Why Is My Fish Tank Still Cloudy After Cleaning It?
Cloudy or murky water in fish tanks can be caused by many things, depending on the color of the cloudiness, how long the water has been cloudy and how the fish or plants react to the cloudiness. The cloudiness can be throughout the tank's water or in certain areas of the tank.
Other People Are Reading
-
Color
-
If the clouds are the same color as the gravel, then cleaning the gravel has caused dust to swirl up. It should settle in a few hours. Greenish or reddish cloudiness indicates sudden algae growth and needs to be dealt with. White, pearl gray or very pale yellow clouds are often sudden growths of bacteria called bacterial blooms and also need to be dealt with. Brown cloudiness resembling a weak cup of tea may come from any wooden tank decorations.
Significance
-
Cloudy water caused by algae or from bacterial blooms can potentially kill the fish and live plants in a tank. Algae and bacteria consume vital oxygen from the water. If left alone, the algae or bacteria will grow to the point of consuming all of the oxygen in the tank, even if there is an air stone and filter running all of the time. There just will not be enough oxygen content in the water to keep the fish alive. If the fish are gasping at the tank surface and seem listless, they are gulping for oxygen and need help immediately, according to "Freshwater Aquarium Problem Solver."
-
Causes
-
Algae is normally present in aquarium water and so cannot be completely removed, but too much light and a rise in rotting organic matter can cause algae to grow even more quickly. Bacterial blooms are caused by decaying fish, plants or uneaten fish food that bacteria feast on. Many types of bacteria are also normally present in fish tank water, but they will reproduce rapidly when a lot of food for them is available.
Treatment
-
Discover the source of the decaying organic matter. Make sure live plants are alive. Check that none of the fish are missing. Fish corpses can get underneath decorations or stuck up in a filter hose. Cut back on the amount of food given to the fish in case they are not eating it all. Perform a partial water change of about one-fifth of the tank water every 12 to 24 hours until the cloudiness clears up. Scrape off any algae from tank walls or decorations immediately before the partial water change so that most of the algae can get sucked up with the gravel cleaning siphon.
Warning
-
Although many chemical products are available in pet stores that claim to instantly clear up cloudy water, many of them do not work. They do not remove the material that is feeding the algae or bacteria blooms. Chemicals that kill algae, or algaecides, can also kill live plants.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit no fishing image by Rick Sargeant from Fotolia.com
More Like This
Comments
-
hope this is helpful because I cleaned out my tank entirely yesterday but today it came back but not as strong.
