cloudy water

[Lauren]

I'm wondering how I got it more than how to get rid of it. I got a 10g a few days ago. I set it up with a lot of gravel from my 2og as well as a plant and some water. Ran it, did a few water changes. Tested the water yesterday and decided that it was ready for some starter fish. I'm a little anxious to get this up and running soon, since it's for my little sister and she wants fish asap.

I put in two guppies late in the afternoon. Checked on them the next morning and the tank was very cloudy. I took the guppies out and returned them to the 20g and quickly did a large water change. The water is even cloudier now. I'll do another change tomorrow, and keep changing the water out daily, I guess that's all I can do.

When I put the fish in there were no nitrates showing, but surprisingly there was a very low level of ammonia. I assumed this came from the gravel I transfered over, since I took it the day before I cleaned my tank, and dug deeper into the gravel than I should have. It wasn't high enough to hurt the fish, so I went ahead and put the guppies in dispite the reading. I don't know if this will help the diagnosis much. I'm hoping its just a plume of bactiria that will pass shortly.

Is keeping the fish out the proper thing to do? Or will their presence speed up the biofilter and help the clouding go away sooner?

[Gulp]

I had the same thing happen to my new 110 a few weeks ago. Other members suggested that it was a bacteria "bloom" (not the beneficial kind), as you suspect with yours, and it would go away. The cloudiness appeared overnight and lasted about 3 days. I did a couple of water changes (as you did) over the next few days, woke up one morning and everything was crystal clear. Give it a few more days and see if things clear up. During that time, you might want to stop or greatly reduce the feeding (over feeding is another possible cause of cloudiness) and "starve" the bacteria.

[Lauren]

I actually wasn't feeding the fish to try and stop this from happening. I bet some decomposing food came with the gravel I brought over.