Tank cloudy after water change

[msingerman]

Hello all,

I have a 30 gallon freshwater tank with roughly 15 various fish - some dwarf gourami, danios, tetras, and a couple of chinese algae eaters. The tank has been in good shape. However, I recently have had a bit of an algae problem - it was growing on the plastic plants and an air bubbler. I did a thorough cleaning - I changed about 20% of the water, cleaned off all the plants, and changed two of the filter mediums (the sponge and the carbon filter). I also used a special scraper from the pet store to try and clean the inside of the tank out. However, now the tank is cloudy! The fish seem to be doing okay, but this can't be good at all.

This was all a week ago. I just did another 20% water change, and when I poured the old water down the drain, it definitely had a green tint to it. I put in fresh water, and the tank doesn't look any better.

I think the tank has gotten slightly cloudier. I am assuming that this is some sort of free-floating bacteria which is causing this. Does this sound accurate? What can I do to clean this out?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Jchillin]

Welcome to AA!

How long has your tank been set up? From your description, the cloudiness does sound like a bacteria bloom.

The algae can be controlled with your algae eaters and by reducing your feedings and light hours (try 6 hours a day until it's gone).

Just a word of caution: Complete changing of your media may have created a mini-cycle as a ton of beneficial bacteria was colonized on the surfaces of them.

Have you test your water parameters also - Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate? If yes, what were the results?

 

[msingerman]

Hello,

The tank has been set up and stable for about three months. I haven't done any water tests; I shall go and do that and report back in a bit.

I'll reduce the light hours also; fortunately, I have the tank on a timer, so I can do that easily. However, I have a couple of live plants - java moss and java green - but I think they should be all right with reduced light for a bit.

The algae bloom theory sounds very reasonable. Thanks for the info.

 

[msingerman]

HAs anyone ever tried introducing daphnia into a tank to eat the algae? Will they in turn become a problem, or will the fish simply eat them in turn?

 

[msingerman]

A quick update:

I wrapped the tank in a sheet to block out (almost) all light. I checked this morning and things look a lot better. I am going to take it off when I get home from work and see if it's clear; if not, I'll leave it on for a third full day.

 

[Jchillin]

Sounds good...keep us posted.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Sounds to me like a bacteria bloom also. Cleaning your tank REALLY well may look good, but your fish will hate it.

 

[fishplay]

I don't know... it sounds like you cleaned your tank to well causing a mini cycle. I wouldn't be changing filters and such either. Always rinse in used aquarium water. I used to change mine in my tanks and yea same thing they would get cloudy for a few days. But, then with getting more tanks it got to expensive buying them all the time. So, I started just cleaning them in used aquarium water. The ones with the carbon in them I just ripped open at the top and dump as much out as I could and some of them I was able to replace with ones that don't have carbon. I only put new ones in when the old ones are so torn up that they won't filter anything anymore..... I agree with fishfanatic>>>> clean always looks good but to clean and your fish will suffer.... Just think about them out in the wild.... would they be swimming around in the cleanest water there??? Noway, algae and gunk everywhere.... Hope this helps....

 

[msingerman]

Final update:

Wrapping the tank in a sheet and letting in no light did it. The tank us now crystal-clear and all the fish are happy and swimming. The Java green took a bit of a hit, but it's bouncing back nicely. The Java moss is fine. Thanks for all your help.