Fish tank cloudy?

Question

I just got a 10 gallon fish tank for my son. We have about 10 fish in it, mostly goldfish and a few other little ones. We have 2 tiny frogs and a sucky fish that is supposed to clean the tank. Anyway the water always seems to be cloudy! Any idea why this is or how you get rid of that problem? Thanks in advance for all th ehelp!

Answer 1

The cloudy water is the result of a bacterial bloom. Fish produce (toxic) ammonia, and in the wild and in established tanks, there are colonies of nitrifyin bacteria which convert the toxic ammonia into toxic nitrites, and then into far less toxic nitrAtes. When you get a new tank, if you don't cycle it first (cycling means getting the bacteria in the tank somehow - either by putting the live bacteria straight in with a product called Bio-Spira, or putting a source of ammonia in the tank and letting the bacterial colonies develop on their) the amount of ammonia the fish produce (which is a big amount, especially with all the fish you have) the bacteria respond and their population explodes astronomically. This causes the cloudy water.
As I mentioned, this is caused by AMMONIA, which is toxic. This means that your fish are currently living in ammonia, which will kill them or make them very sick, until enough bacteria develop to control the ammonia (this process takes 3-6 weeks).
You must do small (10%) daily water changes to remove some of the cloudy water and ammonia, to make your fish less sick.

However, I would encourage you to simply return your fish back to the aquarium. As a few others mentioned, goldfish are simply not suitable for a 10 gallon tank. The small fancy type goldfish grow to 7-9" and they are huge waste producers - they need 15-20 gallons of water EACH. Other types like common, comets and koi need to live in ponds because they can grow to 18" or more.
Sucker fish, known as plecostomous, are also big (24") fish that produce copious amounts of ammonia. They don't belong in anything smaller than 150 gallons.

I know it will be dissapointing for your son to have to return the fish, but I think you would be doing a wonderful thing for your fish and your son by encouraging him to, with your assistance, research the proper way to keep fish. Petstores are often incorrect in the advice they give and the best information lies in good books about setting up an aquarium, which you can find at your local petstore. You can also find great articles online. It is certain that your fish won't live long in their current conditions, and I think that would probably be very sad for your son to wake up every day to find a new dead fish :(

Answer 2

How many of each fish do you have?

It doesn't really matter though, because no goldfish is amll enough for a 10 gallon tank. (See link below called stunting)

Also link below called descriptions. This is about your "suckerfish"

And I need to know what "a few other little ones" are.

The cloudy water is the result of a massively overstocked tank. You need to take a whole bunch of fish back to the store ASAP!

As long as those fish are in there you need to be changing water 50% every day, even then the fish are not going to be healthy.

Answer 3

First off you have too many fish in the tank. You can't keep goldfish in a 10 gallon tank, as goldfish get 12+ inches long and easily live 25 years or longer.

Second your new tank has to go through the cycling process. Here is a link on the nitrogen cycle and how to cycle your tank:

http://www.aquaria.info/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=376

Finally here is info on cloudy water:

Cloudy water is one of two things.

If the water is green then it is an algae bloom. Algae blooms are caused by too much light and too many nutrients in the water. They are relatively easily cleared up by reducing the lighting, especially direct sunlight, and by lower the nutrients in the water. Reducing the lighting is easy. Simply shut off the light on the tank and only run it for 8-10 hours a day. You should also ensure that your tank isn't getting any direct sunlight as this will cause you algae problems, either as a green bloom or simply algae on the tank and ornaments. You lower the nutrients by doing more frequent and larger water changes and by feeding less. Fish should be fed only what they can eat entirely in 5-10 seconds. Any uneaten food should be netted out of the tank to prevent it from breaking down.

If the water is white then it is a bacterial bloom. These are caused exclusively by too many nutrients in the tank. To clear the water you will need to increase the frequency and size of your water changes, and decrease the feeding. Fish should be fed only what they can eat entirely in 5-10 seconds. Any uneaten food should be netted out of the tank to prevent it from breaking down.

Neither cloudy water situation is particularly harmful to your fish but are a symptom of a greater underlying problem that must be resolved.

One way to clear the cloudy water immediately is through the use of a micron or diatom filter. This will pull out the particles that cause the cloudiness, but it WILL NOT resolve the problem that caused the particles to be there. This is a short term fix and needs to be used in conjuction with the above fixes.

Answer 4

All tanks no matter what the size go through what is called the Nitrogen Cycle. That is normal. This process takes time normally 4 to 8 weeks.

Also that is a lot of fish for that size of a tank.

AND goldfish produce a lot more waste than tropical fish.

Have patience and your fish tank will clear.

That is the key to any successful tank: research and patience.

Answer 5

gold fishes usually mess the water very soon.first of all you need a good filtration system for Ur tank, this is the only option for the tank to be awls clean. so install a power filter or a moter under gravel filter asap. secondly sucky fish does not clean the water, it just sucks on the algae on the glass and the gravel. one more reason might be that u are over feeding Ur fish.water gets cloudy even if fish dont eat the food, it dissolves in the water... so take care of these things.

Answer 6

It sounds like your tank is a little crowded. Rule of thumb, one inch of fish per gallon of water (includnig your frogs and pleco [i'm guessing it is a pleco]).

It also sounds like you have a bacterial bloom. Every two days, change 25% of your water until it clears, and after that, about every week do a 25% water change. The easiest and most cost efficient way to do this, is to get a gravel suction at your pet store (usually around $10). This will clean your gravel as well as removing about 25% of water. Just be careful not to suck up the frogs!

Hope this helps.

Answer 7

Most tanks have to go through a 'bacterial plume' while setting up a balanced ecosystem. It should clear up after a few days, but if it doesn't, check your filter system, and make sure it is working and up to the task. Gold fish and frogs are notorious for having cloudy tanks.

There are a few treatments that can help the situation if it doesn't clear up.

Answer 8

Small tank are tough,goldfish are dirty. Get a sucktion cleaner at pet store and clean the gravel the insturctions on the package or the clerk at the pet store will help,clean the foam in your filter,this is common with new tanks.Talk to the clerk he will give you more advice

Answer 9

you have way too many fish in this aquarium
1" of fish per gallon, and they grow larger too!

you need a least a filter LARGE filter for goldfish

Answer 10

You still need to clean the tank. Perhaps the pump needs to be cleaned as well. Make sure you rinse out the tank well before refilling with cold water.