into the tank. it's pretty murky today.

i'm wondering if there was an algae bloom if once it died, that didn't cause a bacterial bloom. think that's possible?

whatever it is my fish don't seem to mind too much.

Have you tried any water clarifier chemicals. I use Tetra Aqua WaterClarifier, it works good.

 

[Kairi]

nope, haven't tried it. i'm not a big chemical person unless need be. (plus everything's closed today )

 

[Glod]

If the algae died off that could account for the excess "food" in the water column that the bacteria bloom is consuming. Give it a few days and see how it goes. It won't harm the fish, just looks unsightly.