Water Cloudy, need help

MidnightPyro

AC Members
Jun 21, 2005
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My tank has been up and running for about a month and a half now. Occupants are 3 zebra danios and a clown pleco. Plants are anacharis, jungle val, and hornwort. I currently have a bit of an algae issue (algae on the glass, on the plants, not hugely severe but annoying), but my newest problem is cloudy water. It's not green cloudy, it's white milky cloudy. Test results are as follows:
0 ppm Ammonia
0 ppm Nitrate
0 ppm Nitrite
pH 7.8
Water Temperature 71 degrees.

It's been milky white for about a week now. The only thing I can think of that could've caused it was the first 25% weekly water change (I've been doing 10% a week until that). Besides that, I have no clue. So far, I've changed the carbon in the Penguin 150B (30 gallon or less model), and added some Tetra Aqua WaterClarifier about an hour ago, and has thus far done nothing.

The fish all look healthy, and there's nothing else I can see that's a problem. Is there any easy way to get rid of this or figure out what it is?

Thanks!
 
Sounds like a bacterial bloom to me. You mentioned doing a water change before it happened. That can lead to a bacterial bloom. Other causes include overfeeding. I'd suggest just leaving it alone for a few days, see if it clears up on its own. Here's to hoping.
 
inferior fish food can also cause cloudy water (or so i've read).
 
Are you treating your replacement water with a dechlorinator? I'm wondering if you possibly killed off some of your good bacteria with the water change. Since you have a Bio-wheel, changing the filter cartridge or carbon shouldn't have had much effect.

For me, these usually just clear up on their own. I am resistant to adding chemicals (like the clarifier) if they're not really needed for the benefit of the fish.
 
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