Murky Water?

Question

We have recently (24hrs ago) bought a small fish tank approx. 14L and attempted to set it up. We've used water conditioner, ph test kit and washed everything before it went into the tank.
We've put two hardy fish (black widows) and a small plant in there to start off with under the advice of the place we bought the set up and have fed them maybe two or three times.
PROBLEM: The water has now gone murky and were having a little trouble keeping the ph down but it keeps rising. The fish seem to have gone off their food and one looks kind of stressed (loss of colour).
Any advice? Is there other problems with the water we should be testing for? Or could it be the filter, which is a elite mini 3.1 watt filter. Is it normal for the tank to go murky in the first couple of days?

Answer 1

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/biologicalcycle/a/nitrogencycle.htm

Your biggest issue now isn't the cloudy water; it's the ammonia spike that will soon occur (if it hasn't already), followed by elevated nitrites. Both could result in the loss of some or all of your fish. I'd strongly recommend that you become familiar with the Nitrogen cycle, so you are aware of what will be happening in the upcoming weeks.
You should begin testing your water right away for ammonia and take appropriate steps to keep it below lethal levels. Hang in there; once you get your tank through the initial cycle the cloudy water problem will clear up
Do you or are you using a gravel siphon to clean the bottom when doing water changes? (Sorry forgot it is only 7 days old) 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.
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 every other day (I know pain in the butt) but if the tank would have been cycled properly in the beginning, this would not be happening now.

Good Luck


Be sure to test the ammonia and nitrates at this point. If they are spiking you need to do a 25% water change. Even if this means every day.

It is normal when the tank is not set up properly.

Answer 2

You are probalby overfeeding, most new aquarist do. Feed only what the fish will eat in 2-3 minutes. The pH is dropping because the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are rising. Partial water changes will control this.

Also, every new tank goes through what is called "cycling." This cloudiness is part of that cycle. It will clear up on its' own in a week to 10 days. In the meantime, you should be doing some partial water changes of 25-30% to remove the ammonia that is building up. It is very toxic to your fish and that is probably why they are stressing out. I would do this very other day for about a week until the beneficial bacteria build up to where they can keep up with the ammonia. After that, you should do weekly partial water changes to keep the tank healthy. This is the most important thing you can do to help your fish and the tank healthy and happy. It will become part of your life. Trust me, I do 25 water changes every week. I have tanks that have been set up for over six years that are clear and healthy, doing nothing more than 30% water changes every week and stirring the gravel once a month so the filter can pick up the particulate debris. One day after gravel stirring, change or rinse out the filter cartridge.

Email me if you have more questions.

Answer 3

The pH is going down because there's nothing to break the waste down. This is known as cycling the tank. Bacteria that break down the waste will eventually grow in the gravel and filter.
Don't add more fish. Do a partial water change of 20% every other day. Don't mess with the filter. Feed them every other day just a little bit.
If you want to speed up the process of Cycling, use API StressZyme or Hagen Cycle. This will cut the time from 6+ weeks to about 4 weeks.

Answer 4

The tank is really too small for fish to live in. Less water means toxins build up quickly.
You should be testing for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. Don't worry about the ph unless it is really unstable. Never use chemicals to mess with the ph. Fish live from a ph of 5-9.
The murky water is caused by a beneficial bacterial bloom. You should change half the water daily for a while until the bacteria is established and the water clears.

Answer 5

u set up the tank and put the fish in straight away?
i hate to break it to you, but if thats what u did, it wasnt a good idea!

the tank needs to settle down for at least 2 weeks until u put anything live in it!

pH and and temperature need time to adjust. when i set up my first tank, the water was cloudy for a few days.

after two weeks, u can put two hardy fish in, (breaking in period or cycling the tank)
during this time, beneficial bacteria grow inside the tank which help in the breakdown of fish waste and ammonia, a substane which is very dangerous to fish!

because your tank has had no time to adjust (if i have understoof corectly) the bactria have not had any time at all to grow. the murkiness is a build up of waste.

my advice is get the fish out of there and change most or all of the water. if the fish have produced and waste, or there was too much food, there is prbably already amonia in the tank

fish only need to be fed once a day

if the ppl who sold u the stuff told u it was ok to set it up and put fish in one day, they have no idea what they are doing! the best places to go are specialist aquarium shops.

do a search on fresh water aquariums. u wil find heaps of info on how to look after them properly.

i have alot of experience with aqauraiums, and the best advicethat i can give you is to do ALL your research before you start!!!!

it will spare you alot of grief. believe me!!!
i've been there before!

good luck

Answer 6

hi, i'm guessing you mean a million' x a million' x a million', actual? Like, one foot with the help of utilising one foot with the help of utilising foot? ' = foot, " = inch. if so, it quite is 7 gallons. The murkiness comes from as quickly as you dissatisfied the organic and organic and organic and organic stability of the less than gravel sparkling out with the help of utilising cleansing the gravel. this could desire to instruct why decrease than gravel filters (UGF) do now no longer paintings. In thought, they pull each and all of the fish waste and uneaten food into the gravel the region it biodegrades. truthfully, there is in many situations too a lot fish waste and extra food for the filtration kit to cope with. together as a results of fact the water seems sparkling, there is unquestionably somewhat some gunk and grossness contained interior the gravel. as quickly as you syphoned the gravel, all those products have been given kicked up and micro organism populations exploded (reported as a bacterial bloom), that's inflicting the murkiness on your water. UGFs additionally furnish the effect which you decrease than no circumstances could desire to swap your water or vacuum the gravel; yet you do could desire to, each and each and a week, 30%. furnish it a together as to settle, and save doing each and daily 10-20% water ameliorations (yet stay removed from the gravel) until ultimately the water clears. yet look into getting a carry off the back (HOB) sparkling out. HOB filters do away with super debris of food/poop, and abode bacterial populations which convert ammonia into much less poisonous nitrates. they are quite a lot extra clever filtration gadgets, whether many ought to disagree with me ;) additionally, your tank is a splash overstocked. Gouramis and rainbow sharks are 4-5 inch fish, and must be alloted a minimum of 15-20 gallons each and each. evaluate bringing those back to the petstore and getting something extra perfect, like a dwarf gourami.

Answer 7

From my experiences of having saltwater fish, a guy at the Aquatic store where we bt. our stuff from, advised us that for every 1" of fish you sh have about 6 gallons of water. So estimate how many inches your 2 fish are together then just divide that into the number of gals. of water. Also, an algae eater is always good to have. If you have too many inches for the # of gal. of water that could very well be why your water is murky. Its not enough oxygen in the water for them & their waste builds up too fast in a smaller tank. Getting a (i cant remember what its called) but its to vaccuum the bottom of your tank esp in the gravel. Its based on a suction process. Good Luck

Answer 8

The fish that lost its color is probably not happy with the water tempature. Di you have differant kinds of fish? If you do, they may be causing this.

Answer 9

a fish tank should be left to run and cycled (with pure ammonia) TWO WEEKS at least prior to fish being added, what you're experiencing is new tank syndrome. i would take the fish back to the shop now as that tank is too small for them anyway.

in a tank that small the only fish that would thrive is a betta, and they wouldn't last a cycle. the link below is a guide to fishless cycling.

Answer 10

try a filter fagg0t