Why Is My Water Cloudy?

[Guest Megan Steele]

My water in my tank is cloudy and I don't know why. Is there anything I can do to make it clearer??

[koko]

Well there are reasons:

1. How new is the tank?

2. How many gals?

3. How many fish, how big are they?

4. What is your filter?

If its a new tank its going through a cycle this will make the tank cloudy..Also if it is over crowed it will get that way to. Have you added any Chems to the tank?

[Guest Megan Steele]

It is a 10 gal tank with 2 1 inch goldfish in it (which I plan to update the tank as the goldfish grow), the tank is pretty new, and it has a 30 gal filter made by top fin. No I have not added any chemicals to the tank yet but I plan on getting a master water testing kit soon so I can see the levels of ammonia and such.

[Guest Megan Steele]

So is this correct??

[Powerdragon]

Water gets cloudy due to over feeding or poor airation of water. Also Insufficient water changes can be a cause of cloudiness.

[Guest Megan Steele]

I am not over feeding them thouh, and my tank is pretty new, and I have a good airation system. Someone told me that it was part of the cycling of the tank.

[koko]

You have new tank syndrome....What you really need right now is a water test kit...with out it you cant tell what is going on with the water, thus could cause problems for the fish....need to know the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates right now. This will help you figure out how much water needs to be changed

[Erinaceus]

On top of Koko's excellent advice, I was wondering whether you have sand or gravel, or a bare-bottom tank? The reason I ask is because newly added gravel can also make water cloudy for a while. That disappears though after a number of large water changes which include tank cleanings (meaning you mess around in the gravel and use the suction of a gravel cleaner to remove any much that has accumulated between the gravel particles). When you have time, be sure to post some pics of your goldfish: at Koko's Goldfish Forum, we really really like new pictures of goldfish .

[Guest Megan Steele]

I have gavel at the bottom. I got my API Freshwater Master Test Kit today!! The ammonia is a little bit high how do I lower it?? I am not quite sure how to post pics of my golsfish on here. Can someone tell me how??

[Guest Orandaa]

When I first got a tank I had a white cloudyness in my tank, and no water change would fix it. I soon found out it was old food and fish crap buried in the gravel. Make sure to clean out your gravel regularly (before a water change).

[lynda441]

The only way to lower the ammonia is through water changes. What is the reading you got? It's important to keep ammonia as close to 0 as possible. Also, you need to remember that how much ammonia gets removed is directly proportionate to how much water you change.

So, let's say you have an ammonia reading of 2.0. If you remove 50% of the water, you will have removed 50% of the ammonia as well. So, you will now have a reading of 1.0 ammonia. Since you want to have a reading as close to 0 as possible, that means that you need to remove more than 50% of the water. So, let's take it one step further. If you remove 75% of the water, this would give you a reading of .5, which is better. But, if you want to keep that ammonia as close to 0 as possible, an 80%-90% water change is going to be much better for bringing that water down to a really safe level.

Also, don't forget that your gravel needs to be vacuumed really well at least once a week to get all of the poop and uneaten food out of the water.

With regard to posting pictures, you have to upload your pictures onto a picture sharing site like Photobucket. I like to use the medium size option as that makes a nice visible sized picture that isn't too big for Kokos. Once you've loaded your pictures there, choose the Direct Link option and copy the picture link. Then go to the thread in Kokos that you want to post your pictures in and open a reply box just like you would to do any reply. Then at the top of the text box, you'll see a row of icons. Choose the little icon second to the right from the smileyface emoticons icon and click it. Paste the URL for your picture in the box there and click OK. It will then be in your reply. Just as the emoticons only show up as code in the text box, so will your pictures, but if you do a Preview Post, you can double check to make sure it's there correctly.

Edited September 5, 2008 by Lynda Von G

[Guest Megan Steele]

I think it was only like 0.5. I will make sure to do that with my water, that makes sense. I am going to try to make my signature, thanks for the insturctions on how!!

[Guest Megan Steele]

George

Franklin