Need help with cloudy water issue

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Siggysmom

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
May 24, 2020
Messages
2
I have a single animal 40 gallon tall Axolotl tank, I’ve had it for about a year with no problems. It’s cycled and the water parameters read ph 7.8 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 and nitrate 10ppm. This last week I walked into this fuzzy white stuff growing all over my aquarium everywhere and not designated as if I had driftwood but I don’t have any wood in there, plus the water became very cloudy, I did a water change and tried to get as much of that stuff cleaned up as possible. Since then the fuzzy white stuff has mostly disappeared however for a week now I’ve had a very cloudy tank. I’ve done three water changes in that time span as I want the cloudy water gone and I was trying to remove the fuzzy white stuff because it was clogging my filters. I replaced the charcoal on the fluval HOB filter. I also have a smaller sponge filter in the opposite corner. Axolotl safe sand substrate that I siphoned out thinking maybe there was something in the sand. I never leave poop and always check the aquarium first thing when I wake up every morning to remove poop immediately. He’s only fed worms every other day and he eats them whole leaving nothing behind. No wood and only a Anubis plant that seems in healthy condition. It’s like I’m going through a bacterial bloom for a week now with no dissipation. I’m at a loss as I’ve read cloudy water for longer than the 2-4 day period up to 10 days and you need help so I came here. I just ordered a new sponge filter to be here tomorrow assuming that the other one may need changed as I mentioned I’ve had the HOB fluval in there for a year so it shouldn’t disrupt those bacteria. My Axolotl seems fine and is hyper and eating. I’m just worried about my tank being cloudy for this long, plus what was that white fuzzy stuff? Please help if you can. Thank you
 

Attachments

  • 4A3B15F3-3742-4CA5-990E-38FCC32B4F68.jpg
    4A3B15F3-3742-4CA5-990E-38FCC32B4F68.jpg
    195.1 KB · Views: 55
  • 53D3935A-5720-4ABA-916A-F7958F5A708B.jpg
    53D3935A-5720-4ABA-916A-F7958F5A708B.jpg
    193.9 KB · Views: 54
Looks like a really strong bacterial bloom. Is the tank somewhat new? It is not completely out of the ordinary for this to happen in tanks that are a few months old. Adding aeration and the the sponge filter should help a little. Usually things like this just go away after a little bit. I would just hang in there a little longer and it should right itself. Trying too hard to intervene can just cause more problems. Another thing I would recommend is to run your lights minimally during the bloom. Seems like light has something to do with it a lot of times.
 
Looks like a really strong bacterial bloom. Is the tank somewhat new? It is not completely out of the ordinary for this to happen in tanks that are a few months old. Adding aeration and the the sponge filter should help a little. Usually things like this just go away after a little bit. I would just hang in there a little longer and it should right itself. Trying too hard to intervene can just cause more problems. Another thing I would recommend is to run your lights minimally during the bloom. Seems like light has something to do with it a lot of times.



Thank you for the tip.. I kinda figured bacterial bloom but I’m not sure if I caused this as the tank was cycled with visible nitrates. It’s about a year old. I possibly did something to offset those little bacteria somehow to had caused this. Just I have been doing things the same as usual. Axolotls don’t much like light so I don’t even have one on the tank. I let a little natural light in during the days but try not to upset my little friend. I figure I’ll just wait it out and you’re probably right, I may be doing too much which is just making the situation worst.
 
Thank you for the tip.. I kinda figured bacterial bloom but I’m not sure if I caused this as the tank was cycled with visible nitrates. It’s about a year old. I possibly did something to offset those little bacteria somehow to had caused this. Just I have been doing things the same as usual. Axolotls don’t much like light so I don’t even have one on the tank. I let a little natural light in during the days but try not to upset my little friend. I figure I’ll just wait it out and you’re probably right, I may be doing too much which is just making the situation worst.

I wish I could make a more specific recommendation than to just wait it out, but usually with microbial stuff in tanks it will fix itself more times than not. If things are not cleared up in a few weeks then that's when I might start to take action. (y)
 
Sometimes it happens because of the area your tank is, it was happening with me when my tank was in a position where sprays, air conditioning and air current leads particles into the water making it milky, my guess, good luck, I hope your animals survives
I have a single animal 40 gallon tall Axolotl tank, I’ve had it for about a year with no problems. It’s cycled and the water parameters read ph 7.8 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 and nitrate 10ppm. This last week I walked into this fuzzy white stuff growing all over my aquarium everywhere and not designated as if I had driftwood but I don’t have any wood in there, plus the water became very cloudy, I did a water change and tried to get as much of that stuff cleaned up as possible. Since then the fuzzy white stuff has mostly disappeared however for a week now I’ve had a very cloudy tank. I’ve done three water changes in that time span as I want the cloudy water gone and I was trying to remove the fuzzy white stuff because it was clogging my filters. I replaced the charcoal on the fluval HOB filter. I also have a smaller sponge filter in the opposite corner. Axolotl safe sand substrate that I siphoned out thinking maybe there was something in the sand. I never leave poop and always check the aquarium first thing when I wake up every morning to remove poop immediately. He’s only fed worms every other day and he eats them whole leaving nothing behind. No wood and only a Anubis plant that seems in healthy condition. It’s like I’m going through a bacterial bloom for a week now with no dissipation. I’m at a loss as I’ve read cloudy water for longer than the 2-4 day period up to 10 days and you need help so I came here. I just ordered a new sponge filter to be here tomorrow assuming that the other one may need changed as I mentioned I’ve had the HOB fluval in there for a year so it shouldn’t disrupt those bacteria. My Axolotl seems fine and is hyper and eating. I’m just worried about my tank being cloudy for this long, plus what was that white fuzzy stuff? Please help if you can. Thank you
 
Back
Top Bottom