Cloudy Water New fish?

Question

I had my tank set up for 3 days I just added fish on Thursday 2 elecipse catfish and 2 Barbs. I bought my deluxe tank at walmart and the fish at petsmart. I have great levels I just checked them, it's just the water is cloudy and it stinks. I just changed 10% water but I probably will change it all again. Only thing is what can I do to about the fish when I clean the whole tank? I live 30 minutes away from walamrt and I have a well so I use spring water. I was told the catfish will cloud the water for a bit but I opened the lid and the water stunk. Any idea's? And when I get the water it'll be cold so what can I do about that? I the temp is at 76degree's.

How long will the fish live if I put them in a bucket? While I clean the tank also.

Ok so I should do 30% water change today and my well water I live in michigan has high iron in it and the cloudyness will go away? So don't change the water for a month

ok I bought water clear tank buddies made by jungle. And I put One in today. And also Proper ph 7.0 casue my ph for freshwater is acidic. Put other than that my other levels are fine.

ok my levels are totally fine only things is I have a well and a water softener so I get alot of iron in it, myonly thing is the acidic level some times I get 6.2 and 6.8 But should I change 30-40% or leave it? what about the smell? And I only pinch the food and thats it.

ok if I use distilled will it harm the fish? And the heater is at 78degrees right now.

ok I have my filter off and I washed it off I don't have a gravel cleaner and a amonia tester what else should I get?

Answer 1

First of all, did you wash the tank and the gravel well prior to setting up the tank?

If it is a new tank, no fish should be in it as of yet. Your tank is suffering from the new tank syndrone.

Leave your fish in your tank. Swish the gravel around to be sure all the dust particles are cleared. Since your tank is not cycled this is the major problem with the water.

Read this about cycling your tank:

http://futurepet.com/trivia/aquariums-cycling.htm

Unfortunately changing the water so often is adding to your problem. Try turning off your filter for about 30 minutes. Allow the tank to settle. Using your siphone clean off the gravel and do a 20% water change NO MORE since your tank is not properly cycled. Turn your filter back on and leave it alone. Be careful how much food you are feeding your fish as well. Clean your filter pads daily for the next week. The tank will self correct if you LEAVE IT ALONE.

You may want to check your water quality since it is new and not cycled. If you see your fish becoming unduly stressed, you may want to (and I hate to say this) do another 20% water change.

As far as the temp goes it is fine. 78 Seems cold since your body temp is 98. Leave it alone. Check your thermometer to ensure it is at 78. If you ahve a stick on the side one, get a floating one. This is more accurate.

You should NEVER clean the whole tank. NEVER remove more than 30% of the water from yourtank. After you read about the cycling process you will understand why.

DO NOT remove the fish and put them into buckets or bags. They are fine in the tank when you are cleaning it. Catfish will not make your tank become the way it is now.

Read cycling your tank, watch the water quality, leave you fish in the tank and do only one more water change with no filter running. Your tank will be fine.

Answer 2

If your levels are good then you should leave it alone. It may get so cloudy that you can't even see the fish....this is NORMAL in a newly set up tank, it is just establishing itself and it won't harm the fish. Leave it alone for at least a week (even it it gets worse), then you can change small amounts of water...say, about 10-20% every other day until it clears up. This could take up to a couple of months, but it should end up crystal clear. Just keep an eye on your levels to make sure they stay safe. NEVER, never, never change all of the water. Even in the worst of circumstances you should never change more than 50% a day. We have lots of experience with fish. If you need more information, ask on yahoo! or google. Good luck.
P.S. If you have well water not suitable for fish you are doing good to use bottled. Try using distilled (room temp.). If you only change 10% at a time the room temp. water won't hurt the fish. You need a heater in your tank for the barbs. The heater will slowly warm up the water you add.

Answer 3

New tank syndrom is almost unavoidable in a new tank, reardless of how experienced you are, unless you cycle the tank first. However, if you have no clue what a cycle is, you won't be able to fix it. The Nitrogen Cycle is the naturally occuring biological process that breaks waste down into a non-toxic form.

