I have a 35L bi-ube fish tank which has been established for 18months. It is a community tank, which is not over populated. It was absolutely fine yesterday, but over the last 12 hours or so it has been getting cloudier and the water is now very murky and grey -ish brown. My first thought was that a fish had died, but they are all accounted for. Water chemistry has been tested and is fine - no ammonia, nitrite, very small nitrate, ph 7.4. Filter has been checked and is working fine and doesnt need replaced. Also, the water smells absolutely awful, like sewage mixed with fish. :S. I have done a partial water change, but am out of ideas apart from that?!???
2007-09-06 05:58:28 · 9 answers · asked by Raych-S 2 in Pets ➔ Fish
5L of water is changed each week, have never had any problems. The tank gets late evening sunshine for a couple of hours if we forget to shut the curtains, but again it has always had that.
2007-09-06 06:08:42 · update #1
Also, the gravel was cleaned out thoroughly at the end of July, so I dont think its a build up of poo etc. :s
2007-09-06 06:11:37 · update #2
If it was bacteria would it not show in the water chemistry?
2007-09-06 06:12:55 · update #3
I think it would be bacterial bloom. Or possibly just food not eaten. My tank did the same thing, all levels checked out, the fish looked fine, just cloudy water. Get something called crystal clear. it really helps, and doesn't kill your fish.
2007-09-07 07:28:12 · answer #1 · answered by cookyaustinchic 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
IT is either a brown alge bloom or a bacteria bloom. Do you syphon the gravel when you do your water changes?
Also this can happen when water changes are not done often enough a 25%-30% water change each week is the best way to go particularly if your tank is fully stocked.
Do a 50% water change while syphoning the gravel with a gravel vacuum that you can purchase at any store that sells fish care items. Also you do not mention the type of fish you have in the tank. Cloudiness is a common problem with goldfish/koi as they need extra filtration when compaired to other fish of the same size. Also check your heater if it is too warm you could get a bloom that will cloud the water as it lowers the oxygen content.
Using the gravel vacuum to clean the tank you will work in a grid pattern accross the floor of the tank syphoning the gunk out of the gravel while removing 25-30 percent of the water on a weekly clean to help set your system right I would do a 50% this go around. then add water as close to the same water as possible and don't forget to add stress coat to remove the chlorine etc from the tap water.
Proper tank maintance is changing the water out not just topping off.
Best of luck to you
2007-09-06 06:09:14 · answer #2 · answered by my3mohrkids 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This definitely sounds like a bacterial bloom. You probably need to clean old food and fish poo out of your substrate. If it doesn't go away after a day or two, you should buy a water clarifier. That will get rid of the bacteria that make your tank cloudy and smelly.
2007-09-06 06:08:16 · answer #3 · answered by morph_888 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
More than likely this means that particles in the water are coming out of suspension. This happens when tank owners 'top off' their tanks with fresh water all the time. You actually have to change part of the water.
When I had aquariums, I changed 25% of the water in the tank every week. And once every three months I did a 50% change with RO water.
2007-09-06 06:09:14 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most of the time when I see that greyish brown tint in the water, it has been because the gravel hasn't been cleaned enough. Do you vaccuum the gravel? I assume you do for a tank that large...
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/waterconditions/a/cloudywater.htm
Good luck with your fish!!
You could also check the yellow pages for a fish/aquarium specialty store that may be able to better advise you.
2007-09-06 06:13:11 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do you use a gravel vaccum to get all the rotten food/feces out? If so, it could be a bacteria bloom- but it's normally just white cloudy and not brown.
2007-09-06 06:02:40 · answer #6 · answered by Madison 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What do you mean by your gravel has been cleaned throughly by the end of july
I hope you didn't do a 100% waterchange, because that's the biggest mistake you can make
25% weekly with a gravelsiphon, so in your case that would be about 8 L weekly
hope that helps
Good luck
2007-09-06 06:23:28 · answer #7 · answered by Kribensis lover 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
also does the tank get sunlight?
do you change a small amount of water ever so often?
the smell could be from rotting vegetation (algae)
dead algae is brownish in color.
2007-09-06 06:04:27 · answer #8 · answered by Jeff L 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
filtter is not working properly you may need to change a lot more of the water if you have under water filtter it may need to come out and clean hole tank.personly i would emty it out and wash it all
2007-09-06 06:16:49 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