Cloudy Tank

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FlammingWoodChuck

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 14, 2005
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California
I came back from a 5 day vacation and when i came back one of the 5 1/2in gold fish was eaten. nothing but bones left and my tank was Horibly cloudy. i put in some "AmQuel+ plus" in my tank to remove the ammonia from the dead fish. the next day I bought some "Clarity" water clarifier in it and the next morning it was clear and i changed the filter floss like it said but later that night it was just as cloudy as b4. So the next day i changed 50% of the water and it cleared up just a bit and yet again it got cloudy later that day. Dose any1 know why this is and/or what i can do to clear it up????
 
Do you have a test kit? test for the big 3...and let us know......sounds like your tank is cycling again.
 
my tank dose this when i do 50% water changes but a few days to a week it clears up
 
Just let it take its course.

Don't do any more water changes. That will only prolong the process.

What you can do is put a couple of sponge filters in there (preferably seeded ones.) With all that surface area and water/oxygen flow, that will give that bacteria residency and that may clear up your tank.
 
it does sound like your tank is cycling again.. if thats the case water changes take out the needed bactera producing cycle and the tank starts over... but i would break out the test kit to make sure.. nothing better than finding the problem before fish start to die off. if you dont have a test kit take a water sample to your LFS and most stores can test the water for you..
 
Orlok makes a good suggestion as to reseeding your filter. the ammonia spike may have damage your aerobic bacteria and you changing the floss may have made it worse. Grayish cloudy water is often bacterial bloom and can be caused by not having enough bacteria in your filter to process the waste nutient passing through it. If you have other tanks runnig you can take a small ammount of filter media from each and add it to your filter, if not beg some from your friends or even your lfs. It does sound like your tank is cycling again. Watch your ammonia and nitrite levels but unless they get very bad I would not do any major water changes yet, maybe 10% daily. I also would not use any more additives as I would fear that they would be masking the problem. Unless your tank really starts to crash I think the key is reseeding your filter and having patience.
 
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