Tank Cloudy And Wont Clear

So for about a week now even after doing water changes my tank has been cloudy. I did move things around and I know I probably stired up the bottom quite a bit without meaning to. I have use seachem clairity to try to clear it up but it hasn't worked this time. Would a waterchange help remove the fogish-cloudyness?

 

Yes if you do a larger water change it should help... but a bit more info might be useful..
1- is this a cycling tank or is there fish in it?
If it’s cycling you can often get an algae bloom...
2- you need to find the cause of the cloudiness...
How often do you do water changes and what are your tank parameters...
Do you use carbon? It can often clear a cloudy or smelly tank but it needs to be replaced often or it will exhaust and won’t function anymore

Also I forgot to add... when you put in clarity it will make your tank more hazy looking for a while.. this is normal and means it’s working... I’m not sure how long you waited after adding clarity but it is by no means instant or even close

 

Yes if you do a larger water change it should help... but a bit more info might be useful..
1- is this a cycling tank or is there fish in it?
If it’s cycling you can often get an algae bloom...
2- you need to find the cause of the cloudiness...
How often do you do water changes and what are your tank parameters...
Do you use carbon? It can often clear a cloudy or smelly tank but it needs to be replaced often or it will exhaust and won’t function anymore

Also I forgot to add... when you put in clarity it will make your tank more hazy looking for a while.. this is normal and means it’s working... I’m not sure how long you waited after adding clarity but it is by no means instant or even close

Yes, my tank is cycled, I have had this tank since before christmas. I change the water every 2 weeks normally. I am due for another one this weekend. My filter cartidge has carbon and I have to change that about every 2 weeks as well, I have to check my parameters and let you know.

 

Hmmm ok... any chance of it just not waiting long enough for the clarity to clear? As I mentioned it can take a while and it will almost make your tank look worse at first.... or else possible algae bloom?

 

Hmmm ok... any chance of it just not waiting long enough for the clarity to clear? As I mentioned it can take a while and it will almost make your tank look worse at first.... or else possible algae bloom?

I have not put clarity in today, I normally only use it for waterchanges.

 

Usually if there's cloudy water it's a bacteria bloom. Have you added stock to the tank or rinsed out your filter media or had something die/change in the tank recently? What size is it a nd what's in it?

If it is a bacteria bloom water changes will only offer you temporary relief and in fact, make it worse, not better.

As long as there is no ammonia in your tank, the best thing to do is not mess with it (I know the urge is to water change like crazy but fight it!).

No chemicals, no water changes, feed very sparingly, it should clear up in a week.

 

If it is a bacterial bloom I would check my phosphates and nitrAtes... also overfeeding without cleaning the extras, check to make sure you don’t have a dead fish in there buried somewhere, or if your tank is planted make sure you don’t have dead or dying plants.... those can all cause a bacterial bloom... also can be caused by what was mentioned above... the only real “risk” during a bacterial bloom can be oxygen deprivation... so make sure that you are watching for signs of that... fish gasping at the surface for long periods of time...
what will happen is your ammonia production will increase to try and catch up but because the next set of bacteria (nitrifiers) are slower to catch up you may likely see a rise in ammonia.... at least until the autotrophs can catch up.... so I would leave it for now and see if it goes away on its own once your bacteria catches up... however you should still investigate WHY it happened....
Hope that makes sense... I’m tired today lol

 

Thanks everyone. I will let you know what my parameters are here in a bit.

Usually if there's cloudy water it's a bacteria bloom. Have you added stock to the tank or rinsed out your filter media or had something die/change in the tank recently? What size is it a nd what's in it?

If it is a bacteria bloom water changes will only offer you temporary relief and in fact, make it worse, not better.

As long as there is no ammonia in your tank, the best thing to do is not mess with it (I know the urge is to water change like crazy but fight it!).

No chemicals, no water changes, feed very sparingly, it should clear up in a week.

Its a 55 gallon corrnor tank. I have an oscar, 2 small plecos and a peacock eel in it at the moment plan on moving here soon so I will be getting a bigger tank then. So I know it is alittle small for the oscar. I did rearange the tank due to Espi's, my oscar, boardness. Also some rosey minow looking things that you can get for 69 cents as feeder fish.

If it is a bacterial bloom I would check my phosphates and nitrAtes... also overfeeding without cleaning the extras, check to make sure you don’t have a dead fish in there buried somewhere, or if your tank is planted make sure you don’t have dead or dying plants.... those can all cause a bacterial bloom... also can be caused by what was mentioned above... the only real “risk” during a bacterial bloom can be oxygen deprivation... so make sure that you are watching for signs of that... fish gasping at the surface for long periods of time...
what will happen is your ammonia production will increase to try and catch up but because the next set of bacteria (nitrifiers) are slower to catch up you may likely see a rise in ammonia.... at least until the autotrophs can catch up.... so I would leave it for now and see if it goes away on its own once your bacteria catches up... however you should still investigate WHY it happened....
Hope that makes sense... I’m tired today lol

Thank you, I will keep any eye out. EspI has torn up an amazon sword but I keep removing the leaves she tears off. I also have some el nino ferns in there so I will keep an eye out for those if some of the little ones died. I also have the live feeder fish in there and not sure if some were ate or died.

 

With minnows you have to be careful depending on where you get them etc... they can carry lots of diseases and such.... it wouldn’t surprise me if there are some dead ones in there... that’s where I would start after testing your parameters...

