Major Water Clarity Problem

[PennyPunk]

Recently I've been having a huge issue with the clarity of my tank's water. I have a semi-planted tank with 5 different plants in it. I did a normal water change about a week ago and suddenly the tank is extremely cloudy. It was completely clear before. I've used a water clarifier and it hasn't changed anything and am starting to wonder if it's making it worse. My tests show no ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. All my parameters are good, I'm unsure what to do. I do have Indian leaves in there which is why the water has a brown color to it.

All my plants are alive and well, I have one female betta in there and a nerite snail. I've been cleaning and swapping the filter, I use a 3-gallon filter as it filters the tank 5-6 times an hour since the 5-10 gallon filters were too strong for my girl. Does anyone have any idea what is going on and what I should do? It's been almost a week and hasn't gone away and seems to have only gotten worse.

Would really appreciate some help, thanks!

 

[Mint]

Did you clean your substrate before it went into the tank? And do you clean it weekly? Unclean substrate sometimes does this kind of thing, clouding the tank. And the Indian Almond leaves certainly don’t help the situation. My advice here is to first buy filter floss, stuff it in for a week or so, and try to filter it all out. If that doesn’t work, attempt to vacuum the substrate, then if that doesn’t work, take the betta and snail out briefly and clean the substrate out of the tank manually.

 

[PennyPunk]

Did you clean your substrate before it went into the tank? And do you clean it weekly? Unclean substrate sometimes does this kind of thing, clouding the tank. And the Indian Almond leaves certainly don’t help the situation. My advice here is to first buy filter floss, stuff it in for a week or so, and try to filter it all out. If that doesn’t work, attempt to vacuum the substrate, then if that doesn’t work, take the betta and snail out briefly and clean the substrate out of the tank manually.

I have cleaned the substrate and I do weekly water changes while also cleaning the substrate, I was thinking of getting filter floss so I will definitely try that and come back in a week. I have noticed some of the plants have this kinda slime coat on them and the glass also has it before I clean it. If i touch it or disturb it, it will float in the tank sometimes. Is that a normal thing?

 

[Mint]

If it’s green, I’d bet it’s just algae, but some algae can be dangerous, so you might want to be worried. If it’s not like that, you should see where you got your plants. Tissue-culture plants have gel on the bottom, so that’ll be harmless if they’re tissue-culture, but that gel is usually bound to the roots of the plant and doesn’t float or move…so I’m guessing that you have some kind of parasite problem if it’s not algae. Maybe something on your plants, if they weren’t grown by tissue-culture, maybe on your leaves? If you’ve been feeding them too much, it’s likely a type of algae. It could also be oil from a pump/hands, but…that doesn’t really make sense, because it wouldn’t be settling like that. I’d say that if you’re worried or it’s unidentifiable, be on the safe side and set up a emergency tank for them.

Maybe also test your water. It usually doesn’t show up in the tank visibly if the water is super out of whack, but maybe, so see if it’s like that.

 

[PennyPunk]

If it’s green, I’d bet it’s just algae, but some algae can be dangerous, so you might want to be worried. If it’s not like that, you should see where you got your plants. Tissue-culture plants have gel on the bottom, so that’ll be harmless if they’re tissue-culture, but that gel is usually bound to the roots of the plant and doesn’t float or move…so I’m guessing that you have some kind of parasite problem if it’s not algae. Maybe something on your plants, if they weren’t grown by tissue-culture, maybe on your leaves? If you’ve been feeding them too much, it’s likely a type of algae. It could also be oil from a pump/hands, but…that doesn’t really make sense, because it wouldn’t be settling like that. I’d say that if you’re worried or it’s unidentifiable, be on the safe side and set up a emergency tank for them.

Maybe also test your water. It usually doesn’t show up in the tank visibly if the water is super out of whack, but maybe, so see if it’s like that.

It's not green and they did come from tissue-culture. I did get all the gel stuff off the roots but the stuff on the leaves is also an almost milky color. I tried looking it up and from what I'm understanding it's a biofilm the plants produce. It seems that if it's undisturbed it's okay but it's somewhat clogged my filter and slowed the flow so I'm assuming I'll just have to check that every to often and clean it out. I'm just not sure if the biofilm is what can be causing the cloudiness. I'm not seeing any floating particles which is why I'm suspecting a bacteria bloom but if that's the case it seems to be taking a long time but I will get the filter floss and see if that helps the water clear up

 

[Wills]

Is your tank set up as a blackwater tank - so tannin stained water with leaves and pods etc?

