Old tank, but new tank symdrome?

[Tilnoom]

Hiyas, I'm hoping you can help my noobieness

I've had a 62L (2ft x 1ft) coldwater tank running for approx 4 years now. Its undergone two house moves but its never really settled after the last one in October last year. Originally I had it placed near a window at the back of the house (not in direct sunlight), but as the warmer weather came so did the algae, so I've now moved it into a different room away from any windows and my algae problem resolved itself.

However, my water has never been right since we've moved. I've battled what only can be described as white cloud throughout the entire tank which my brother thought was bacteria bloom. After searching on here and discussing with my brother, it seems I was clearing the filter too frequently and thus creating a permenant 'new tank syndrome' cloud effect. I've now not cleaned the filter (Fluval internal, bought with tank) for 3 weeks, but do a 5-10L water change every week.

And yet its still cloudy and I can't honesty say I've seen any improvement. I quality tested the water tonight and was pleasantly surprised!

pH 7.8 - 8 (is this ok? Not sure)
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 5ppm (at our old house it was off the top of the scale...)

So, my water quality is ok, right? What on earth is my cloud? I've had to turn the light off as the bulb was on its way out (buying new one tomorrow) and thats been off for the last 2 weeks. I removed the gravel some time ago and now there is nothing covering the bottom of the tank.

Theres only 3 fish in there now. 'Tank' our enormous fantail - approx 4 inches not including fins. 'Rocky' another fantail approx 2-3 inches and Bubba the shububkin, again 2-3 inches. Rocky is poorly at the moment (about to post about that elsewhere) but I don't think its down to the water.

Any suggestions welcome. My thanks in advance for your help

Tils.

 

[Purrbox]

Place some of the water in a white cup. Does the water have a greenish tinge? If so you're dealing with green water. A blackout generally will fix this issue.

 

[kimo]

You might have to plan on a larger tank down the road. Goldfish usually need a minimum of 10-20 gallons per fish. Your water specs are excellent.

 

[Tilnoom]

Tank is a bit of a beast I know hehe. Hes approaching 4 years old now too so I've no idea how long hes got left in him.

I've just done the cup thing and nope, no green tinge. I put some in a glass and it just looks like a pale white cloud.

 

[Purrbox]

Have you tried taking a cup of tap water, dechlorinating it, then letting it sit for at least a day? Does it cloud up like your aquarium? If so it could be that there are some minerals (or some such) that are precipitating out of your water and causing it to cloud. Do you know anyone in the area that is also running an aquarium on the same water source and has either a crystal clear aquarium or a cloudy aquarium like yours?

Depending on the cause a diatom filter should be able to remove the cloud, but if what ever is causing it isn't fixed it could come back though.

 

[p3purr]

Goldfish can live 10+ years wtih the proper care so Tank will hpefully be with you quite a while longer.

The three goldfish you have are to many for a 65 Liter/17 gallon tank, even at the size they are now. GF produce a LOT of waste plus 2 of your three are big bodied fish which is more mass and therefore more waste per inch of fish. You may want to get a bigger tank and/or rehome the 2 smaller fish. A 30 gallon would make 'Tank' really happy. You might want to increase the water changes to twice a week.

How big is your filter? Goldfish need more filtration than tropicals. When you change the media are you changing all of it or just one at a time?

 

[Purrbox]

Thanks for converting the Liters to Gallons p3purr. Based on that and your current stocking, it probably is a bacteria bloom as a result of overstocking.

Upping your water changes would help out with the problems. Go back to cleaning your filter as normal, just make sure to use dechlorinated water or waste water so as to avoid killing off any of your beneficial bacteria. As p2purr suggested rehoming some of the fish and/or increasing filtration would also be helpful.

 

[Tilnoom]

Thanks for the feedback so far. Local water is fine as my brother has an 8ft tank thats in tip top crystal clear condition and lives two minutes from me.

I'm treating a poorly fish with Melafix at the moment so will hold off on doing a pwc until I've completed a treatment of that. When I change the foam inserts in the filter I only do them one at a time. Made that mistake once (*poof cloud* where'd my fish go?), won't make it again

Having got a new bulb earlier and more closely inspecting the water, I am swaying towards the 'too much fish poo' theory. The filter in there is the one we originally got with the tank so once we've had payday, I'll invest in getting a larger filter.

Sounds really stupid, but could my cloud also be lots of tiny, tiny air bubbles? As well as the filter, I have an small airstone running. It kinda looks like itty bitty bubbles when I get up close.

Tils.

 

[kimo]

Tank is a bit of a beast I know hehe. Hes approaching 4 years old now too so I've no idea how long hes got left in him.

I've just done the cup thing and nope, no green tinge. I put some in a glass and it just looks like a pale white cloud.

With care, your goldfish could live another 10-12 years. Given extraodinary care they can live more than 40 yrs.

 

[p3purr]

With care, your goldfish could live another 10-12 years. Given extraodinary care they can live more than 40 yrs.

A Common's lifespan can reach 30+ -the oldest recorded was 42 years. Comets average lifespan is 20 years and Shubunkins is about 25 years.

'Tank' is a Fantail so his/her average lifespan is more like 12 years.