Cloudy water!!

[willcboha]

I am new to this site and I am sure that you guy's have dealt with this before (especially from a newbie) but I have a new 55gal fresh water aquarium that I took my time with and added things slowly. I have a gravel substrate, 9 plastic plants (I am going to change these with live plants shortly) (2) 12" bubble bars and a few ornaments that are tank friendly.
I rinsed and soaked everything before putting it into the tank and used all the appropriate additives to balance the Ph, nitrates, ammonia and such and let the tank sit empty for about a month.14 days ago I bought 7 tiger barbs and added them to the tank, they seemed to adjust nicely. I waited about a week and bought 5 blue neon jumbo tetras (beautiful fish) and they too seemed to adjust perfectly....but after about 4 days the water became cloudy ,just a little at first, but within a week you could barely see the fish!
It's been about 5 days and I am beside myself, I have tried the "Accu-Clear" crap and it has not helped. My fish are doing fine however and the test strips show that my water is fine. I would love to actually see my fish though!!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Convict2161]

Pictures if possible. It sounds like a bacterial bloom, I'd start with getting a API liquid freshwater master test kit. I don't like those strips.

If your parameters are fine, perform a 50% water change and then see what happens. Most if the time it will run its course and be gone as fast as it came.

 

[Old Scales]

First off, welcome to AA Will.
A LOT of good people with ALOT of knowledge in here. There is basically three types of "cloudy water". Almost every new tank(<3 months old) will go through cloudy water phases. One type is an algae bloom. Put some of the water in a pure white container and see if you see any green color. If so, research algae blooms. The other two types are white "milky" looking water. Of these two, one is from bacteria. Water changes, tank cycling & cleanliness will cause it to subside. The accu-clear will only work on the next type which is very fine particulate non-organic matter suspended in the water. It is usually fines from under rinsed gravel or filter media packets. Since the accu-clear did not work, it probably is a bacterial bloom. Hope this helps you towards the right path of research. Good Luck, OS.

 

[NYgiantsRP]

Never use chemicals to try to fix a problem, it never works. Just get yourself a API master liquid test kit, do your test and see what's up. If nothing is high or irregular then just stick with your weekly water changes, and it should go away soon.

 

[Try-na]

I had this problem in one if my tanks when I was just starting it up. I used Clear Fast & filter floss & it cleared up within days. Did you use filter floss too? If you didn't try it. The trick is to add floss to your filter & once it gets dirty rinse it & reuse it. You do this until the floss becomes rope like then discard & use new floss. The floss is more effective after a couple of rinses.