how did we get here?

[Sussy]

so my friend was telling me that his friend gave him a new fish tank, he told me there is 2 goldfish inside of it and it is 40-60 gallons, he told me the water is cloudy so i told him "its just a bacterial bloom" until he sent me this picture.. what can he do to ya know, un-disgustingify this tank??

 

[noahm]

I would get some decent water in a bucket with an air stone and acclimate the goldfish. Then dump literally everything out of the tank and start over. Goldfish are usually pretty durable and should last in the bucket for a bit. Throw some floaters or a wad of plants in the bucket for good measure if available.

 

[Colin_T]

use a white light instead of blue.

 

[TNG]

How often did he change the water and when was the last time he changed it?
If the cloudy water is caused by the lack of water changes then nitrates could be quite high and pH quite low. A large change of water could kill the remaining fish. There are threads on TFF discussing this, search "Old Tank Syndrome".
If this is the case, and if the remaining fish swim and eat normally, then a small change of water, 10% to 15%, should be done daily until pH is slowly back to normal and nitrates gradually drop. This may take several weeks or a month.

 

[MaloK]

Characterized New Tank Syndrome. Water changes are enough to clear that.

Try to feed less, and watch ammonia and nitrite levels, Do water changes as needed. Get some bio-enhancer and seed the tank regularly after water changes.

"Comets" Goldfishes are incredible ammonia producer.

What kind of filter and substrate is there on this setup ?

For goldfishes you need at least 10 times the tank volume per hour turnover to provide adequate filtration for them.