Problems Cleaning the Fish Tank..See cloudiness not sure why..?

Question

i cleaned my fish tank, and added everything i needed in the tank, but when i added water, it looked cloudy, and im not sure why.
Do you guys know what i can do? cuz i alredy lost 3 Neon Tetra's and 1 Male Mollie :( .... please help me... i dont want my fishes to die, especially because i got like 18 baby fry from my white and black mollie.. i want them to servive...
please help... and i cleaned it days after, but still it was cloudy., im goin to clean it again and see if anythin happens but i hope the cloudiness goes away...

Answer 1

As odd as it sounds, you might be cleaning too much. If your tank is less than 2 months old, it's probably cycling. This happens when bacteria (the good kind) are multiplying in your tank. When your fish eat (and poo), they produce ammonia. This is toxic to your fish. Bacteria in yuor tank can convert the ammonia to nitrite (which is still toxic), but other bacteria convert it to nitrate which is only toxic in higher amounts. While the bacteria are reproducing, your water will look cloudy. It may not look too good, but it IS a good thing! If you clean too well, there won't be enough bacteria to remove the ammonia and nitrite.

What you should do is clean once a week, and get all the stuff off the very top of the gravel, and take 25% of the water out. Only clean part of your gravel (about 1/3) really well so the bacteria stay in the rest. Next time you clean, clean another third well, and the next time, clean the last third.

In the meantime, to help your fish until all the ammonia and nitrite go away, add some salt to their water. Use 1 tablespoon of salt for every 5 gallons in their tank. When you do a water change, if you take 5 gallons out, add another tablespoon of salt to the water you put back. Salt won't hurt your fish, but it will help them not be poisoned by the ammonia and nitrite.

It would help you to have a water testing kit as well, so you know when the ammonia and nitrites are high so you can tell when to change the water if the levels of these gets too high before the week is up. Don't add any more fish until the ammonia and nitrite levels are zero for at least a week, and the only thing showing up on your water tests is nitrate. Wait 6 months before adding any more neons - these need to have a well functioning tank before they are introduced. Once your tank has cycled, the cloudiness will go away on its own.

Answer 2

when you say you cleaned the tank , and put everything back , did you empty the tank??? if you did , and removed all the water , you killed your bacteria in the tank , and what your seeing is millions of rotting bacteria, which is clouding your water . get your water tested i am sure you will find that your nitrates, and ammonia are very high. this will kill your fish fast .. so first test the water , then change 10% of your water daily , clean out your filters.. get a protein binder like aqua-clear sold at pet stores to treat cloudy water, it binds the bacterial corpses together so your filter will be able to hold it , and your water should clear up in about 1 week .. but do the daily water changes , and test that water as well you can also go get a lot of plants for the tank (live ones) which will soak up some of the nitrates, and ammonia , and release oxygen into the tank water to help with regrowing the new bacteria the tank needs.. do a search on line about "fish tank cycles " and start reading ... good luck

Answer 3

make sure you have cleaned gravel properly and rinsed well with cold water,clean pump and change filter pads regularly.