Dirty water?? After 25% water change, water is still BROWN??

[ratman420]

Please help! Yesterday my water had turned a poopy brown so I did a 25% water change last night. This morning its back to dark brown, Im worried about my fish. Please help with any explaination or suggestion.

Thank You!

[beviking]

Flush the toilet BEFORE taking the water out for your fish tank! (I know, that was too obvious!)

Do you have any wood in your tank? Wood releases tannins that usually turn the water a tint of brown, but if you didn't boil and rinse the wood to remove some of the tannins first, or have multiple pieces in there, you could have very dark water.
If so, take out the wood and boil it (or soak it in hot water) until the water is clear. You will have to empty the water and start with fresh water several to many times. Do water changes in your tank to clear the water.
If not, you'll have to wait for someone else to answer which is quicker than waiting for me to come up with another answer...;)

[ratman420]

No I dont have any wood in my tank. When i do a water change it clears up, but in a few hours its back to a darker brown. Keep doing water changes?

[JackDonkey]

Do you use peat in your filtration setup?

[ratman420]

nope, just carbon rocks

[OrionGirl]

What size tank and how many fish? How often do you do water changes?

[ratman420]

125g 13 fish...all small except my 4 medium oscars

i do about 25% water changes a week

[TKOS]

For now definatley do the water changes. Daily if need be. That won't hurt the fish, though I am sure it can be a pain.

Do you have any readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitarte, ph, hardness?

[ratman420]

all my readings seem to be pretty normal

[Karlsbad]

Is this a cycled tank?

[Cearbhaill]

all my readings seem to be pretty normal
What are they exactly?
Please don't be offended, but I often see folks say "everything tests fine" when in fact they haven't actually tested for quite some time.