If you have a new tank with nothing but clean water and you add a fish to it, you will have water, fish, and waste. So, how does the waste get removed from the water? The filter.....? Yes and no. There are three types of filtration. Chemical, mechanical, and biological. Your filter that you plug in is both mechanical and chemical filtration. The sponge or cartridge in the water take out chunks of food and debris. This is the mechanical filtration. The carbon (black rocks) removes odors and some toxins. Biological filtration is when tiny bacteria eat fish waste. So far, you have no bacteria in that clean, brand new tank, so the fish waste that is not removed by your filter, ie ammonia, is what is casuing your water to cloud.

fish waste turns into ammonia. Bacteria in the tank eats it and releases Nitrite, which is toxic to fish. The Nitrite is eaten by another bacteria, whic releases nitrate. Nitrate is only toxic in high numbers. The only way to remove nitrate is through water changes.

Have your water tested to find out where you are in establishing a nitrogen cycle. Once the cycle is stable, which can take 4-6 weeks, the water will clear. Only feed your fish once a day as much as they will eat in 2-5 minutes until your cycle is complete. Siphon out excess food.

If you are registerin a huge amount of ammonia, you will start to see the nitrite climb in the tank. A huge water change will remove a lot of ammonia, and the nitrite will have nothing to eat, so it won't establish itself well. This will cause the ammonia to pile up agai becuase there is nothing to eat it. Once the ammonia eating bacteria has grown and eaten all the food, it will release a lot of nitirte for the nitrite eating bacteria to get rid of. You will still see cloudiness at this point. As there is no more ammonia since it was eaten, the nitrite bacteria will die off. Howvever, there is still a lot of nitrate bacteria. To remove this you do a water change. When the cycle is complete is will be clear.

Purchase a test kit. If you see your ammonia raise to above .25 ppm, do a 10-20% water change. If you see your nitrite raise to above 1.0ppm, do a water change. If your ammonia is low, your nitrite is low, and your nitrate is high, perform a 20-30% water change weekly. At this point your cycle is complete.

also, a tip. Spring water is not necessary if you are using a tap water conditioner. Water condtioner makes water instantly safe. Also, spring water is useually poorly buffered and soft. This is bad for your pH levels and will affect how stable your water quality is. I would test you tap water. Since it is well water, it will also be soft if you are useing a water sofenter. Take your water to an expert to have it tested and they can help you choose the best water source. If you go with spring water, always go with the same brand as different brands have different water qualities.

Also, eclipse cats get huge! aorund 8 inches a piece. keep and eye on you water qaulity. As they grow, they will put too much waster in your tank for it to handle ( i did not see what size it is, so I'm assuming smaller). They will eventually need at least a 55 gallon tank.

Sorry ff this was confusing and I hope it helps!

Answer 4

did you put in any water-clear? if you bought a tank set-up from walmart i imagine this came with the package, but if it did not you should go purchase some.. it also removes chlorine which can be harmful to fish

also, i would not recommend refilling the tank.. i would say to allow the filter to work for at least another week or so before considering doing that.. many early tank problems will sort themselves out

allow the spring water to warm up inside your house a bit before placing it into the tank.. and when performing a full cleaning of the tank you can have the fish in the bucket for at least a few hours without them suffering from the cooler temperatures

Answer 5

Well, first the cloudy water is normal as your new tank begins to cycle and develop what it needs to keep your fish alive. Second, you shouldn't clean the whole tank out at once... just water changes. Do a 30-40% water change every 2-3 days for the next 2 weeks or until it is no longer cloudy. By then the tank should be all settled in and healthy for the fish.

Your well water should be just fine for your fish. I wouldn't hesitate to use it for a minute.

MM

Answer 6

Cloudy water ought to come from a number of resources. the most undemanding is that the tank has no longer been cycled and also you'd be having a bacterial bloom or ammonia spike (new tank syndrome) or per chance to many fish in the tank. make certain your filter out is operating precise, substitute out 20% p.c. of water volume, shrink feeding and shrink the quantity of fish in the tank.

Answer 7

Okay, whenever you set up a new tank, taking the fish out and cleaning the tank is the worst thing you can do. It is normal for a new tank to cloud up a bit. Just leave it alone, no water changes for at least a month.

Answer 8

Our new tank did the same thing. We bought it from wal-mart and the fish from pets-mart. all the fish died. We too have well water, but bought some from the store and we too let the tank sit for 3 days before adding fish. We are going to get our water tested to make sure nothing is in it. As for the cold water, place it under a heat lamp, or a regular desk lamp will do to help get it warmer. no matter what we did, we couldn't get our water un-cloudy and we even bought some stuff to put in it to clear it up and that never worked. If I knew where you lived I might say something is up with our water. I live in oklahoma