Nasty Cloudiness

JinxXx0085

JinxXx0085

AC Members
Jun 12, 2005
379
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Montana
AHA!! I've finally found my way to start a new thread! I'm a newbie to this site ;-)
I recently posted something about my tank and now I've deleted that one so I can start a new thread.

Anyoo... I have 10 gal tank with 2 guppies, 1 betta, and 3 catfishes and for past 3 days the water have been looking like really cloudy! I'm attaching a picture so it can explain better than I can :-D I'm also having a bit of problem with ammonia spike, its been off charts for a couple of days and still haven't went down yet. I'm currently using ammo-lock.

The fishes seem to be fine, a bit hard to observe them, they seem to be still active even though the water looks cloudy... I still would like your feedback on my "dilemma" I would like to know if my fishes will continue to be ok in this yucky looking tank? And how long would it last?

DSC01281.JPG
 
Yup, I'm doing water changes. I didn't do any today. I forgot to add... how often can I do water changes without having any impact on my fishes?
 
You can do 50% water changes daily, 2 times a day even. Just get the ammonia down until its barely detectable. Feed the fishes less too, reduce the feeding to once a day or once every other day. When your tank becomes established (no ammonia and nitrites detectable) then the cloudiness should go away.
 
Whoa!!! I'll go out on a limb and say you have a SERIOUS issue with cloudy water! Dang! :hang:

The posts about water changes are right on the money, jinx. Doing them every day is a lot of work, but it will clear it up for sure. It will work better than anything in a bottle you can dump in there. Check and make sure there isn't a dead plant rotting away in there. Changing the filter carbon once or twice while you're doing a course of daily water changes will help too.
 
also, Ammo-lock does not stop ammonia from showing up in your test.
i had this problem pop up once too, though nowhere near as bad as yours. my test all seemed right, so i figured a bacteria bloom. i changed approx. 30% water and within 2 days it was clear
 
Cool, its good to know that my fishes wouldn't be severly affected by the frequent water changes at this time.
I'm also aware about ammo-lock, it won't stop ammonia from showing up on the test. I just don't want the fishes to be affected by the ammonia.
Would be nice to know what have caused it. One idea is that I've changed one of the chemicals.
Everytime I look at the tank, I go ummm... where are the fishes now? :shark:
 
cloudy water is usually the result of excess nutrients in the water causing a bacteria bloom. If the water turns green then its algae bloom. In either case keeping the water clean and free of the excess nutrients is the key.

The easiest way to get cloudy water is by overfeeding. keep the feeding down to a minimum, like only once per day and just enough that they will eat everything in under 5 minutes.
 
Like people said above, bacterial bloom. Water changes, get your tank fully cycled and established. Maybe feed less, better filtration. Don't use a bottled water clarifyer.
 
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