My aquarium water is cloudy!!?

Question

I have a 10 gal. aquarium, and last week i changed about a gallon of the water and replaced it w/ tap water. Now, its wicked cloudy. I want to replace some of the water with a purified, bottled gallon, but I'm afraid i will mess it up again. Also, i have this conditioner that came with the aquarium. 2 questions here: Do i just put the conditioner in the replacement gallon, or the whole tank, AND do i remove the fish to put the conditioner in? Help!!

Answer 1

I'm not good with fish but I do know that in some areas each house has their own pump and water comes from the ground not the town if so in your area your tap my be dirty

-Charles

Answer 2

ZooTycoon, and RLP are so far the only ones on here with the best answers. i just wanted to add, NEVER use the chemical that supposedly "clears" your water and makes it look crystal clear! this stuff actually kills off your good bacteria, and yes does imporve the appearance of your tank, but its very harmful for your fish to live without this bacteria. what happens after you kill off the bacteria, its clear for a while, then gets cloudy again... its a neverending process, which means most people go out and buy more of the chemical.... its a busniess scam... other then that, is your tank a white cloudy? and how long has the tank been up before you did a water change? did you clean or rinse off the filters when you did your partial? it does sound like a bacterial bloom, which means your tank is probably going to cycle again (or still is cycling). i would get your water tested (ph, nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, alkalinity, hardness ect) and see what is goin on. when you do your water changes add the decholrinator into the bucket first, then switch to your tank. you can get a million good answers on how to do your water changes. many people do theirs differently and it works (beware theres also about a million bad ways as well) i personally like doing 2-3 good partials per month. 50% the first week, 25% the third week, and sometimes another 25% along the way. my tank has been up for 4 years without loosing a fish! (i also change my filter cartridges on my off cleaning week, to keep good bacteria in my tank... but if they need to be rinsed i swish them around in my tank water, so i dont loose bacteria...i feed the fish every other day, to keep down on waste, and give them time to digest. and i never tank my fish out, i just vaccume the gravel in the tank and the fish genreally are smart enough to get out of the way, (you can watch where they are so you can stay away from them as well) hope this helps ya!

Answer 3

You're experiencing a bacterial bloom. This is bacteria (don't worry, it's the good type) that's trying to find a place to colonize themselves (either in the filter or the gravel). Just give it some time and it'll naturally go away. Test your water for ammonia and nitrites; if it's in high levels, do a 10-25% water change.

The reason this happened is because you didn't cycle your tank first. Cycling is establishing he bacteria so that it'll "eat" the ammonia and nitrite produced by your fish. Read about cycling here:

http://www.fishlesscycling.com/articles/...

http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php

http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.htm...

http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aqu...

http://fish.orbust.net/cycling.html

http://www.worldcichlids.com/faqs/cyclin...

http://www.bestfish.com/breakin.html

http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/articles/5...

E-mail me for any questions!

Answer 4

sounds like you have too many fish in the tank or something

Answer 5

You have a algae bloom which means you have an access of ammonia in your water caused by the growth of bacteria.  Get your fish out of there and change half of the water, the filter, keep light out and wait until the water clears up.  This may take a few days.

Answer 6

NO NO NO!! keep the water cause your fish r used to it. However you can go to a pet store and tell them your problem and they will recommend this stuff, it looks like teddy bear stuffing that you put in your filter and it filters the water to super clear!! Its amazing and only take about a half hour. HOPE I HELPED :)

xx-- $A

Answer 7

For a 10 gallon tank you should change 1 gallon of the water every two days. Get two clean milk cartons. Fill one almost to the top with tap water. And put 8 drops of your water conditioner into that gallon of water. Leave it sitting out overnight and the next day take one gallon out of the tank with your empty milk carton and replace it with the other gallon of water. Refill it, treat it and let it sit over night once again.

P.S. You don't need to take the fish out. Just don't put the conditioner straight into the tank.

Answer 8

mmm. i usually take out the fishes and change water. Its more safe. In case a fish dies on the way u c.

Answer 9

i put the conditioner in the bucket before i pour it into the tank. You can watch the water clear up in about a minute. You can treat the whole tank without taking out the fish. I had this happen a couple times and the water didnt clear. You might have to take out more than a gallon.

Answer 10

remove the fish and replace the cloudy water with cleaner water.

Answer 11

just put the condiotioner in the water without removing the fish. Did you have that water sitting for days? If not just wait a couple of days and it will get clear. See if you dont have water sitting for a while it will do that , because bacteria needs to grow in the water.