Cloudy waters

[jabba the gup]

I can't seem to keep my water from clouding up! I have been performing water changes and keep my filters changed every 2-4 weeks due to cloudy water! No ammonia has been detected, and is tested for weekly. I do however use tapwater during my water change, and the water here has a high pH. I use API stress coat with every water change. Also I use API stress zyme. Tank is a 55gal running a marine land penguin 350gph with bio filters! there is a mixture of fake plants and about five live plants, and two large marimo logs that were soaked for 3 to 4 days and have been in the tank for over 2 months! Full disclosure, I have children, so there is quite a diverse group in the tank! We have two African clawed frogs a 6 inch rope fish, two small swordtails, a goldfish measuring 6 inches, two fiddler crabs, and two placoes. All inhabitants seem healthy and happy! Any advice would be appreciated! I will try to post a better picture later

 

[stingrays4]

Hi the cloudiness could be a few causes. Firstly take out some water place in a clear glass, if it goes clear then its suspended particles and the filter needs a more finer filter media in such as filter floss. If it remains cloudy then its a bacteria bloom, which can be caused by a few things. The filter may not be completely matured, or is being overworked, possibly by the goldfish as they are quite messy fish. Look to add another filter possibly.

 

[Toad]

You're changing the filter and crashing your tank, that's probably why the water won't clear, you keep restarting your cycle. Also your stock list will not work out in the long term, acfs will eat anything they think will fit in their mouths, fiddler crabs are brackish and need to be able to get out of the water, depending on the type of plecos you have they may out grow your tank as well :/

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[crystalbettas]

speaking from experience, you're probably overfeeding. try feeding them a LOT less and get a gravel vacuum. it's a plastic siphon that they sell at petsmart for pretty cheap. you just get a bucket and squeeze the thing a few times to get it going. then stick it in the gravel and shake it around a bit. you'll see all the nasty dirt getting sucked up. do that every time you do a water change and reduce feeding and i bet your water will be clearer than ever.

 

[jabba the gup]

First, thank you everyone for your replies! I vacuum about once a month, I do not change the bio filters only carbon filters. Which you seem to dirty up fast, probably from overfeeding that was mentioned! LOL! I will check into the filter floss. I have provided a place for my fiddler crabs to get out of the water. I have a fake 18 inch mangrove rout that peaks out of the water and my marimo logs that they love to climb are stacked in a manner so that they can get out on either side of the tank. I was also concerned more about the swordtails becoming lunch for the frogs. And I also considered the fact that I may once again be upgrading the size of my tank. Should I be vacuuming my tank more often?

 

[jabba the gup]

How do I send you all a picture??

 

[jabba the gup]

Also, my filter is oversized for a tank that is 20 gallons larger than what I own. Should I only look into changing the filter media or adding a whole other filter system

 

[jabba the gup]

 

[jabba the gup]

Not sure why it just sent three photos, sorry about the glare from the windows behind me. I will try to send a better pic tonight

 

[crystalbettas]

wow, that's a beautiful tank! id say vacuum every two weeks or so, that seems to help. try getting some snails, they'll eat a lot of the leftover food before it clouds up the tank.

 

[jabba the gup]

Is there a specific kind of snail? I have heard horror stories about them taking over the tank. LOL! Thank you for your compliment on the tank! It is pretty miss matched because my children want to pick out a new decoration every time we go to the pet store! LOL! It's pretty random. I will try to post another when it is dark out and I'm not getting so much of a glare. Thanks again for your help

 

[crystalbettas]

Is there a specific kind of snail? I have heard horror stories about them taking over the tank. LOL! Thank you for your compliment on the tank! It is pretty miss matched because my children want to pick out a new decoration every time we go to the pet store! LOL! It's pretty random. I will try to post another when it is dark out and I'm not getting so much of a glare. Thanks again for your help

many snails that you can get at a pet store won't take over your tank, i recommend nerite snails and mystery snails. they're my favorite. mystery snails are bigger but then nerite snails are very pretty. they have striped and spotted ones, i love them. i usually get them at petsmart. i have several of them and they've never multiplied. i absolutely love snails! they keep your glass spotless too!

 

[jabba the gup]

Do you think my frogs will eat them once the frogs become large enough

 

[crystalbettas]

Do you think my frogs will eat them once the frogs become large enough

probably not, most snails are near indestructible unless they're faced with things like turtles and crayfish

 

[Toad]

The goldfish will probably eat them, comets goldfish love them

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[crystalbettas]

The goldfish will probably eat them, comets goldfish love them

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not if they're big enough. mystery and nerite snails aren't really small enough for goldfish to fit in their mouths unless the goldfish are REALLY big. like full size koi. i've had a 4-5 inch goldfish in with my snails and he never touched them.

 

[jabba the gup]

The goldfish is a pretty good size! This all began with a fair fish which he is a replacement for, to avoid my children's devastation of a dead goldfish. He kept outgrowing his tanks! My wife rushed out and bought a beta tank when they had won two gold fish at the fair! He was quickly upgraded to a 2.5 gallon tank, and then to a 5 gallon tank and stayed there until I felt horrible about keeping him in such a small tank! Then graduated to a 13 gallon tank and was soon too large for that and I could not keep the ammonia down! Now he is in a 55 gallon living happily! LOL! This goldfish and all his friends have cost me a small fortune, LOL my wife is about to kill me I think!! But I enjoy the hobby very much! Hopefully I have a while before anyone is big enough to eat anyone

 

[crystalbettas]

The goldfish is a pretty good size! This all began with a fair fish which he is a replacement for, to avoid my children's devastation of a dead goldfish. He kept outgrowing his tanks! My wife rushed out and bought a beta tank when they had won two gold fish at the fair! He was quickly upgraded to a 2.5 gallon tank, and then to a 5 gallon tank and stayed there until I felt horrible about keeping him in such a small tank! Then graduated to a 13 gallon tank and was soon too large for that and I could not keep the ammonia down! Now he is in a 55 gallon living happily! LOL! This goldfish and all his friends have cost me a small fortune, LOL my wife is about to kill me I think!! But I enjoy the hobby very much! Hopefully I have a while before anyone is big enough to eat anyone

if it's pretty big i'd go with a mystery snail. don't think even a big goldfish is going to be able to eat one of those. they can be pretty decent sized

 

[jabba the gup]

I would think the goldfish would have a shell of a time passing the snails!! Lmao! OK BAD JOKE! He is only about 6" long right now! If I do decide to invest I will get the bigger ones in the tank! What about the field Traciann system add a whole Nother filter pump or just add media to my existing filter? Or simply add the snails and see how it goes from there?

 

[crystalbettas]

I would think the goldfish would have a shell of a time passing the snails!! Lmao! OK BAD JOKE! He is only about 6" long right now! If I do decide to invest I will get the bigger ones in the tank! What about the field Traciann system add a whole Nother filter pump or just add media to my existing filter? Or simply add the snails and see how it goes from there?

id say start with the snails and cut down on food. like reeaaally cut down. gravel vac a bit more often, like twice a month. goldfish poop a lot so that can affect it but vacuuming up the poop will help. then take it from there! hopefully that'll help. if it doesn't, you can try seachem clarity, that helps clear it up. but thankfully the majority of things that turn the water cloudy don't harm the fish.