Cloudy fish tank, what's the cause?

Question

Two days after we set up the fish tank the water went cloudy. A day or so later it went clear, then cloudy again. It's been cloudy ever sense. (It's been about 3 months.) I change the water and filter regularly and I add the aquarium salt, water conditioner, and tap water dechlorinator like it says on the package. Any ideas how to fix the problem?

The general consensus is that I'm feeding the fish too much. I have some goldfish in there that act like I'm starving them to death when I throw in some food. (Consequently they've doubled in size in three months.) How do I know how much to feed them if they always act starved? Actually, I'd like to get rid of the goldfish, they're getting too big, but I can't flush something still living.

Answer 1

Cloudy water is one of two things.

If the water is green then it is an algae bloom. Algae blooms are caused by too much light and too many nutrients in the water. They are relatively easily cleared up by reducing the lighting, especially direct sunlight, and by lower the nutrients in the water. Reducing the lighting is easy. Simply shut off the light on the tank and only run it for 8-10 hours a day. You should also ensure that your tank isn't getting any direct sunlight as this will cause you algae problems, either as a green bloom or simply algae on the tank and ornaments. You lower the nutrients by doing more frequent and larger water changes and by feeding less. Fish should be fed only what they can eat entirely in 5-10 seconds. Any uneaten food should be netted out of the tank to prevent it from breaking down.

If the water is white then it is a bacterial bloom. These are caused exclusively by too many nutrients in the tank. To clear the water you will need to increase the frequency and size of your water changes, and decrease the feeding. Fish should be fed only what they can eat entirely in 5-10 seconds. Any uneaten food should be netted out of the tank to prevent it from breaking down.

Neither cloudy water situation is particularly harmful to your fish but are a symptom of a greater underlying problem that must be resolved.

One way to clear the cloudy water immediately is through the use of a micron or diatom filter. This will pull out the particles that cause the cloudiness, but it WILL NOT resolve the problem that caused the particles to be there. This is a short term fix and needs to be used in conjuction with the above fixes.

Answer 2

Mt initial thoughts are that you're cleaning the tank too well trying to get rid of the cloudiness.

When you started this tank did you cycle it first? This refers to establishing a population of bacteria to help break down wastes in the rank. When you have fish, they eat and they poo. Part of their waste is ammonia, which is toxic to them. In naturem water dilutes the ammonia, but in an aquarium, we rely on bacteria to convert the ammonia into a less toxic product (nitrate) with nitrite (also toxic) as an intermediate product.

If you just set the tank up, let the water run for a few days, and added fish, you don't have the bacteria that are needed to convert the wastes at first. So what happens is that the bacteria in your fishes' wastes is the "starter" and these multiply to colonize your gravel and filter media. As long as there's more ammonia than the bacteria can process, they'll continue to multiple rapidly. Once there are enough that all the ammonia (and later nitrite) are being converted, the reporduction slows down and the tank will look clear again.

Most new tank owners aren't told about this when they buy their fish, and seeing cloudy water, their first reaction is that the tank is dirty, so they take out all the water, clean it well and start back up again, only to see the tank get cloudy again. But doing major cleaning like this, the number of bacteria is reduced, so they keep multiplying.

It's far better to clean the tank by doing small, frequent changes of around 25% of the tank volume, and use a gravel vacuum to remove any waste from the bottom of the tank. You won't be able to clean the entire bottom at once, so only do 1/3 or so at a time, and alternate which section is done each cleaning.

Also, make sure you aren't overfeeding your fish - they should only get what they can eat in 2-3 minutes twice a day, and any food uneaten after that time should be removed with a net.

See these links for more info about cycling (and they have lots of other good info as well): http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php

NOTE: If you do want to get rid of the present fish, take them back to the store and see if you can exchange them for a different species that will stay smaller.

Answer 3

I have a goldfish tank myself and it is crystall clear, never had any problems with that, only once when my kids had the idea to put some cany's in the tank
but there are 2 things you should do:

1. Stop overfeeding them, feed them once a day at around the same time (they also have a inner watch it seems) as much as they can eat in 3-5 min, not more then that

2. check your ammonia levels, if they are of chart or just high do a 25% Waterchange right away and do that for every 4 days until the ammonia levels there were they are suppose to be

That should pretty much solve your problem

And to all the other people out there, goldfish are NOT dirty fish, you just have to take proper care of them, that's all
I have the goldfish tank now since 4 years, and the only occassion some of my goldies died was when my kids had this great idea of putting candy's into the tank


Hope that helps
Good luck


EB

Edit*
Something else came to my mind!
Don't forget to turn off the lights at night, you're suppose to keep the light on for 10-12 hours during the day, and turn it off for 12-14 hours at night

Answer 4

You better not flush something living. Find it a new home, many pet shops will take it for free, or find someone with a pond to take it, but don't drop it off in a lake or pond that someone doesn't own. Goldfish aren't native, and they don not belong in those ponds.

As for the cloudy water, it is most likely a combination of filtration, the size of the tank, and overfeeding. If you want to keep it, get a stronger filter, one that is rated for much more than the size of your tank. Your tank may also be too small to support the size of the fish; a large goldfish should be housed in nothing smaller than 30 gallons. For feeding, I'd do only once a day, as they are very "dirty" fish. Also, the use of floating pellet foods opposed to flakes would be beneficial. Let him eat for a few minutes, then scoop out the rest that is floating.

Answer 5

My tank used to do that to. I did all the treatments, even took everything out and cleaned it. Went on for about 6 months. I even had the guy at the pet store come and take a look at it. Turned out to be too much food. Not only was I feeding the fish, but so was everyone else. Get a few of those fish that look like sharks that eat the alge and mess, it helps.

Answer 6

Fish should only be fed NO MORE then twice a day. Feed them no more then what they can eat in under 3 minutes. You can even skip a day or two of feeding.

You might want to think of getting a new tank as two goldfish need at least a 30 gallon tank.

Contact local pet stores in your area if you no longer want the fish, some of them will take them off your hands or buy them off of you. (Contact the small stores, the chain ones usually can't take them off your hands).

Answer 7

I agree with the rest. If it isn't the filtration, its over-feeding. The general rule is don't feed your fish more than what they can eat in 5 minutes. If they don't eat all the food, then take out your net and fish out the rest.. no pun intended ;). I have heard that some types/brands of aquarium salt can cause cloudiness.

Answer 8

My thought is that your feeding them too much. It's very easy to overfeed fish. Also, try changing the filter once a week and see if it makes a difference. If so, then your giving too much food.
Try two very small feedings twice a day instead of one large one if your worried about not giving them enough. Hope this helps.

Answer 9

I also want to throw it out there that goldfish are nasty little fish... (Not being mean, promise!) But they are very dirty fish! If you put new gravel from the store in your fish tank, did you clean it REALLY well before you put it in there? It seems weird, but alot of cloudy water comes from dirty gravel, regardless of how long the tank has been up. Good luck with the tank!

Answer 10

I think that you keep doing waterchanges because of your cloudy water, not giving time for your good bactria to set up buy a bottle of cycle add appropriate amount and do bi weeekly to monthly water changes and youshould be fine