Cloudy Water

[Tropical King]

Hi, I did 10% water change on my tank on Monday and got 2 new fish to go with it and for some
reason the water has gone all cloudy and doesnt seem to be clearing up at all. Could
somebody please shed some light on what might be happening.

Also I have in my tank 2 Peppered and 2 Bronze Corys and was wondering what other
kinds of fish would get along with them other than other Corys as i dont want to buy fish
that would attack them or make them unhappy.

Cheers for any help.

- Tropical King

 

[waterdrop]

Hi trop king and welcome to the beginners section!

I really like Corys like that too, they can be the mainstay of an aquarium! They get along with just about everything else and it would be pretty rare for most common trops of other types to bother them except maybe larger fish that might be difficult for other community tank members too!

Cloudy water can be a sign of a couple of things. Most commonly its a "bacterial bloom" that's happening in a new tank and could be a sign that your tank is still "cycling." It could also be an excess of small particles from a new substrate. Of course there are more uncommon reasons too.

Because of the cloudy water and because the beginners section is all about helping newcomers get started at TFF, the members here will want to know some things to help you diagnose your situation if you'd like: What's your tank size (water volume and dimensions?) When did you first add water? When did you first get the corys?

Had you heard about "cycling?" Or what instructions did you receive or follow for the setup process of your aquarium? Do you have a water test kit and if so what brand and model? What type and brand of filter do you have?

Those things will no doubt get the members going!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Tropical King]

Thanks Waterdrop, my tank isnt huge is only a small beginners tank of
35lengthx26hightx25wide, i borrowed Ph off of a cousin and i have a small
platform filter. First added water 3 weeks ago left for 5 days and then added
the corys if that helps.

 

[waterdrop]

Thanks Waterdrop, my tank isnt huge is only a small beginners tank of
35lengthx26hightx25wide, i borrowed Ph off of a cousin and i have a small
platform filter. First added water 3 weeks ago left for 5 days and then added
the corys if that helps.

OK good! We're getting started. What units are your numbers in (inches or cm?) What is the "Ph" you borrowed? (pH is a scale to measure how acid or alkaline the water is, so not sure what you meant there!) Also not sure what a "platform" filter would be!

If you added fish a week after water then we can safely assume you have not had access to any basic "cycling" information and you've come to the right place, as the members will be able to give a lot of help for this. The term "cycle" is short for the "Nitrogen Cycle" of environmental science. It underlies the two processes we hobbyists use to prepare our filters to be ready to handle fish! It takes very often about 2 months before a filter is ready to handle fish, although sometimes it happens sooner. When we put fish in prior to this, the filter won't be operational, so we have to follow a procedure called "Fish-In Cycling" in these cases to try to save the fish, which we can usually do, as we get several of these cases a week.

We have a Beginner's Resource Center and your "homework" will be to begin reading there. The first articles to read will be first about the "Nitrogen Cycle", then about "Fish-In Cycling" and then about "Fishless Cycling" (so you can understand and contrast the differences) and then perhaps about tank setup.

Its probably going to be fairly urgent for you to begin water changes. When you water change, the most important things are that you need to use "conditioner" (this is a chemical product that removes chlorine and chloramines from the tap water.) You probably already have this. The other thing is to roughly temperature match (you can use your hand to judge) because you will probably need pretty large percentage changes. I recommend you start with a 70% one as soon as you are able, assuming you do not have a liquid-reagent based water testing kit, which I assume you don't since you didn't mention it, but let us know!

If I don't respond, there are other members who can continue your help,
~~waterdrop~~

 

[Tropical King]

When i figure out how to upload a picy i will. And I borrowed the Ph up and down stuff from my
cousin to neutralize the water. Also my fish dont seem to be affected they still are pretty active.

- Tropical King

 

[drobbyb]

I wouldn't use the pH up and down. They are only a temporary fix and they cause your pH to swing wildly.

 

[cowboy507]

Waterdrop has said everything really well but i would like to stress/add a few things.

the cloudiness is a bacterial bloom, this will go away on its own, but you can do a water change to help it, make sure to add de-chlorinator.
because you are a beginner i would advise against using anything that changes the pH, this does not stabilize your water in the sense that you are thinking.
read about cycling (see my signature), you might have some fish die here shortly if proper precautions are not taken.
you might notice that your fish are not being as active or are going to the top of the tank, and gulping at the air, frequently. this is a sign of ammonia, nitrItes, or other bad stuff in the water. this is why cycling is important.

do not add anymore fish until the tank has cycled (about 1-3 months).
get yourself a proper test kit (api master test kit for freshwater is recommended) this test ammonia (bad), nitrItes (bad), nitrAtes (good and bad), and pH (this should generally be somewhere between 6.5-8.0).

what size is your tank?

now to answer your fish question:
most any community fish will do good with cories, dont get other bottom dwellers though or aggressive fish.