I have yellow water in my sons fish tank. How do I improve the water quality?

Question

My son has two fish in a smallish tank, I do not overfeed them, have put in a new filter and carry out regular weekly partial water changes yet the water is always deep yellow in colour, why? The fish seem to be ok but it doesnt look attractive and cant be doing them much good. My son does have a night light and the tank is in his room, could it be too much light? Can any body help?

Answer 1

For the record, her son is not peeing in the tank. Urine contains mostly salt, which in itself would likely kill the fish. Furthermore, it contains a high level of ammonia, which would also kill the fish. Although I have heard of advanced aquarists using urine as a cheap (but effective) fertilizer in heavily planted tanks because of its high nitrogen content, that is clearly not the problem in her case because without plants to absorb it it would kill the fish long before it left such a distinctive colour.
In addition to the protein answer, which is plausable, your problem could stem from tannins in the water. Do you have any driftwood in the tank? The gravel could be releasing tannins too, you must always be sure that the package says "does not stain aquarium water."
Once again, the best way to remove tannins is to add carbon to the filter! Even if you already have it, it needs to be replaced every two weeks or so, because it gets clogged fast and is quickly rendered useless.
Bon Chance!
Liszie

Answer 2

Sigh... what answers

The yellowish tint to the water is not from algae nor obviously the other frequent suggestion. As algae is not the source of the color no amount of snails, algae killing tablets or plants will help. Complete lack of understanding the problem. Typical yellowing in the water is from an excess of proteins in the tank. Increase the size of your water changes a bit and be sure you are using carbon in the tank. Some will tell you you don't need to change the carbon or don't need to use any, well, this is what can happen if you don't

Fresh, quality carbon added to the filter every week or two will keep the water nice and clear.

MM

Answer 3

You need to thoroughly clean the inside glass of the tank and then "vacuum" the gravel, removing about 1/3 of the water. Fill the tank with clean water, test it and then add the appropriate chemicals to balance the PH. Leave the filter to work for a couple of hours, and then retest the water for PH. If the colour does not improve within a day of doing this, take a water sample to your local aquarium and they should be able to tell you exactly how to fix the problem. Good luck.

Answer 4

Liszie and magicman are right on with their answers it could be either of them. One other possibility would be the gravel or sand you have in the bottom of the tank. It could be leaching dye into the water. Some retail substrates are not colorfast.

My vote goes to driftwood if you have any in the tank, though.

Your son doesn't drink Mountain Dew, does he. Maybe he is sharing.

One final thought, a lot of iron in the water will make it a yellow orange right out of the tap. Have you checked your hot water heater? Could be a lot of scale making the color. Fill up a clear bottle like a 2 liter pop container and see if it has color before it even goes in the tank. Has your local water department been flushing hydrants in the area lately. Sometimes that stirs up sediment that could color the water.

Good luck.

Answer 5

The yellowish colour is from algae. A night light will not cause this, but natural light will. Try to move the aquarium away from any windows.

You may try putting in a couple of snails to eat the algae (if it is a small tank they are the only algae eaters that can go in it)

There is also a product by "Jungle Buddies" called clear water that you can buy in most pet stores that works wonders and doesn't bother the fish

Answer 6

Sounds like it might be algae
Make sure the tank is not in direct sunlight
You can get a treatment for it at the pet shop
You don't say if the tank is heated or not but you can put a Weather Loach in there and he should keep the tank a bit cleaner (They grow to about the size of a cigar)
The will live happily a in cold or tropical tank and are non-agressive
If your lighting is the expensive tubes you get from pet supply shops for growng live plants, change it for a standard flourescent tube from B&Q and keep the other one for emergencies

Answer 7

Don't worry. I'm sure it is a stage the fish are going through at certain times of the year they will start to mess up their tank.(its something like fumes they give off) or smells but just keep changing a third of the water every 3 days and in a months time it should clear up =)

Answer 8

The suggestion of a live plant is a good one, if you don't have one already. Also, are you sure its not the actual lights that are making it look yellow? I have two tanks with clean water but different hood lights, one looks super clear, the other looks murky even though I KNOW its clean.

Answer 9

The light in ur sons room probably is the problem although I thought that sunlight caused the problem, if it is sitting in sunlight move it into a dark cool place, the heat from the sun usually causes alge to form

Answer 10

Leave the fish tank light on for at least 12 hours per day, my son puts his on when he gets up and turns it off when he goes bed it helps