 

With minnows you have to be careful depending on where you get them etc... they can carry lots of diseases and such.... it wouldn’t surprise me if there are some dead ones in there... that’s where I would start after testing your parameters...

Okay, I will start there. I got them at petsmart when I was trying to get some neon tetras for EspI to eat but they were out of them. I know neon tetras are pretty and probably shouldn't be used as feeder fish but I think she liked the colors so she could easily find them.

 

Oscars and plecos are also extremely high bioload fish. You'll be wanting to go to a tank at least double that size when you move.

 

If you have TWO plecos and an oscar in a 55g, your gonna wanna get atleast a 100g, 80 has a minimum. Also, I'm against the use of feeder fish just because of the fact that they can mess up an oscar if he hits things chasing them around and can have parasites, viruses, ect. And its cheaper, easier, and better for the fish to just buy a thing of pellets. For my oscar, I use " TOPFIN large chiclid pellets"

 

If you have TWO plecos and an oscar in a 55g, your gonna wanna get atleast a 100g, 80 has a minimum. Also, I'm against the use of feeder fish just because of the fact that they can mess up an oscar if he hits things chasing them around and can have parasites, viruses, ect. And its cheaper, easier, and better for the fish to just buy a thing of pellets. For my oscar, I use " TOPFIN large chiclid pellets"

I plan on getting at least a 100g. I just got some more floating pellets. I use a mix of floating and sinking pellets. EspI loves chasing them. She seemed bored so that is why the feeder fish minow things are in there.

Oscars and plecos are also extremely high bioload fish. You'll be wanting to go to a tank at least double that size when you move.

I plan on it thank you!

 

Sorry I posted this in the wrong place.

So I made a thread about the marineland biowheel filter about a week ago and had mentioned that my tank was cloudy.
I have fed sparingly and it has not cleared up yet. It was mentioned that I should wait to do a waterchange because it was probably a bacteria bloom, well today I can barely see the ship, which happens to be my center piece decoration.

I am currently in the middle of a water change but these were the paremiters.

Amonia:0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0.50 ppm
Nitrate: 40ppm

I have an Oscar and 2 plecos in there along with a small peacock eel. They will get bigger tanks soon! Please do not worry.

Thank you in advance.

 

I will test the paremeters again tomorrow since I just finished the water change.

 

Your tank is not cycled. Ammonia can sometimes show up in a cycled tank, but nitrites should definitely not be showing up.

Can you post a picture of the tank, just so we know the extent of the cloudiness? Water changes are your best bet to clearing things up. A bacterial bloom seems most likely to me. What size tank do you have?

 

Your tank is not cycled. Ammonia can sometimes show up in a cycled tank, but nitrites should definitely not be showing up.

Can you post a picture of the tank, just so we know the extent of the cloudiness? Water changes are your best bet to clearing things up. A bacterial bloom seems most likely to me. What size tank do you have?

I have a 55 gallon and I can not unfortunitly. I broke my camera and have no way to take a pic. How can my tank not be cycled? It was cycled for a while. Did the cycle crash?

 

What kind of filter are you running?

 

What kind of filter are you running?

marineland biowheel filter rite size c

 

marineland biowheel filter rite size c

Is it a marineland 200, 300 or a 350?

 

Is it a marineland 200, 300 or a 350?

200

 

Since I did the water change the tank has wend form not being able to see the ship to still cloudy but able to see the ship. In the past I have used Seachem Clarity in the tank to try and clear it but I think it was apart of the issue, not sure though

 

I hate to be bad news but the Marineland 200 is not strong enough for your tank. That is only rated up to “50”. Realistically...more like 40-45. If you get a Marineland 350 or an Aquaclear 110 that will resolve the white cloudy water.

Since you have an Oscar in there you might want to get the AC110.

Why does this happen? The filter is the housing for the beneficial bacteria. It’s the apartment for them. All the white stuff in the tank is the homeless population looking for a home...bigger filter will fix this.

 

I hate to be bad news but the Marineland 200 is not strong enough for your tank. That is only rated up to “50”. Realistically...more like 40-45. If you get a Marineland 350 or an Aquaclear 110 that will resolve the white cloudy water.

Since you have an Oscar in there you might want to get the AC110.

Why does this happen? The filter is the housing for the beneficial bacteria. It’s the apartment for them. All the white stuff in the tank is the homeless population looking for a home...bigger filter will fix this.

I didn't know that. I needed a hob filter when I got the tank and the first one I grabed didn't fit so I grabbed the biowheel and didn't give much thought at the time I will have to check out the ac110

 

I didn't know that. I needed a hob filter when I got the tank and the first one I grabed didn't fit so I grabbed the biowheel and didn't give much thought at the time I will have to check out the ac110

If your planning on getting a bigger tank and you have no plans on keeping the current tank I would actually consider getting a filter that will be big enough to handle the next size up tank. So if your Oscars and Plecos will be in a 125g tank than you should consider getting a filter that will do a 125g, which is really canister territory or two big HOB systems.

What kind of plecos do you have? And how big of a tank you plan on getting?

 

If your planning on getting a bigger tank and you have no plans on keeping the current tank I would actually consider getting a filter that will be big enough to handle the next size up tank. So if your Oscars and Plecos will be in a 125g tank than you should consider getting a filter that will do a 125g, which is really canister territory or two big HOB systems.

What kind of plecos do you have? And how big of a tank you plan on getting?

I have a common and a clown. The clown will be staying in the 55 but the common I think will move with Espi, my oscar. I will have to think about the canister filters. I plan on getting a 125g