Insanely Cloudy Water

[shortymet55]

My water has only been crystal clear like one day after it started clouding up. The tank is a month old. This were clear when i set it up, then when I added fish. then like 3 weeks ago it seemed to cloud up. So, i just let it go think it will go back to normal. Well, one day it did go clear again, but the next day after I did a normal water change (its been 2 weeks since last), and it never cleared back up. But like yesterday out of nowhere it went from cloudy to CLOUDY. And it still that way. My Rasboras and tetras seem fine. My swordtails seem lazy.,Not sure if this has anything to do with it, but if it could help solve the problem, then its worth mentioning.

Heres what i think it could be...
1.) Filter, its a cheap aqua-tech which came with the tank (from walmart). I changed the filter in it, but it been about 24 hrs and no change.
2.) too much food on the bottom (the fish dont seem to be eating as much as before, so i've lessened the food, but i still haven't done a water change in 2 weeks. My dad really has something against water changes. Its actually really annoying. I wanted to try a water change to get some stuff off the bottom, but my dad insists it will just pick up more junk making the water worse.

But problems with what i think it could be
1.) Filter- why would it suddenly go extra cloudy???
2.) Water Change- New babies, which cause a dilemma. They really need good quality water, but i dont wanna suck them up, or move the water around so there is a huge amount of big junk floating around.

Please, if you think you might know whats going on, id love to hear. Right now, i will try anything.

 

[SJ2K]

Firstly educate your dad, water changes are ESSENTiAL!...If doing regular water changes for a few days doesnt help, you may want to concider a product called 'Filter AID', it helps to retain crystal clear water after things such as bacterial blooms (which is sounds like you may have).

 

[shortymet55]

Since you mentioned bacteria. I recently had ammonia problems with my tank. I mean really bad ones. Like way too high. So, i took an old filter from my friends tank, to see if i could get the bacteria to catch back up with my high ammonia levels. Could it be this kind of bacteria doing this? what exactly are bacteria blooms?

 

[WILDER]

Can we take a look at the tank szie in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.

 

[shortymet55]

Its a fairly new 10 gallon. It has 4 rasboras, 5 cardinal tetras, 2 swordtails, and 1 algae eater, and about 15 baby swordtails.Now, all these are small. Like rasboras are maybe 3/4 inch. Tetras 1/2 in. Swordtails 2in, algae eater 2 in, and baby swordtails are 3/4 centimeter at most. Now, i know i put a bit too much in to fast, hence my ammonia issue. I put in some ammo lock to help with the problem so the things wont die before i can get enough bacteria. So im thinking now the bacteria is catching up, but causing this cloudiness.O yea, in a week or two, after the swordtails are big enough, im gonna give a bunch away. Maybe only keeping 3.

 

[shortymet55]

I read a little bit about "bacteria blooms". I think this might be my cause. Im hoping to do a few extra water changes, and hold off on the food for two days, then hopefully it will go away. How long does it usually take?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes it will most likely be bacteria bloom from the high ammonia. do 20% water changes every day until your ammonia and nitrite levels are consistently at 0. The cloudiness in itself won't harm the fish it's the ammonia and nitrite you need to watch. cloudiness is just a by product almost.

 

[shortymet55]

During a bacteria bloom, inst the ammonia level supposed to drop? I had it around .1, after using some ammo-lock. So, then i added an old filter from a friends tank to get the bacteria going, cuz ammo-lock is only a temporary fix. So, it was up to like 2ppm. So, then i got this bacteria bloom, and on one test that goes up to 2ppm it was not even on the scale, and on another (Thats probably 10 years old, so i dont know the accuracy or if it went bad) it measured about 6ppm!!!! So, during the bacteria bloom it went up 4ppm. The first few days, before i knew the issue I did feed my fish, but i haven't for over a day and a half, and ammonia is still sky high. I added some more ammo-lock to get the ammonia down because, its way too high, and if it kills some of the bacteria, then that good. Ill add some more tomorrow, until i test around 2ppm, where ill let the bacteria do the rest.
Nitrite level is next to nothing.

Also, whats the longest period of time you should starve the fish. I guess after 2 or 3 days, you should feed them alittle right? Even if hte bacteria bloom still exists.