It is only new - we purchased the tank 1 week ago and put the water, bacteria etc in it, and then we put the first few fish in yesterday. I overfed them today due to a food spillage incident (caused by an over eager child!), and now the water is cloudy. If I just leave it will it clear up, or do I have to do something? We are fish novices.
2006-11-12 19:30:10 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
If you have a good filter the water will clear up in a couple of days, Hopefully you didnt have a really big over food spillage or the fish might die because of too much food. You should also buy a sucker fish, ask your pet store clerk about these.
2006-11-12 19:35:47 · answer #1 · answered by dkf2222 2 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Anita, you have not mentioned what kind of a filter you are using in the tank, but my guess is that it will be a internal filter which hangs inside the tank. It takes a new filter generally 48-72 hrs to promote the useful bacteria inside in order to balance the water clarity strata, even if you have added bacteria generating enzyme liquid.
So give it some time, if possible then vacuum any uneaten food that's on the bottom of the tank, and everything should look cool in a day or two..
do not try a partial water change because your tank water is already fresh and nearly cycled so adding any new water to it will result in release of ph and nitrate...
2006-11-13 05:01:33 · answer #2 · answered by Mantra 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I had this problem too (cloudy water, not overfeeding) and I tried everything. It was my first tank so I did not know any better. I even got so sick of looking at cloudy water I took all the fish out of the tank and flushed everything out with a hose in the backyard.
You just have to give your tank time, new aquariums take awhile before the cycle gets going and there is no point in trying to get it crystal clear if everything is balanced with good filtration and regular cleaning your tank will be beautiful and almost maintenance free
2006-11-13 05:32:33 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You've probably put the fish in a little early. I was told to wait 3 weeks before putting any fish in my new tank. Plants first, then one fish,then another in a weeks time...... so, go to your local aquarium and take a water sample in a clean plastic container.They will test it for you for nothing and tell you what to do.
Do try & clean out any left over food but talk to an expert before playing round with changing any amount of water.
Your tank needs to have live bacteria in it and changing the water again so quickly will slow this process down.
Good luck!
2006-11-13 06:11:24 · answer #4 · answered by red260z 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My advice is to do a water change of 30% of the water to ease the load on the filter. Remove as much uneaten food you can using a net. Your tank will require at least a month before it starts working properly. Now that you spilled all that food in it it might become dangerous for the fish if you add the stress from the tanks nitrogen cycle that it only started. Some of your fish will die in one to two weeks but don't give up. It is really common for people not to follow advice when they start with aquariums and after they see the first victims of their arrogance they learn.
2006-11-13 05:34:23 · answer #5 · answered by Sporadic 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I have over fed my fish, causing the water to go cloudy. I tried changing the filter but it didn't work well and the water stayed cloudy as ever... So I ended up just doing a whole new water change which isn't recommended by fish enthusiasts but nothing else was working. My fish were fine and seem much happier now. I don't feed them as often now, just once in the morning. They also have live plants in the tank and they nibble those as well.
You could try a partial water change, but if that doesn't improve the conditions, you might have to just do a 50 percent or entire tank change. Good luck!
2006-11-13 03:41:01 · answer #6 · answered by Linzy Rae 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
I've looked thru your answers thus far. Most of them do not account for how new and uncycled your tank is. One says it is nearly cycled, tho I don't know how he knows that. According to you, it is only a day old as of your posting! You didn't list any test parameters, and you didn't mention any cycle-enhancing products.
At this point, I tend to lean towards following Sporadic's advice.
Another thing that could help is to add some Bio-Spira. This is by far the most effective cycle-boosting product out there. Most Petcos carry it.
Water changes should be based on your ammonia and nitrite levels. Get some test kits! You should be testing often until the cycle is complete.
For more interactive help, articles, and other information, I recommend Petfish.net. Read up on cycling the tank, testing, overstocking, etc.
2006-11-13 07:17:25 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It all depends on your filter... Your filter should cycle 10 times the ammount of gallons you have in one our... example: a 20gal would work best if it has a filter that filters 200gph (gallons per hour).. A 30 gallon: 300gph....and so on.....
In my case I don't like to throw away food... when that happened to me one time.. I ran to the petshop and bought a few shrimp... they cleaned the excesive food in no time.. I think It took them only one night....
When I wanted to get rid of them.. I cut'em up and fed them to the fish...
No food was wasted and my fish had a blast!!
My wife said I had no heart.. but I said:
"Hey,,,
we do the same with chickens and everybody loves'em"
2006-11-13 13:26:46 · answer #8 · answered by Ricky 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
sounds like you need to do a 25% water change with a gravel washer syphone. this will remove the excess food and help get things back on track. add more bacteria and hide the food from your kid.
2006-11-13 15:39:57 · answer #9 · answered by Robin 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i have 5 gold fishes and the biggest one is slightly smaller than a fist. they eat a lot and and at the same time s**t a lot too. i change 25-30% of the water every 3-4 days to keep the water clear.
2006-11-13 03:46:41 · answer #10 · answered by neukidintown 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