Water Change and Bacterial Blooms (Cloudy Water)

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acewiza

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Aug 11, 2015
Messages
299
Location
CO
I think I've finally figured out where my cloudy water problems are coming from. Our water supply changed sometime last fall. The town did a deal with a different supplier, which apparently contains some bacteria that likes to bloom in my tanks. I did not put 2-and-2 together until just last week when it happened in the goldfish tank, which is normally inactive this time of year. That tank has never experienced the problem in three years I've been doing this. I'm running late getting the goldfish out to their pond this year, because the pond is undergoing a re-build, basically an expansion and all-new everything. Anyhow, never had this cloudy water in the goldfish tank for three years wintering them in their indoor tank. But after the water change last week, cloudy water next day.

This is all purely anecdotal conjecture, but I suspect the new water supply has now become warm enough for whatever is in there to cycle into my goldfish tank, which normally would not have gone this far through through the spring season before being shut down for the summer. Does it sound like I'm on to something here?
 
Er, maybe. Have you tested the tap water for water chemistry to see if changed (assuming you had baseline readings from before)?
 
Have you tested the tap water...
Yes, in fact I noticed the change right away last fall, because I had recently set up the new tank and was monitoring water params more closely than usual. The new water source was slightly more alkaline, but not causing bacterial blooms at that time. Only started seeing the cloudy blooms on a frequent, regular basis in the past month or so.

Fortunately they seem to be clearing fairly quickly (3-5 days) but I'd still like to know how to prevent them completely, if at all possible.
 
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