New Tank Gone Cloudy :-(

[libragirl1980]

hi all.

I have had tank set up and decided to cycle with fish. its a 4 gallon tank with 2 swordtails and i give them a flake of food each twice a day. I have only had them 2 days and the water is looking cloudy!!

is this ment to happen??

thanks in advance for your advice

 

[Paradise3]

Do you do water changes everyday? If so how much percentage of water do you change?

Xxx~misscosmo~xxX

 

[kelly528]

The cloudiness you are seeing is from the ammonia the fish are producing. Since ammonia is toxic to fish you will need to keep it under control by cycling the tank.

 

[Djs7137]

its all part of the cycle. and this could happen for months basically what it is. is colonies of good bacteria growing to help break down everything. its nothing too be concerned about. just do weekly water changes and you should be fine dont stress.

 

[shelaghfishface]

do you have a filter running?
your better off reading thru the beginners resource centre at the thread called fish in cycling.. but do it soon or you will lose them, water changes will need doing several times a day, you will also need a test kit ( not the strip type)- of course you can find all that info in the link i have directed you too

shelagh xxx

read thru this

http/www.fishforum...esource-center/ ( there wouldnt be any point bombarding you with advice at this point, just have a read*soon* and then ask any questions )

 

[libragirl1980]

hi all.

I have had tank set up and decided to cycle with fish. its a 4 gallon tank with 2 swordtails and i give them a flake of food each twice a day. I have only had them 2 days and the water is looking cloudy!!

is this ment to happen??

thanks in advance for your advice

hi. thanks all for your advice.
I havent done water change as thought i ment to keep it as it is to start up the nitrogen cycle.
I do have a filter running,yes.

 

[Assaye]

hi all.

I have had tank set up and decided to cycle with fish. its a 4 gallon tank with 2 swordtails and i give them a flake of food each twice a day. I have only had them 2 days and the water is looking cloudy!!

is this ment to happen??

thanks in advance for your advice

Cloudy water is caused by excess organic matter in the water (fish waste, food, etc). Bacteria living in the water rapidly multiply and this causes the "bloom" you can see. Along with this comes high ammonia levels as the bacteria turn the waste into ammonia. This ammonia then feeds the bacteria in your filter and helps your cycle progress.

How often are you doing water changes and do you have test kits for ammonia and nitrites?

In a fish-in cycle you need to be doing daily water changes and water tests. This is VERY important for keeping the ammonia and nitrites down and thus keeping your fish safe.

Two swordtails in a 4 gallon is also very heavy stocking for a fish-in cycle. Ideally you'd have one tiny fish - any more than that and most of the time the ammonia will get too high before you get around to your next water change.

Swordtails are really not suited to 4 gallon tanks. Tbh, they need 12-15 gallons as a minimum as they are not small fish as adults. A better option for you would be guppies, but these guys don't tend to be suitable for fish-in cycling.

Why did you choose a fish-in cycle? It's so dangerous for the fish and IMO should only really be attempted by experienced fish keepers who know how to take evasive measures when things go wrong.

Please read the info in the link Shelagh gave - there are articles there about setting up new tanks, fish-in cycles and bacterial blooms.

hi all.

I have had tank set up and decided to cycle with fish. its a 4 gallon tank with 2 swordtails and i give them a flake of food each twice a day. I have only had them 2 days and the water is looking cloudy!!

is this ment to happen??

thanks in advance for your advice

hi. thanks all for your advice.
I havent done water change as thought i ment to keep it as it is to start up the nitrogen cycle.
I do have a filter running,yes.

Actually, this is incorrect although a lot of newbies and fish shop employees will tell you it.

The bacteria can only eat as much waste as they can eat, right? If they can only eat 1ppm a day and you have 3ppm in your tank, it means they can't eat the extra 3ppm because there are not enough of them yet. So you can safely remove the extra 3ppm in the tank and not hurt the bacteria.

Basicly, anything detectable in the tank is excess and must be removed. If ammonia and nitrites are not removed and kept low (ideally zero) they will damage and even kill your fish.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Libragirl.
One of the basic things that you can learn right away and it will clear up many things for you is that the bacteria that we need to develop in our tanks actually do not live free swimming in the water, instead they are located on surfaces in surface films. Most often the vast majority of them are found in your filter. This means that water changes do not remove them and are harmless to the progress of your cycle. Be sure to use the needed dechlorinator while doing your daily large water changes to control ammonia in the tank.

 

[libragirl1980]

Ok, so how big a water change are i gonna have to do and how offen? I shall start it tomorrow.
Didnt know what fish to get so asked at the fish shop and they said any of the ones they had were fine and i told them what size tank i had and they said the swordtails would be fine.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi libragirl and welcome to the beginners section!
Unfortunately the LFS has steered you wrong in just about every way possible. Here on TFF our motto is to get things all figured out with each other, with the other members that is, and then go to the LFS to seek the actual things we need but not the advice! Its ok, though as now you've found a great forum to be in as a hobbyist.

Your water changes will need to be all the way down to near the gravel with just enough room for the fish to be ok. You'll need to use a gravel vac siphon (wide clear tube on the end of the siphon hose that goes to your bucket. Its not going to be as hard with a 4G but of course the daily work of it is going to be trying on you over time. Always use good technique by doing the deep gravel cleaning to get the water out and then use a good conditioner (get a small bottle of Seachem Prime if possible) to remove chlorine/chloramines and always temperature match the incoming water (your hand is good enough for this - save some of the tank water that came out in a cup so you can match back and forth with your hand.) If you think your hot water system exposes your water to a lot of copper then discuss this system with the members to see if there's a copper concern, but those are rare these days and the water changes are more urgent than finding this out right away.

You will also need to discuss a test kit with the members.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Assaye]

Ok, so how big a water change are i gonna have to do and how offen? I shall start it tomorrow.
Didnt know what fish to get so asked at the fish shop and they said any of the ones they had were fine and i told them what size tank i had and they said the swordtails would be fine.

Unfortunately it seems that they don't really know what they are talking about. Swordtails can get to a good 4 inches long. In order to give them a basic amount of swimming space you would be looking at a 24" tank as a minimum - that'd be around 60 litres.

In a 4 gallon (which is likely to be a foot long as maximum) then they only have three "paces" across the tank as adults and this just doesn't give them enough space. Imagine spending your entire life living in your bathroom.

Many fish shops don't know much about specific fish and seem to have a moto that as long as the fish are in water and they are getting money, anything goes.

Maybe next time you could ask them how they expect a 4 inch long fish to be healthy in a 4 gallon tank. I'd expect them to come up with some rubbish such as "they won't get that big", "they only grow to the size of the tank" or "fish don't feel pain".

This isn't anything against you - I was told total rubbish when I started out too! It just takes a while to learn what is rubbish and what is good advice.