I cant get my aquarium to stay clear

Hello everyone, my name is Alex, and I'm hoping one of you could give some helpful advice.

When I was a kid in Cuba I had a big concrete tank full of fish ( about 300 gallons or more ), and never had a problem with dirty water. My grampa helped me set it up with 4 big homemade filters, no cycling, conditioner, or bacteria. Fast forward 14 years and I'm dying to keep fish again, so I go and buy myself a 10 gallon tank, a pump and a filter. And I go and get my fish and I was so happy. Little did I know my water would get insanely dirty within 3 days. I did some research and found out that I had to cycle the tank, and do lots of complicated stuff. The cycling is supposed to last 6 to 8 weeks, and I've had my tank for about 2 months now but it still gets dirty. I have 6 "gold fish-like-fish" not sure of their name, as in Cuba we had our own names for them and not the actual one. 4 are about size of my thumb, and 2 are about twice as big. The guy at the petsmart said it was too many fish for a 10 gallon tank and they were producing too much ammonia. So he sold me a bottle of bacteria and said it would help clear the water, 3 weeks later my water is still dirty as . I go back and then he says the same, too many fish for the tank, and tried selling me a bigger tank and not the simple one but the one with all the bells and whistles. I didn't buy it because I didn't trust him and he was obviously trying to make a sale. Then he recomended I get a bigger filter, one suited for a 30 or 50 gallon tank, he said a more powerful filter would keep it sparkle clean and he rexomended the most expensive brand. Again, I didn't buy into it as I didn't wanna drop cash on something that would not solve the problem or worse yet, do more harm than good. So I went for a gravel cleaner. And I cleaned my tanks gravel every time I fed my fish. Just enough to get the remaining food out of the tank. I don't overfeed my fish but there's always residual flakes left. And that way I kept it clean for about a week, then I decided to try something. I overfed them and the water got dirty within a day. Now I would like to know what you guys recommend.

1. Do I get rid of some of the fish?
2. Do I get the bigger tank?
3. Do I get the bigger filter? If so, what brand? And submersible? Hang on?
4. Do I change the food? I find that flakes dirty the water more than usual. Is there a better food?
5. Do I get a UV sterilizer?

Please help me, I'm at a loss here and don't know what to do, I can't just drop money on things that won't work either.

 

I don't often say this, but the pet store guy sounds like someone who knows what he's talking about.

Your tank is likely overstocked and there are 3 ways of making it better.

Best options are to either rehome the fish or to buy a bigger tank. Another is to throw as much filter power at it as you can. That may not be the best for the fish though.

Can you post a picture of your fish so we can help you make the best decision?

Welcome to the forum!

 

The guy at petco is right. I would both get a bigger tank and an aquaclear filter. In order to advise exact tank and filter I would need to know the actual name of the fish. Maybe Google it?

 

Yeah I'm beggining to think a 20 gallon and a bigger filter might do the trick. Here are my fish.

 

I'm no expert on goldfish..I stay away from them. And this is why:
They have a huge bioload. Theyre really messy. That and their size, they require big tanks.
That being said, I'm not sure what specific kind of goldies you have there, but I can tell you that 20 gallon is not going to be big enough for one, much less 6.
I recommend rehoming them.

I'm sure a goldie expert will find their way to this thread to give more advice for you.
Good luck!

 

I think the rule of thumb for goldfish is one requires 29 gallon and then 10 extra gallons for every additional goldfish. Not entirely sure though someone else can chime in and correct me if I'm wrong!

 

100 gallon tank houses 3 common or comet golds. It's the space and water stability.

Golds eat and poop, and I mean they are Olympians in the matter. They grow to be about 8-12 inches (~20-30cm) so a lot of space is needed for them to swim.

Even the smaller varieties need a good bit of space, although I'm not sure how much

If the water is hazy like it looks in the pic, it's most likely a bacterial bloom. Excess organic (in this case, a whole lot extra) matter is feeding certain bacteria that break it down and it reproduces very fast. This is most likely causing ammonia to spike and removing oxygen that the beneficial nitrifying bacteria need to break down the ammonia.

Without daily, if not multiple times a day, water changes that remove the waste and ammonia, you're not likely going to cycle anytime soon, let alone deal with your bloom. I honestly doubt a 20 gallon will fix the issue, sorry.

 

Those are way too many Goldie's for a 10 gallon tank. The minimum is 20 gallons for the first one and then any more you get, you have to add on 10 gallons. With 6 Goldfish you should have a minimum tank size of 70 gallons.

I think that your options are to either buy a 70 gallon tank, or return/sell some of them and get a smaller tank (20-40).

-Guppy

 

I was hoping that your fish would turn out to be gold-coloured platies. Unfortunately those are indeed goldfish. It looks like you have fancies and they don't get as long as commons but they are hefty and they poop a LOT, even as babies.

You're either going to need a much bigger tank or you need to rehome them.

 

I was hoping that your fish would turn out to be gold-coloured platies. Unfortunately those are indeed goldfish. It looks like you have fancies and they don't get as long as commons but they are hefty and they poop a LOT, even as babies.

You're either going to need a much bigger tank or you need to rehome them.

Thanks for the ID, Aqua. I'm quite terrible at identifying. Isn't the, already mentioned, 29 gallon + 10 per extra the rule of thumb for the smaller fancies?

 

Hello Alex and welcome to Fishlore!! Good luck with getting your tank clear, or upgrading.

 

Thanks for the ID, Aqua. I'm quite terrible at identifying. Isn't the, already mentioned, 29 gallon + 10 per extra the rule of thumb for the smaller fancies?

There aren't really any "smaller" fancies, they're babies that can grow up to 6-8 inches long, and even longer. Good thing you didn't get commets because they can get a lot longer.

 

Thanks to everyone that replied. Guess ill be finding them another home. Shame because they're beautiful and I can't buy a bigger tank. If anyone happens to be in Houston and wants them let me know. You can have them.

 

They are Fantails and Orandas. They can grow up to 6-8 inches if given the right to. Meaning they have a big enough tank and if possible x10 or more filtration and the right type of food. You also would need to cycle the tank before getting the fish in order for them not to suffer during the cycling process and possibly die or live a shorter life span. So rehome them or get a bigger tank and filter. I'm getting an oranda and a black moor once I cycle my tank I have 475 gallons per hour of filtration on my 40 gallon breeeder. They are great fish to stare at all day, well that's what I do lol

 

There aren't really any "smaller" fancies, they're babies that can grow up to 6-8 inches long, and even longer. Good thing you didn't get commets because they can get a lot longer.

There's just multiple varieties of golds that grow to be different lengths in the home aquarium. Common and comets up to 12", Koi up to 24-36", black moor, 6-8". It just means that each variety has different minimum housing needs, I just don't know the requirements for the individual species except common and koi, that's why I was asking

 

Thanks to everyone that replied. Guess ill be finding them another home. Shame because they're beautiful and I can't buy a bigger tank. If anyone happens to be in Houston and wants them let me know. You can have them.

Do you have any room outdoors for a pond or even a livestock watering trough?

 

Welcome to the forum
A 100 gallon tank would be best for the 6 of them, but even that's small. I understand that it isn't reasonable for many people. I agree with Aquaphobia, a small(250 plus gallons) pond or even a large water trough would be great.