Clouding...

[justrfb]

Hello All,
I posted this on another forum but I am very interested in knowing what you guys think...  

 I am having a clouding issue. As some will remember, I had a new gold nugget pleco die from high pH. Long story short is that my tank was super high in kH, gH and pH. Using distilled water cut with my tap water for the last few water changes, I have the pH at about 7.2, kH and gH are about 5 degrees German, you say that is good (so do I) right, but my water is now cloudy or better yet, hazy. It used to be crystal clear, sparkling! Now if you are about 5 or more feet away, it looks clean but not clear. If you get near the tank and look across the length, you can see the haze. Any ideas? My wife says it is the distilled water but distilled water is just pure water with nothing in it right, that cut with tap water keeps my hardness in check. Any ideas? Please help. Thank you so much!

Justrfb

 

[Rose]

you are having a bacterial bloom. all tanks get it and it will go away on its own. no need to do anything. Rose

 

[Davy Reynolds]

What coulour is the cloudieness

 

[Dragonslair]

Hi,
I've been away for a couple of weeks and starting to catch up. It does as my learned colleague say sounds like a bacterial bloom. My tank does that usually after a filter stripdown. I find using Accu-clear and a fine filter wool, such as Eheim Ehfisynth wool works wonders to clear all particulates. There is also another filter medium that I purchased on-line from the states from Seachem-Purigen. That strips the water!!! It makes the fish almost look as though the're floating on air. The water is highly polished.
Mind you as Davy says, it depends what colour the cloudiness is. If it's white, it's bacterial and/or fine particulate suspension and if it's green it algal, and if it's brown you have problems.

 

[wetwetwet]

Is there generally a reason for a bacterial bloom?

I was visiting a pub tank - which obviously doesn't get the care it needs and this had a cloudiness to it and a few fish which seemed to be breathing rapidly. After much searching I found a dead fish hidden in the plants and presumed that this had raised the nitrites and was the cause of the cloudiness - is this the case?

Anyway I preformed a 30% water change after removing the fish and this seemed to help. I will check it for them again in a couple of days.

 

[adeyc]

Cloudyness can also be caused by using to much chem's. eg if you use that filter aid stuff thats supposed to clear the water("Accu-Clear"). to much of it and the water turns milky. Usualy though the prob is a bacterial bloom, caused by light nitrites etc.