I did a water change and the water got cloudy afterwards?

Question

I have a 5 gallon filtered fish tank with just one betta in it. The tank is just about 2 weeks old. I did a water change last night and the water was crystal clear. I woke up this morning and the water was cloudy I figured it would clear up when I got home because I had to go to work but when I got home the water got even more cloudy. I'm not sure what this means..I know I am not over feeding my fish. I do have 3 plastic plants in there but I washed them before I put them back in. Can someone help?

Answer 1

If you only have one betta in the tank then doing a 10% water change weekly is all that is needed.  If you do a big or total water change you destroy the cycle in the tank which at 2 weeks would be just getting started.  The cloudiness is the bacteria growing that you tank needs to digest the ammonia the fish produces.

Be wary of plastic plants with a betta.  Their fins are very delicate and if there are sharp edges on the plants they can tear.

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Answer 2

Because your tank is young, it's most likely cycling. Beneficial bacteria is what's growing in your tank, making the water cloudy. What probably happened was that when you did the water change, you removed too much bacteria and now the bacteria that is left is multiplying quickly because there is more fish waste than the bacteria that was left could handle. Just leave it alone for a few days and when the bacteria grows back, the water will clear up again

Answer 3

Go to Walmart or the nearest pet store and get some water clarifier. It clears cloudy water and settles particles. It could just be from your gravel or over feeding.

Answer 4

never change more than 25% of the water at atime