Cloudy Water

[macman7010]

My mom purchased a used 30 gallon tank that has a cork backing over the rear of the tank. The water was originally clear but has now taken on a cloudy color that seems to be getting worse. We tried Bio Clear and that did nothing and she is treating the tank with Stress Zyme weekly. It has been running for about two weeks now.

Filtration is a Whisper 30-60 and a Penguin 125

Anyone have any suggestions.

[TKOS]

That clearing solution stuff never works very well. Just try doing lots of water changes. Do a water change a day and see if that starts to clear things up. Stress Zyme is only used for dechlorinating new water added to a tank and won't clear water up.

Did you put new gravel into the tank without rinsing it off? What is in the tank otherwise?

[JSchmidt]

If your important water paramters read zero (0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrites) then don't worry about the cloudiness. There are lots of microorganisms that inhabit our aquaria. Very commonly, early in the life (first couple months) of tank, these organisms have to find a balance. Some populations grow disproportionately quickly, leading to a bloom and hazy water.

These blooms almost always resolve themselves, and they often do it quicker if you don't try to fix things. Changing water may or may not help; you'll reduce the population of the various organisms, but you won't really be helping them come into balance. Do water changes, etc., as you would to keep nitrates down, but otherwise leave things alone. You can cut back a bit on feeding; this may or may not help.

These blooms can last a week or two (sometimes longer) and they generally clear pretty quickly once things stabilize. If your fish aren't distressed, don't lose any sleep over this.

Now, if you water is green and hazy (not white and hazy) you likely have a unicellular algae bloom. If that's the case, we can give you advice specific to that situation.

Jim

[macman7010]

Thanks a lot guys, no its not an algae bloom, just an out of balance situation like you suggested.