Help! how to get rid of cloudy water in my fishtank?

Question

my boyfriend has had his fishtank for a month now and it has always been cloudy. he puts aquasafe in his tank every week and he also has tried other products but was unsucessful. its a white/grey color and the filter doesnt seem to help. three of his silver dollar fish died and his rainbow shark is starting to look sick. he also has a newt and an algie eater and another yellow fish. this is his last resort and he has no idea what to do. please help!

Answer 1

He needs to do a water change. It also sounds like he needs to invest in a better filter system. Also I hope he had the tank with just water in it cycling it for about 6 weeks before he put anything in it. If not it could be because your tank wasn't stable and ready for anything yet. But definately do a water change

Answer 2

feed it less! cloudy water is caused by exess food that is not eated dissolving in the water!

Answer 3

Yeah the situation sure does not look good. If you are having fish die then something must change fast. Like the others have said, make sure that your filter is working fine and the pump is doin fine as well. Make sure that you are not over feeding them for this can be the problem on why your water is soo cloudy. Do a 50% water change at least once a week. This will definantley clear it all up. Hope i helped. :]]

Answer 4

Was his tank cycled (meaning ammonia had been introduced into it and water paremeters at accepable levels) before these fish arrived or did he just fill it with water and put all of the fish in there?  If so, they are dieing from ammonia poisoning.  :(

Get a test kit and test the water - I'm guessing your ammonia levels are off the charts.

Have your bf do a little research on this - he needs to be doing AT LEAST a 25% water change DAILY until his water paremeters are where they need to be... again, this will require a test kit.

EDIT:  DO NOT CHANGE YOUR FILTERS!  Any good bacteria that is being established in the tank is in the filters.  If you get rid of them, you are starting the cycling all over again.   Filters should be rinsed out in *tank* water that is being changed (never in tap water), and should only be thrown out when they are absolutely falling apart.  I could go on and on, but your BF really needs to spend a few hours reading up on this.

EDIT:  What an idiot.... did he do ANY research?  He has all of those fish in 15 gallons of water?  He needs to take them to the fish store and give them back.  The entire situation is ridiculous.

Answer 5

The first step I would take is separate the fish from the tank water. Put your critters in a temporary container, and check the tank filter and soil. Do you have "living" rock or sand? Perhaps a log might be causing it? I would clean the whole tank and the rocks and decorations. It could also be one of the critters spreading it. Keep an eye on the temporary container, see if the cloudiness follows one of the fish, or if the temp container clouds up too. Try different websites, see if its an illness or a pollution. Treat the water or fish as such. You might want to call a vet or pet store for more advice.

Answer 6

What size is the tank? Sounds like you have alot of fish.

Is the tank cycled? If not you could be experiencing a bacterial bloom.

read the articles i included about cycling your tank and bacterial blooms:

Answer 7

1. clean the filter out and replace with new cartridge

2. do a 70% water change/ be sure to add  water conditioner  to your water to make it safe for the fish

3. the next day.. put a chemical called "no cloud" (im pretty sure thats what its called,) in the tank and it should keep this from happening.

if you do all of this it should clear up that cloudy water

good luck with your tank!

Answer 8

Make sure you have a good filter and pump to keep the water clean. Change the water at least every other week as well.

Answer 9

The tank is new and overstocked, leading to a bloom of bacteria floating in the water. The ammonia and nitrite levels will be all out of wack as well, and thats what killed the fish.

Dumping in chemicals and totally cleaning out the tank will only have made things worse.

The filter doesn't physically remove tiny stuff from the water, they are just too small. The main purpose of the filter is to house the cycle bacteria and circulate the water to help with oxygen exchange. But it takes at least several weeks for the cycle bacteria to build up and the filter to do it's job. Untill that happens the tank is not 'cycled' and if it's heavily stocked then fish die.

Best option now, NO MORE FISH untill the tank cycles and becomes stable. Leave the filter alone, it needs to build up a population of bacteria. These process the waste and once the water is clean the free floating stuff dies off. It's OK to do large partial water changes as an emergency measure untill the tank cycles, 50% several times per week if needed.

Also, you need to treat it as a 15gal tank if it's only 1/2 full, probably too many fish.

Ian