Murkyness

[Rufio]

Ok my 10 gallon is kind of murky for some reason ...

i was told by my friend that my water had clorine in it so i put aquasafe in the water .. changed the filter.. and i had done a 25% water change earlier..

Ok so the water isnt dirty... theres no colour to it really just kind of murky/ ghostish/


any clue why? i even bought this stuff called crystal clear.. put about 10 drops in still kind of murky

 

[schiejr]

How old is the tank? Does it get alot of light? Lots of fish? How often do you change water? Could be a bacterial bloom or algae. Sometimes water conditioners will cause cloudiness when first added.

 

[Rufio]

not to old.. maybe a month.. i keep the lights on 8-9 hours a day.. i change the water 25% every 2-3 days.. only 7 fish in there now...

and fake plants

 

[happychem]

Is it white murky or green murky?

Sounds like you've got a lot of fish in there for a 10g. What type of fish are they?

When I started my 10g I knew nothing about cycling or stocking (unfortunately). I lost lots of fish and was overstocked for a while. Now I'm down to a comfy 3 swordtails and 2 cories, some MTS' and a ghost shrimp. It's a good stocking level.

My water was also cloudy for a while. What kind of lighting do you have? What's your water temp?

 

[JSchmidt]

In a newly established tank, white murkiness (as opposed to green murkiness) is usually is sign that the tank is still developing equilibrium among all the micro-inhabitants it contains. These little creatures are part of the normal planktonic population and it takes a while for all of the organisms to find balance. Before that happens, one organism overpopulates (making the water white) until another that feeds on it (or competes for food) establishes itself. This is normal and best left untreated. It usually lasts for a couple of weeks and then goes away on its own. Efforts to treat it chemically usually cause more problems and don't help much anyway.

Sit tight, don't overfeed and make sure ammonia and nitrite are undetectable; if they are absent, just be patient and wait. The white water won't hurt your fish.

Good luck,
Jim

 

[happychem]

Well put. I should have added that after a few months my water cleared up and has been crystal clear since. Well, with the exception of a few renovation-related cloudinesses...