Cloudy Water?

[Endless Ocean in My House]

The water was really cloudy today in my dad's FW 10 gal. It's not my tank, and I'm not sure about the water chemistry. I plan to get him to buy a few more test kits -- in the meantime he has pH and nitrate. It was cloudy like gravel dust had been stirred up--but this is before I "vacuumed" the gravel and it had been days since its last water change.

Is this not a big deal? Or should I be worried?

 

[Bbush]

Could be a bacteria bloom / algae bloom. How r fish? And post test results when u get them.

 

[DavidAl]

How long has this tank been set up?

As Bbush mentioned, it's probably a heterotrophic bacterial bloom. These types of bacterial blooms are caused by excess nutrients. In other words, too much organic substances. Ask your dad to vacuum the gravel and stop feeding for a few days. The cloudiness should go away in a few days to a week.

David

 

[Endless Ocean in My House]

How long has this tank been set up?

As Bbush mentioned, it's probably a heterotrophic bacterial bloom. These types of bacterial blooms are caused by excess nutrients. In other words, too much organic substances. Ask your dad to vacuum the gravel and stop feeding for a few days. The cloudiness should go away in a few days to a week.

David

The tank has been set up for a few months. This makes sense--I watched him feed the fish the other day and he put in an absurd amount of food. We'll do just that. Thank you!

 

[ATLoh2]

I had something like that happen in my tanks recently too. Both tanks have been running for nearly two years with no such problems, but in the last few weeks I've seen the water get cloudy. First the goldfish tank, then my shrimp tank, which seemed to suffer the worst before it got cloudy. The first sign of real trouble was when my infestation of MTS seemingly disappeared. Then I found dead shrimp. Water conditions: pH 6.0, ammonia 0.25, nitrites 0, nitrates 30. The tank has lots of plants too. I did 50% PWC and the snails re-appeared, but that only lasted 2 days before they disappeared again and another dead shrimp turned up. Another 50% PWC and now the water is a bit cloudy. Any suggestions? I suspect something changed in the water chemistry coming out of the tap, but I have no solid proof.

 

[Endless Ocean in My House]

I had something like that happen in my tanks recently too. Both tanks have been running for nearly two years with no such problems, but in the last few weeks I've seen the water get cloudy. First the goldfish tank, then my shrimp tank, which seemed to suffer the worst before it got cloudy. The first sign of real trouble was when my infestation of MTS seemingly disappeared. Then I found dead shrimp. Water conditions: pH 6.0, ammonia 0.25, nitrites 0, nitrates 30. The tank has lots of plants too. I did 50% PWC and the snails re-appeared, but that only lasted 2 days before they disappeared again and another dead shrimp turned up. Another 50% PWC and now the water is a bit cloudy. Any suggestions? I suspect something changed in the water chemistry coming out of the tap, but I have no solid proof.

I have no idea! Thanks though David-I did that and the water looks fine again.