Cloudy water

denny4488

Hello I am new here, I hope I dont mess up I have a new freas water 10 gal. tank with 7 fish it started out ok but after 3 weeks I cleaned the tank and now in less then a week the water is cloudy, I put in a new filter two days ago. Can anybody help?

BMueller777

Do you know how to cycle a tank? Do you know what cycling is?
If it's a milky white looking color that means that it's a bacteria bloom, a final step of the cycle.

Do you have a test kit?

What are your water perms?

Tommy Gun

Welcome to the forum Denny4488!

I agree with BMueller in that if the cloudiness is milky white in nature, it is probably a bacterial bloom, however, I do not agree that it is the final step of a cycle, although it can occur at that time, or any other for that matter. In general, a bacterial bloom occurs in a new or unestablished aquarium most often, but can happen to anyone for a few reasons. The bottom line is that this is not completely harmful to your tank, usually not harmful to your fish, and will eventually solve itself. You can avoid this and/or help things along by making sure that your tank is not overstocked, that is has been cycled before adding fish, not over feeding (both by adding more food than your fish can eat at one time, and feeding your fish too often so that they create more wastes than usual) and by doing water changes on a regular basis and in appropriate quantities.

I am also interested to know the answers to BMueller's queries since that information would help us determine what underlying causes might be creating the cloudy water. Like I said, usually this is not the end of the world, nor require you to 'start over' or take very drastic measures, so I would not pannic....it is very common from what I have seen in my own tanks and from what I have read on this and other forums.

So, sorry to disagree BMueller....I love your signature by the way! I have used it a couple times at work already!!! I hope that you can find all the help you need here Denny and if you need anything, feel free to post any questions, ideas, info, or thoughts on aquaria any time!

Jay

Nor do I think it is a final stage of the nitrogen cycle!

I don't think we can say it is "probably" bacteria with any certainty either.

It could be "micro fines" (micro small dust and dirt) which can stay suspended in water for weeks without filtering out.

It could be protozoa and other single cell critters.

It could be all of the above.

I think that newbie aquarists sometimes do not step back and think about what is happening. There is a whole lot more life and life cycles going on in the tank other than the fish. This is a mini eco system full of life, it is not sterile water and fish. The white haze is the visible evidence of zillions of micro organisms struggling for dominance, and failing that, finding a niche in the little eco system we have created. This process is natural and predictable, and is not necessarily a bad thing.

We know from experience that a vast variety of life forms can coexist and be beneficial to one another. We also know from experience that the micro critters will get it sorted out and the water will clear. What we need to be careful of is labeling an observation as bad (because cloudy water does not appeal to us) and intervening foolishly (chemicals and snake oils) instead of letting the system come to equilibrium by itself.

Regards,
Jay

BJP

I've got a coudy messy look to my 10 gallon quarantine tank right now that's been set up for maybe 17 months. Friday night I added Smelafix and Pimafix to treat the new fish. By Saturday morning the tank was hazy and got worse all day. That's with two 50% water changes gravel vacuumings and filter rinsing tossed in. The bacteria responsible for converting ammonia out to nitrite are intact and no spikes are testible. It's the second tank I've had this happen to after adding Smelafix. I'm not too concerned though. It'll clear once the daily dosages are stopped, a few water changes dillute out the stinky goo and the tank has time for everything to get back into balance again.

The more pressing problem is the chance you have nitrite levels rocketting off the test kits high range at this point placing the fish in the tank in jeopardy. You could even have high ammonia levels still lingering. Testing is the only way to know for sure. If we're speaking greek then reading up on a few of the links to basic cycling should help you understand what's going on. Most stores will offer some degree of free testing if you take a sample of water in from the tank although you may have to specifically request the 3 cycling numbers (ammonia,nitrite and nitrate) and write them down so you don't forget them. If one or more is high then picking up a test kit to monitor the progress at home can save a lot of time and gas which seems to be getting higher priced by the hour. They say ignorance is bliss but in this hobby ignorance blinds you to being able to take corrective actions in time to save lives.