Water clarity problem :s

[ouch]

Hello, I am having a problem with water clarity...I set up my tank about 4 weeks ago and threw in some goldfish to start my cycle and I used the filter and the water from my old cycled tank in my new tank as well. All the ammonia, nitrates and nitrites have decreased but my water is so cloudy that I cant see the back of my tank and its been like that for about 3 weeks now.

Does anybody think my tank is still cycling because of the cloudy water?
How do I get rid of the cloudy water? usually it just clears up for me
Should I do a water change? or wait a longer
If I add fish now could it be dangerous to their health?

Thanks

 

[scolba]

i had this problem at the startup of each of my tanks. it stayed that way until i added another few fish. After i did that it cleared up after a few days. I don't know why it happened like that, but it did. So maybe think about adding a few disposable fish (danios or something) and see what happens....maybe??

i am pretty new to this (only had fish for about 6 months now), so don't treat this as gospel!!! Good luck!!

 

[toked]

So, you haven't done a water change since putting the water in initially? You should definitely be doing some water changes since you currently have fish in there.

 

[Ems]

You should be doing water changes even if it is cycling.
What size tank is this anyway?

 

[ouch]

So, you haven't done a water change since putting the water in initially

I did one at the about 3 weeks ago, right when the water started getting cloudy...but right after I did the water just got worse

 

[sublime1184]

Last water change was 3 weeks ago?....You should do water changes every day, that will eventually clear your tank and help the cycle process move along quicker

*edit* especially with goldfish, they are very messy....what size tank is it?

 

[Ems]

Its also possible its so cloudy from the goldfish, which is why I asked how big this tank is.

 

[ouch]

You should do water changes every day, that will eventually clear your tank and help the cycle process move along quicker

I have herd completely opposite information from a number of people about water changes during cycling. Dont water changes during cycling slow the cycling process because you are taking benificial bacteria out of the tank? water changes sometimes can lead to ammonia spikes after if you change too much water right....
also when I was cycling my 20g tank, I did water changes very frequently because i had delicate fish but in my experience it slowed down the process

Can I just ask y water changes, in your opinion should help the cycling process move quicker?


the tanks is 33 gallon, I have 2 small feeder goldfish, a danyo and 2 corys.
it is also planted, no heater, and I use a fluval 404 filter

 

[Kasakato]

1) Doing a water change will not effect a cycle. This is because there is no bacteria in the water. Also if you have 0.25ppm or 25ppm of ammoina, will not speed up or slow down your cycle.

2) Water changes will not slow a cycle. No matter what kind of fish you have, you need to do water changes.

3) They will not speed up a cycle. They will protect your fish. This is because you are trying to keep the ammoina, and nitrite levels below 0.25ppm.

4) You are going to have a few problems. The goldfish and danios, cories need two different temp. The goldfish need a temp. of 65, and the others need about 75. Your tank is also overstocked. Not by a lot but over stocked. At this point it will be a good idea to either return the goldfish and and more fish. Or keep the goldfish, return the others, and keep it at that.

 

[ouch]

there is no bacteria in the water

If there is no bacteria in the water then what is the white cloud caused by?
I havent done any real research but I assumed the white cloudy water was caused by bacteria in the water, because of the name "Bacterial bloom"

Also im not sure if 2 small feeder gf, 1 1" danio and 2 1" corys can be considered over stocked by any means...do u mean, overstocked for a cycling tank?I can see how some may consider that somewhat over stocked, but thats still like over 4 gallons per inch of fish.
and 65 for goldfish is only recommended not needed. I dont know anybody whos house is that cold :S

I dont mean to devalue everything you guys suggest, i find all of the suggestions helpful but if you scroll up the thread look at all the conflicting info already ARRRRG frustrating trying to find the correct answer
But everybody seems to suggest water changes so Ill try a few of those and post back in a few days
Thanks