my cousin is having serious problems with his tank. he has 1 10 inch flowerhorn in a 120. the tank has always been crystal clear for the last 2yrs. but for the last month the water stays cloudy no matter how many water chages he does. also the water never smells bad. And it is not a typical cloudy, it is like smokey. he said it's like there's camp fire smoke in the tank. the fish continues to eat and do fine. my advice was to just quit doing water changes for a few weeks and see what happens. thanks
dark colored water?
- Thread starter trajan
- Start date
Sounds like a bacterial bloom. Tell him not to do a waterchange for a week or two and it should clear ok then 
Or add some seachem clairity that works well
Or add some seachem clairity that works well 
Doesn't sound like tannins which are usually brown. It sounds like bacteria which I had in an old 20gal after adding a new goldfish. My water was milky colored though and all but one fish died. One thing you can do to kill bacteria is to VERY gradually lower the pH in your tank to 4 and keep it there as bacteria can't survive at this level. I read this in Jack Watley's column in the March issue of TFH. I think the flowerhorn should be quarantined until the issue is taken care of.