Your cloudy water could be from the leaves and botanicals that are breaking down so it could be a natural process - getting something in your filter might be a good idea but your filter does not look too big right now? Rather than floss I'd be tempted to get a little bag of Seachem Purigen in there as that will really clear it up - though it might take the tannins out of the water as well actually...

Wills

 

[PennyPunk]

Is your tank set up as a blackwater tank - so tannin stained water with leaves and pods etc?

Your cloudy water could be from the leaves and botanicals that are breaking down so it could be a natural process - getting something in your filter might be a good idea but your filter does not look too big right now? Rather than floss I'd be tempted to get a little bag of Seachem Purigen in there as that will really clear it up - though it might take the tannins out of the water as well actually...

Wills

I was putting the leaves in their to create the dark water effect for my betta, the cloudiness did happen not long after a put a new leave in and things had only gotten worse so it honestly could be from the leaves themselves. I'll try the purigen first and see how it goes

 

[sharkweek178]

I was putting the leaves in their to create the dark water effect for my betta, the cloudiness did happen not long after a put a new leave in and things had only gotten worse so it honestly could be from the leaves themselves. I'll try the purigen first and see how it goes

Chemicals don't really help and can cause other problems. The thing to do is figure out the cause and deal with that.

 

[PennyPunk]

Chemicals don't really help and can cause other problems. The thing to do is figure out the cause and deal with that.

Hence why I'm asking for help, I've tried figuring out the problem and I haven't got a clue

 

[sharkweek178]

Hence why I'm asking for help, I've tried figuring out the problem and I haven't got a clue

When you said cleaning and swapping the filter, can you describe exactly what you did?

 

[PennyPunk]

When you said cleaning and swapping the filter, can you describe exactly what you did?

I had to take out the filter and rinse it in water cause whatever stuff is in the tank clogged it and drastically slowed the flow of my filter. I then switched the filter media inside of the filter itself. I did all that yesterday

 

[sharkweek178]

I had to take out the filter and rinse it in water cause whatever stuff is in the tank clogged it and drastically slowed the flow of my filter. I then switched the filter media inside of the filter itself. I did all that yesterday

When you say switched the filter media, did you rinse it or replace it entirely with new? I'm wondering if that caused a bacterial bloom if the filter media is reestablishing.

 

[PennyPunk]

When you say switched the filter media, did you rinse it or replace it entirely with new? I'm wondering if that caused a bacterial bloom if the filter media is reestablishing.

I replaced it with a new one, but I've been dealing with this issue long before I replaced the media unless the bloom is being caused by something else, but like I said, there's no dead animals and no dead plants in my tank

 

[Byron]

Rapid cloudiness as described can most often b caused by either microscopic suspended particulate matter in the source water, or a "bloom." The latter can be due to organics, bacteria, or diatoms. When it occurs as rapidly after a water change as described it is unlikely to be botanical-related.

First...never absolutely never use clarifiers. Most of these (all I have ever seen) work by causing "stuff" to stick together so the filter can more readily and easily remove it. That's fine in itself, but unfortunately they also clog the fish gills, not good. And with anabantids, the labyrinth can be affected too. If any of this clarifier remains, meaning, if you have not already done a massive water change since using it, do one ASAP.

To the cause. Run a glass of tap water and see if it is clear or similarly cloudy. Water sources can bee affected by seasonal changes--several years ago spring heavy rains cause my tap water to be opaque for weeks.

If it is a bloom, the bacterial occurs when the bacteria that eat organics reproduce very rapidly to deal with a sudden influx of organics. These bacteria can reproduce within 20 minutes. And the organics may come from disturbance in the aquarium, or the tap water itself (you won't see the tap water organics, but you certainly will see the resulting bacterial bloom). Organic blooms are harder to deal with than bacterial (while organics is behind much of these, the "bloom" itself is different). I had one of these organic blooms in my 90g tank for three years. I got it down to a very mild haze, but it never cleared equal to all of the other tanks in the fish room.

Sometimes water changes make it worse--this suggests the tap water as a prime source. These are not usually harmful to fish.

I do however see a possible issue in the photos...what is the substrate material?