Cloudy Water...not from cleaning...

[MeganL3985]

I've only had the tank up and running with the fish in it for about 5 days now. Just yesterday morning when I woke up the water was a little cloudy. Still that way today, not sure whats wrong? Haven't done a water change or anything this early, obviously. so I am at a loss for ideas. Anyone know whats going on? I ordered some testing strips for the water, they should be here soon. Hopefully nothings seriously wrong. :help:

[MeganL3985]

Okay I just read something about over feeding and causing ammonia without having enough ammonia eating bacteria? Is that right? Since my tank is still very new that might be whats going on. If that is the case how much should I be feeding the fish? I read the label on the fish food and it said to feed them a small pinch twice a day. Thats what i've been following. I have 2 sunburst platies and 5 neons. Is twice a day too much? I was thinking about kicking it down to once a day.

[NeonJulie]

It sounds like the tank is cycling... you could be in for a rough time depending on how many fish, what types of fish, and the size of the tank. Large dechlorinated water changes may be exactly what your fish need if they begin to show signs of distress.

Read about New Tank Syndrome and Cycling stickies, they'll give you the details.

EDIT: There's some truth to the fact that less feeding will lower ammonia - so it may be helpful to lessen the feeding for 1 time a day in the meantime. But overfeeding is not the problem at the moment - it's New Tank Syndrome as you're reading about. ANY Feeding is going to produce poop... it's what fish do and are good at. *lol* Right now the tank is like a brand new home without any toilets, they're going to be sitting in "it." That's where the water changes come in - you want to keep the levels around .25ppm. That's enough to keep bacteria growing, but hopefully save the fish from health problems.

You'll probably find the test strips not to be very helpful - I never could once match the colors. They are known to be unreliable. You'll probably be better off getting a $6 Seachem Ammonia Alert sensor to hang in the tank, or get a liquid reagent test for Ammonia.

Also consider getting a dechlorinator like Prime, which will change the ammonia into a less toxic form for the fish, while keeping it available for the bacteria growth.

[Lady Hobbs]

You have not grown the bacteria yet to compete with the ammonia in your tank yet. Feed once about every 3 days and feed very sparingly. Fish eat very little and can go for a week without food safely. Your fish probably will not survive this cycling....especially the neon's.