Foggy Water - Panic time

[warped1]

Hello folks, I'm back with another problem. A friend of mine owns a 20gal FW tank. He has a Whisper 30 hanging on the back for filtration - an air stone - a UGF with a power head and about 15 small fish (1in to 1.5in). His tank has been running for way over a year but he never vacuumed the gravel. I told him that - according to what I've read) - he should vacuum. He did - now 12 days later it looks like a white fog is in the tank (water looks like diluted milk). To save me from having an "accident" at my friends hand - What happened and can this be fixed. The fish are health - no deaths - and are swimming quite happily and eating well - we did a 20% water change - the fog faded a bit but now its back --Any help will greatly be appreciated -- Thanks all and Peace

[Purrbox]

My guess is that by stirring up the detris that's been building up so long, he exposed the aquarium to a minor Ammonia spike which is resulting in a Green Water bloom. Green Water can start out looking like a faint white cloud, but as it thickens it gets more definately green. The best way to tell if this is the case is to put a small amount of the water in a white cup. This will make it easier to tell if the water has a faint green tinge. In this situation the easiest solution is a 3-5 day blackout.

[neilanh]

The first thing I'd check is the ammonia levels. If they're up, this could just simply be a bacterial bloom.

Also, it may just be tiny particulate that kicked up during the vacuum that's too small for the filtration to take out. Try putting some filter floss in the filter and see if that does any good. I suspect not, but it's an easy fix if that does it.

[warped1]

Thanks for the help --- When we put some water in a white Styrofoam cup the water was not tinted any color -- He does not have an ammonia test kit - poor fish keeping skills I know (but thats why I joined AA - I want to do my tank right) - Before we did a 20% water change I noticed that the fog was not as thick as before -- I think its a bacteria bloom waiting to settle -- I will keep you posted and much, much thanks again

[tamra&steven]

this happened to one of our tanks before we took the ugf off. this is because he never cleaned the sand then he did clean it too well. just clean the top layer of sand dont go too deep into it. if you try to black out your tank for a few days it could work but we tried it and it just got worse. a uv light will fix the problem but the isnt cheap. if you use algae destroyer advanced it will take care of your problem and is very cheap. it starts to work within a few hours and by the next day it will be more clear then it has ever been.