water cloudy all of a sudden why?

**verano** · 01-09-2012, 01:54 AM

I did a normal like always water change today on both my tanks but for some reason one of the tanks became cloudy after the water change.

Why would that happen?

**Strider199** · 01-09-2012, 02:05 AM

Unusually you will see cloudy water right after you set up a tank which is usually the gravel giving off the cloudiness but your saying the tank has been set-up for some time and after a routine water change all of a sudden your water is cloudy right?

Bacterial Blossom is another cause of cloudy water which shows up after time but this usually happens between water changes. Decaying plants or excess food that remains uneaten can also cause the milky water seen in bacterial bloom. Regardless of the cause, don't panic over bacterial blooms. Keeping the aquarium very clean by removing debris such as decaying plants and uneaten food, vacuuming the gravel regularly, and performing partial water changes will decrease these issues.

Did you do anything different this water change? Maybe change a bit more of the water in the tank. How is the filter for cleanliness?

**verano** · 01-09-2012, 02:23 AM

It's really annoying to clean the filter cause it's a canister filter. I havent cleaned it in some months. I don't have live plants.

**Strider199** · 01-09-2012, 02:31 AM

Is the water clearing up since you first noticed it an hour or so ago? If it is then it will probably be back to normal in a few hours. Are your fish gasping for oxygen or acting normal through this cloudiness?

**verano** · 01-09-2012, 03:14 AM

They are acting normal. Its night time here so the lights are off.

**DougStanley** · 01-09-2012, 04:32 AM

How often do you vacuum the gravel? A lot of detritus in the gravel when new water its poured in can be stirred up and cloud the tank.

**vinodjbhatia** · 01-09-2012, 06:27 AM

What kind of gravel do you have?

**Mith** · 01-09-2012, 02:06 PM

Typically, cloudy water (a whitish cloud) is caused by a bacteria bloom. It's been my experience that this only happens when i muck with the filters. If you clean them too much, you will remove the good bacteria that keeps your system in check. I've done this several times.

I have two 50g tanks that i almost never clean the filters... and they've been the best tanks as far as cleanliness and water clarity. Cleaning the gravel is almost a non-issue and shouldn't cause a bloom. I have Calvus and i've found that if I change too much of the water, they don't like that and I've lost several (including last week I lost an adult golden calvus)....

So my conclusion is, don't clean your filters too thoroughly. A couple squeezes per sponges is fine (in tank water, not tap)...

**Lady Hobbs** · 01-09-2012, 02:21 PM

I clean my filters once a month. And my HOTB's every two weeks.

**Mith** · 01-09-2012, 03:13 PM

Originally Posted by Lady Hobbs

I clean my filters once a month. And my HOTB's every two weeks.

This is nice LH.... but that doesn't really mean anything without knowing how big the tank in relations to how large the bio-load is based on the type of fish you have.

I don't clean the filters on my 50's very often because they seem to be very healthy with almost no maintenance (no fish deaths).