Cloudy Freshwater Tank? (20 gal.)?

Question

I have a 20 gal. Freshwater Tank. I've had it for about 6-7 months. In it I have 1 PowderBlue Gourmi, 1 Balloon Molly, 2 Dalmation Mollies, 4 white cloud tetras, and 1 betta. In the beginning of July, my family went on a 2 week vacation. While we were gone we had a neighbor girl feed my fish. During the secound week she put in 3, seven day feeder blocks, by "HBH". When we got back the water was very cloudy. I did a waterchange, and a chemical test. The Ammonia level was a little above average. I added some primer and some freshwater salt. It cleared up a little. I'm not sure if it is Ammonia or a sickness.

Answer 1

You can do up to 50% water changes daily without harming your bacteria levels.  The huge amount of fish food from the blocks has caused an ammonia spike that has set off a mini cycle.  All you need to do is get the ammonia level in the water down with water changes.

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Answer 2

What color is the cloud? Is it green...if not then I dunno what that cloud your talking about. If it is Green....it could be what happen to my tank...ALgae....just clean 75% of water and it will be less and less everytime you clean it.

Answer 3

It is a bacteria bloom. They are often caused from over feeding, which will increase your ammonia levels. I recommend to get the levels down, do 25% water changes every day for a week. This will help to detoxify the ammonia and get the levels back down. You can also buy ammonia removers you put in your filter. You must not let the ammonia levels stay above 0 for too long, it can be very harmful to the fish. If you see your fish starting to swim near the top and breathing heavily, this is a sign of ammonia poisoning setting in.

Answer 4

Sounds like you are going through a bacteria bloom due to the increased ammonia levels from the fish food.

You really shouldn't have ammonia at all in a tank that has been set up for long. If it is above .25ppm, I'd suggest you do another water change to get it lower and reduce the stress on your fish.

Otherwise, the tank should clear up on its own in a couple of days.