cloudy..smelly aquarium??

Question

i just bought and set up a new aquarium...looked great the first few days..all of a sudden...it's cloudy and the water smells..i only have 2 fish at this point and gave barely a pinch of food...i have also taken out 25% of the water out twice!!!.what can i do to fix this problem???

Answer 1

we had that problem when we first got our fish tank. you might want to go to the store and buy stress coat it removes the chlorine and neutralizes the chloramines the water and it worked great in my tank I hope this answers your question

Answer 2

There are a number of problems leading to your tank being cloudy and smelly.

All too often too many new fish owners make the same common mistakes. Did you wash your tank out properly prior to installing? Did you wash your gravel thru a strainer (and I don't mean just rinse it off)? These are the two leading cause for cloudy water.

Your tank is not cycled properly. See web page.
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/biolog...

Do you or are you using a gravel syphon to clean the bottom when doing water changes? Did you rinse out your filter and pads prior to installing them?

If you did not rinse the gravel well enough you can do one of two things, stir up the gravel in the tank really well. This will cause all the "dirt" particles to float in your tank. Keep the filter running and do a 20% water change. As long as your water "quality" is fine, do this every other day until the water is clear. Each time, be sure to rinse your filter out as well.

Your tank doesn't seem to be OVERLOADED (unless you only have a 2.5 gallon). Overfeeding isn't always the problem with proper water changes. Fish require concentrations of Dissolved Oxygen. Adding an air your bubble want does nothing for the fish or the water. Dissolved O2 comes from the water itself moving. Bubblers move very little water there for add very little to no Dissolved O2 to your tank.

Do your water change everyother day (I know pain in the butt) but if the tank would have been cleaned and cycled properly in the begining, this would not be happening now. This is where patience comes in.

Answer 3

I used to, they was once so non violent. however the greater cutting-edge aquariums, even however purportedly greater efficient for the fish, are basically too busy. And there are too many toddlers rampaging (actually) around--mum and dad seem to convey their toddlers there and basically set them loose and the youngsters circulate working and screaming around--if I have been a determine i'd be greater careful via fact pedophiles would desire to easily haul a new child away and it may be a mutually as earlier the determine figured their new child replace into lacking. I stay in a common length city and the final time i replace into on the city aquarium, human beings have been leaving their bags and purses on those benches, unattended, and wandering off to look on the different tanks! Plus the front value for the aquarium is something like $35 now--too wealthy for me to do.

Answer 4

do you have anything else you can put the fish in right now? are you doing gravel vacuum with the water changes? the bacteria is loving all the fresh water you give it with water changes. you could try adding some salt depending on what kind of fish they are most will tolerate some aquarium salt. add about a teaspoon per 10 gallons every day until you hit about 6 days. and keep up the water changes if you keep the fish in there. i know its a pain but fish like clean water.

Answer 5

Well, when you start a fish tank, you have to have "old" water. Which means you can do this one of 3 ways..

1---They have this chemical to put in your water that makes it instantly old. (That is the ONLY chemical I would ever suggest you use also)

2 ---You could have let the water set awhile before adding fish....too late for that

3 --- Get a couple of gold fish. Gold fish have something in their poop and pee that is great for fish water. Leave them in there for a month or two. (I don't recommend having alot of gold fish, or any at all later on. They can make your tank very dirty and smelly if you have alot and leave them in there. They are messy fish. I found mine a new home.)

Then you have to have a filter and bubbles set up in there to clean the water. You didn't mention that. Do you have those? If not, you NEED those.

Never touch your fish food with a "pinch" of food. The oils on your fingers get into the water and is not good for fish. I sprinkle it into the cap of the fish food and put it in that way.

You also need a snail or sucker fish of some kind.

Make sure it is only once a day you feed them. Fish will eat untill they explode. They are kinda dumb on that aspect. They don't know when to quit.

NEVER put any other chemicals in your water. When I first started mine, I was doing everything by the book of what the pet stores told me and having my water tested and checked and they'd say add this or that. Well, all that ever did was kill my fish and waste my money. And that stuff is expensive. So a freind told me how to do this. Just don't add chemicals and change the water like you are. Then the feeding instructions and the right equipment in it. And of course some kind of sucker fish or snail. I have both. One snail and one sucker. Then I have a bottom feeder fish. My tank is 55 gallon. (Well actually, I have tons of baby snails now. My one had babies after two years of having it. They do this by theirself. Found that out on here! Not sure what I'm gonna do with all of them when they are bigger. Way too many for my tank. There won't be enough room for them when they get big! Anybody want a snail? LOL!) Anyways, I can't stress enough about NOT adding chemicals, except the instant old water one, or it will kill all of your fish and make your water bad for a long time. Hope this info helps. They can be cool to set and watch. Enjoy.

Answer 6

What filter do you have? maybe you need to get a new filter that is bigger. Also you are supposed to let the aquarium set up for a week and you are only supposed to have one or two small fish in their.Also do you use water conditioners if you don't than the chlorine in your tap water will kill all the beneficial bacteria in the water.

Answer 7

Do you have a filter?
When doing a water change, you have to change 40% of the water all the time and you need to clean the gravel as well

Answer 8

http://www.drsfostersmith.com This will give you information about Aquariums and has a great wealth of info on it. This will surely help you

Answer 9

You should have cycled it!!!!!!
This cloudyness is a bactrial bloom
You need to do water changes every day and test your water every day untill it is cycled

Answer 10

put an aerator in the tank