My fish tank?

Question

My fish tank is cleaned often as the water seems to get dirty really quickly and I dont know what to do. I put in the drops for the water but its not helping. I dont over feed my fish at all. If some one could help that would be great. Thank you

I have a filter and i only have four fish in a tank so there are not loads of fish in my tank.

Answer 1

First of all, what size tank is it? How old is the tank? What color is the cloudiness? What kind of filter are you using?
The smaller the tank, the quicker it can get dirty. As a general rule you should have no more than 1 inch of fish per gallon of water for tropical fresh water fish, and no more than 1/2 inch of fish per gallon for goldfish.
A new tank cycles for a couple of weeks and will get cloudy while the proper chemical setup is achieved. This is normal and will resolve itself once the balance is settled.
A greenish cloudiness can be algae. Don't leave the light on all the time. Fish need day and night same as we do.
Make sure you have the proper size filter for your tank. An under gravel filter is great for the bacteria (the good guys) that help destroy the ammonia that the fish produce, however I would recommend also having a filter that uses charcoal and filter medium to help remove the particles of food and waste.

Answer 2

Cleaned often? what does that mean?

When you do a water change the MOST you should ever change is 1/3 of the water. Never more than that. If you do then it messes up your little ecosystem. The bacteria in the tank are what keep it clean. When you "clean" the tank you remove the bacteria = cloudy water. You should vacuum the gravel to remove debris but that's it. If you have algae issues just rub it off the glass.

You need to give your tank time to build up bacteria- let it be foggy for a while. Do partial water changes- it will clear up. Keep checking your water chemistry to make sure it is safe for the fish. If the water is healthy then leave it alone. The more you mess with it the more stress for the fish.

Answer 3

you dont mentin what "typt" of dirty it is--If it is green then it is probally aglae and that is caused by to much light hitting the tank-is it facing a window or door or do you keep the light on mos of the time. If it is "dirty" dirty hen it is different--do you have a goldfish as hey are really dirty ifsh. If it is cloudy dirty then you are changing the water too much and getting rid of all the bacteria that is setting up in the tank that acts like a flu shot for the fish's health---dont clean it that often and when yo do, only change half of the water. If it is a new tank set up, this is probably the problem --If so, get drops that temporarily clear the tank like "clear water" or such and wait it out--whenenough bacteria builds up in the tank, the water will usually clear itsself-I know, I had a fish store for ten years.

Answer 4

Get a filter, one that is the right size for your tank, make sure there are not too many fish, then I have heard that there are some kind of plants that help in the cleaning of water.

Answer 5

What kind of fish do you have? Goldfish are the dirtiest, and Oscars make a huge mess when they eat. If you are leaving the light on all day, you should stop. You create more algae by doing that and the fish will produce more waste because they will be more active, thus producing more waste. Cut back on the food, too. Change your filter and do frequent water changes.

Answer 6

What type of fish do you have? There are certain fish that are generally messier than others.
Other than that, you have to do 10-15% water changes daily to get your readings down if they are too high. Do gravel vacs. weekly, usually when you do major water changes (25-50%). And if you are using water drops such as Clear Water, I'd say that you were wasting money, those drops usually don't do anything.

Answer 7

How long has the tank been set up? Is it a saltwater or a freshwater? An ammonia spike is supposed to occur with both, but in a salt it occurs only if you put livestock in it. The freshwater will spike whether or not fish are in it. Also, do you gravel vacuum? It's annoying but it gets waste out of your rocks in the bottom.

Answer 8

I use rain water and not tap water. The rain water stays cleaner for longer and there are less chemicals in it. I hardly ever have to clean the tank, but I only have a mexican walking fish.

Answer 9

Even though you onl;y have about five fish it is still good to use a filter.It will take out the harmful substances in your fish tank.

Answer 10

do you have an algae eater? when i had fish, the guy @ the pet shop told me to get an algae eater to clean out the yucky stuff..... it got one and it worked, but dont get a big one if you have little fish, because they will eat them........

Jess