Cloudy tank!

[esaone]

A friend of mine has a hexagon tank that is seriously cloudy.
It's been this way for like two months.
They have done a gravel vac.
They have done several partial water changes.
All to no avail.
The filtration is good.
This tank is in a dark corner with a hood w/ no lights, does anyone think that the lack of light is causing the problem?

[Devilishturtles]

How large is the tank, and how many fish are in it? One problem could be overstocking.

does anyone think that the lack of light is causing the problem?

Probably not your cloudiness problem, but other issues. Fish need periods of daylight (from your aquarium light) and periods of darkness. A light is definitley recommended.

[esaone]

The fish tank is a 30 gallon hex.
It has 4 platty's, 2 small cory cats and 2 paited glass tetra's.
I don't think it's overstocked.

[Devilishturtles]

Doesnt' sound overcrowded, but could just be a sign of what is termed 'New Tank Syndrome'.

Do you know how long your friends tank has been set up before you saw the cloudiness? How often do they normally do water changes, and how much?

Hard to say, but my guess is that they tank is new, and you added all your fish at the same time. This is probably why you are seeing cloudiness.

[esaone]

Nope this tank is over a year old.
It's always been the best looking tank in their house out of four.
They are bad about not doing PWC.
But recently since this happend they have been doing them more frequently.
They said they saw results the day after the PWC but then it just went back to being bad. They also said that the top half of the tank get way clearer after the PWC than the bottom. Any idea's?

[Jchillin]

Is the cloudiness light or dark? Do you know if they've vacuumed the gravel? If they did a thorough gravel vac, the detrius (you know...fish poop and food particles) would float around the tank for awhile.

[Devilishturtles]

They are bad about not doing PWC.
But recently since this happend they have been doing them more frequently.

Hmm...this could be an issue. Not doing any for a while, than doig a whole bunch, especially if they are very good water changes(meaning, the gravel gets vaccumed and alot of water taken out).

Ask them if, when they did a water change right before it got cloudy, they did a huge water change. They could have cut down on alot of the nutrients in the tank, and not leave enough to catch up with the with the waste production of your fish.

Also, ask them to test their water and see what the levels are.
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, etc.

[esaone]

The cloudiness started long before they started doing water changes regularly.
When I tested it a month ago it was real bad. High Ammo. Some Nitrite. and high Nitrate. I told them to do a gravel vac and and wait three days. Then I told them to do PWC every two days for another week and it would clear up. It didn't.

Is the cloudiness light or dark?

It is dark. I already mentioned the gravel vac in the first post.