why is my fish tank soo dirty?

Question

i have a cold water fish tan with an undergravel filter i also have plants in my tank and use aqua safe to stop tap water bacteria. but the tank is cloudy all the time i only feed them once a day what could be the cause/solution to this

Answer 1

The tank is cloudy because you have bacterial bloom- don't worry this is no harm to your fish.! Simply do not add any chemicals to your tank, this will just slow down the process- i would reccommend that you do a 10% water change now and then leave it and wait- the bacterial bloom- which is the cloudiness will eventually clear just be paitient. This problem will take longer to clear because you have no heater because it is a cold water aqaurian the reason why tropical bacterial bloom would clear faster is because bacteria grows faster in warm conditions than it does in cold, so this is why it looks like your tank is always cloudy- so this is a lengthy problem... if you dont want to wait then i reccommend that you just restart with a different bottom to your tank such as; sand- best choice.!!

Hop this helps you and i hope you can help me by giving me points!!!
Good luck,
Many thanks, Danny

Answer 2

Your undergravel filter is excellent for BIOLOGICAL filtration (i.e.developing lots of little friendly bugs and bacteria that eat lots of harmful waste products like ammonia). However, there are 2 other types of filtration as well.
1) MECHANICAL - This is physically removing fish poo and things from the water (quite possibly the cause of your cloudiness). You do this type of filtration by passing water through a sponge of some type which can regularly be rinsed.
2) CHEMICAL - This is turning nasty chemicals into less nasty chemicals by using even more chemicals (think science lessons at school!). The common type is using charcoal (Activated Carbon to give it a posh name) to soak up bad stuff from the water. This can remove any colour from your water as well - maybe the cause of the cloudiness??

Easiest way to achieve the two types of filtration above is getting an internal canister filter (or even better an external canister filter) for the tank. Internal is very cheap, lots cheaper than external. It sits in the corner of your tank and has a little pump that pulls water through a sponge and over some charcoal - make sure it has a chamber you can put Activated Carbon in though. This is a chemical form of filtration that helps to 'polish' the water.

If a filter doesn't work then maybe:
It could be something dissolving in there (have you put any rocks in from your garden- such as limestone etc.??
It could be algae - try moving the tank out of the sunlight and it may clear up after a few days. If that doesn't do the job get a couple of freshwater snails. They'll eat the algae if that's the problem (but they may then start on your plants! your call really...)

Answer 3

It's hard to say anything with so little information. What size tank is it? What kind of 'cold water fish' are we talking about? Have you stuffed 6 goldfish into a 10 gallon tank?

You feed them once per day, but do you make sure that all of the food is eaten - any uneaten food will rot and cloud the water.

How long has the tank been setup? If it's a new tank and you introduced too many fish at once it could be bacterial bloom, in which case you need to test for ammonia and do water changes.

Undergravel filters are the dirtiest type of filter, but this is generally a long term problem, not a short term one, and more has to do with rising nirates and such then cloudiness, so I don't think the reason.

Answer 4

Could it be that your tank is not properly cycled or your bio-media couldn't host enough bacterial to handle your bio-load? I highly suspect its due to bacterial bloom.

And aqua safe isn't to stop tap water bacterial, by the way. This product is an water conditioner and should be use to remove chlorine from your tap water and other stuff.

Cloudy water due to new gravel usually last only a couple of days, especially with the filter on, so I doubt that the cause.

The solution is to read up on the proper method to cycle the tank. You can find many documents on the web regarding that.

Hope that helps.

.

Answer 5

Whatever you do don't buy anything that says it will clear up the tank if cloudy! If you read on the back, it will say something like toxic to fish, so why would you add that when the fish swim in the water?? If you haven't had your tank long, it might be just your tank cycling. It will go away after a while. Don't add any more fish while its cycling because that will increase the filter's biological load and it won't be able to take it.

Answer 6

You need to clean the undergravel filter. I would suggest you get a HOB filter (Hang On Back). They are easier to clean. Also, undergravel filters just collect extra food and fish poo, leaving them to sit in the water, so it really isn't cleaning. Get a gravel vacuum and clean under the undergravel filter. (That is assuming you have had this tank running for more than a month, if you haven't, it is still cycling... not a problem.)

Nosoop4u

Answer 7

Yeah that used to happen to my fish and so i went to the aquarium to change the water and so the man there told me to feed it less often or less food because it was the food that caused the water to go cloudy. but i did that and also kept the lid open and now they are fine and the water never becomes cloudy now i think keeping the lid open keeps speeds it up or something.

Answer 8

I used to get that i was told to just keep feeding to the minimum amount or go to every 2-3days as it is usually food that can cloud up(even the stuff that says it don't cloud the water as thats what i used) other than that i don't have a clue what else to do unless the filter isn't cleaning propely

Answer 9

Some people recommend that you only fed your fish every other day, I do this and ive had my fish for 2 years now.
Is your tank in direct sunlight? this can sometimes make your tank dirty.

Answer 10

well you should buy a srytal clear bottle they have those at walmart and put one drop per one gallon, you have to wait because when you put it in the tank it get cloudy but the water will get clear later, trust me i use it in all of fish tank and it work really good and one more thing the bottle is small and it say crystal clear on it good luck!=)