I have a 29 gallon tank with 2 silver dollars, 6 neon tetras and 1 placo (spelling?) My water keeps getting?

Question

my water keeps getting cloudy. I think my husband is over feeding. How often do you think we should feed. Silver dollars are about 3" and we feed the flakes. Also, should I get another bottom feeder to help out?? Oh, I have a 30-40 gallon filter on the tank.

Answer 1

The cloudiness could be from overfeeding, or from cycling if this is a new tank (set up for less than two months), or if you've been cleaning too thouroughly, or have used antibiotic medications in the tank recenty.

All the fish should be fed what they can eat in 2-3 minutes, twice a day, and no more. The neons would be happy with the flakes, but the pleco and silver dollars need a good amount of algae in their diets. The plecos are nocturnal, so they should be fed just before or after the lights go out.

If the tank's less than 2 months old or you've added fish recently and are overfeeding, the cause is probably cycling. The fish sood and wastes produced by your fish also produces ammonia - which is toxic to your fish. Bacteria will convert the ammonia to nitrite (also toxic), then to nitrate. As long as there is an abumdance of ammonia, the bacteria will reproduce to use it as an energy source. These bacteria are what you see as the "cloud". If you've used an antibiotic recently, it doen't distinguish between the good and harmful bacteria, so the ones responsible for cycling your tank will have also been killed. Righ now there might be a new population reproducing in your tank. The same happens when you break down a tank and do too thorough of a cleaning - removing the gravel and decor and cleaning them in chlorinated water also removes the needed bacteria.

Answer 2

cloudy water is likely a bacterial bloom that is brought on by (a)too much feeding, (b)too much fish waste ....both which can be remedied by more water changes. I can't stress how important water changes are. Most people sluff them off and just buy more bottom feeders to "fix" the problem, but it ends up making it worse. Believe me, I worked at a fish store for almost a year and heard some crazy stories. Your filter isn't really adequate either, to be honest. A good rule of thumb is a filter than cycles 3-4 TANK cycles/hr. Your filter does about one. Good, adequate filtration and frequent (every 1-2 weeks avg) water changes will drastically improve your fish health.
As a side note, the silver dollars will get up to 6" diameter by the time they're full grown and the pleco will get up around 12" if it's the regular, common kind. The pleco will need a larger tank and the silver dollars prefer to be in schools, otherwise they get very skiddish and end up running into things and usually hurting their fins, scales, etc. A school would consist of at least 3-4+ and that would be pushing the limits of your tank.
One thing that the previous poster mentioned about the nitrogenation (ammonia --> nitrite --> nitrate) is very true -- they get progressively less toxic, HOWEVER, even nitrate can kill fish if the level gets too high. Your best bet is, again, to do water changes which bring down the concentration.

Answer 3

A wise person once told me: "If the water is cloudy, suspect the husband is overfeeding" .. LOL! Seriously..it must be some sort of weird food fetish..or watching them fight one another for food..or just their usual affinity for voyeurism but my hubby is also guilty of this infraction and no matter what I do he won't stop. Best thing you can do is take your water to be tested (or test it yourself if you have a kit) and treat the symptoms. I also bought my hubby a brine shrimp net and asked him to please scoop out what the fish don't eat in one minute. It gives him an excuse to interact with them so he's been at least doing that. The other long term option is a u/v sterilizer to help break down waste and other organisms...and of course 20% water changes no more than once every 3 weeks if you can.
As for how much to feed, fish have stomachs the size of their eyeballs. They are also grazers meaning they eat constantly throughout the day. Your best bet would be to feed VERY small feedings 2-3 times a day. By very small I mean enough for them to finish in under one minute. If they don't finish, scoop it out. I feed mine in the morning when the lights go on and hubby feeds in the evening an hour before we turn the lights off. Also, flake can sometimes be a culprit in cloudy tanks. Check your food and make sure it says "will not cloud the tank"..it's not a guarantee but it will help some.
Good luck! If you find any better ways let me know! :)

Answer 4

Overfeeding is probably your cause of cloudiness. There is a much higher danger from overfeeding than from underfeeding. One Plecostomus is plenty for that size tank. I wouldn't feed more than once a day. Probably even a little less than that, like 5 times per week. They should be able to finish up the food in 2 or 3 minutes... If there is food left over after that, then it was too much.

Answer 5

I personally feel those silver dollars are too large of a fish for a 29g tank. The tank may not be cycled fully, or the filtration can't keep up with the stock of fish and the bioload keeps crashing and starting over. Your husband could be overfeeding, but i'm more guessing the tank's bioload is crashing. Adding another fish will NOT help the situation.

Answer 6

its a bacterial bloom if its white cloudy. its due to overfeeding or an uncycled tank. Stop feeding so much, let the tank cycle, or get another filter.

Answer 7

You need to get the little water testing strips & test your water. It does take a few weeks to get the water right. You might be over feeding them too. That will make the water cloudy real fast. They only need a tiny bit of food each day. You should talk to the people at the pet store, they can help you a lot. Good Luck!!!