Murky water

[faye]

I don't know if this qualifies as an emergency. Sorry if this in the wrong spot.

My fish are doing great however the water is very murky. I have some aquatic and plastic plants. I rinsed the filter in old tank water when I did a partial water change today. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get the water clear again.? I'd like to be able to see all my fish at one time.

Thanks

Faye 8)

 

[Dragonslair]

Hi faye
Don't panic!.. It is perfectly normal for the water to go murkey after an internal filter change. You can't avoid that altogether. No harm should come to your fishes as long as the murk doesn't suspend in the water for too long. I use Accuclear to help clear my water when this happens. What you do is stir in the appropriate amount of the stuff into your tank water and let it clump up all the suspended material which is causing the murk. Your filter needs to be switched off at this time. It takes about 3 hours for the suspended material to clump up and then it can be removed by the filter when you switch it on. It sounds as though you were pretty rough when removing the old filter media from the filter box, and during your replacement. The syphoning action of removal of the filter basket holding the media and the replacement will have pumped out the detritus into your tank. You can always expect a little of this happening, but normally it not sufficient to make your tank totally murkey. I hope I have been of some help. The rest of the gang may have other solutions for you.

 

[Davy Reynolds]

Yeah dont panic. If it's really murky, I'd like to know move about how you clean the tank.
Tank size, filter type, how often, how you remove the water, do you touch the gravel etc.

 

[faye]

Davy, (Boss)

The water has been murky for about a week now.

I have a 10 gal tank. I have a filter that filters 80gal per hr. I do a 10% partial water change once a week.


Today I did a 25-30% water change using a siphon. I only siphon the water from the top. I didn't want to siphon the gravel because I was cleaning the filter. After siphoning off 25-30% of the water into a bucket. I took the filter out and placed in the bucket shaking it around gently.

After water changes I put aquarium salt, ammonia lock and copper safe back into the tank. I am using copper safe because some of the fish had ick. Although they are look good. I still want to keep the copper safe in the tank for another 2weeks.

The only time I have touched the gravel is when the fish have uprooted any plants. Although I caught my 3yr son. trying to catch the fish with net. He had stirred the water up quite a bit.
:grumpy:. He has sinced learned we do not play with the fish.

I have 3 bannas plants left in the tank. The fish ate the other plants.

I hope this is enough information.

Please be patient with me. I am still learning. :grin:


Thanks

Faye

 

[Davy Reynolds]

Sounds like the media is not fine enough to sort it out. At this lenght of time it should have sorted itself out. Step up the water changes to help clean it out a bit.

 

[pete]

Also try adding some filter floss as this will remove any small suspended particles from the water as it passes through your filter.

To use it simply remove the filter sponge and wrap the floss around the sponge......once your water is clear again remove the floss and discard, simple enough hey? lol :laugh:

The secret with a situation like this is NOT to panic!! as if the fish are unhappy they will let you know 8)

 

[Great Lakes]

Faye, one other thing. When approaching us with a problem, please tell us what size tank we are dealing with. Also, filter size, type, and anything else you might think important

 

[Rose]

Faye define murky. Is it a white cloudy murky or a green murky or what??? it could just be a algae bloom or a bacterial bloom. Just thinking here. Both of those can take longer than a couple of days. I've seen them both happen for a couple of weeks or longer. Rose

 

[faye]

I have a 10 gal tank. Topfin filter (power filter 10. It pumps 80gal of water per hour.) The water is a green murky. Although after yesterday's water change and cleaning the filter it seems better. I can actually see all the fish. I can also see the through to the back of the tank.

Faye

 

[Dragonslair]

Green murky usually indicated an over abundance of algae suspended in the water. Not good for the fish as the algae is absorbing too much nutrients and oxygen from the water. There are usually two main resons for this.1.Too much phosphates in the water; the cause is most likely overfeeding.
2. Too much light. Is your tank facing or getting any direct sunlight on it, or is your lighting on too long or too powerful.
Do you have many live plants in your tank. The main solution is to eliminate the causes. You must first know a little about photosynthesis. You can purchase algae destroyer like Algazin, but then you have the job of clearing brown dead algae which will choke your fish as it pollutes the water. Water changes is the other answer, but you need to identify the cause before you can offer the correct solution.

 

[faye]

Dragon,

My house has an abundance of natural light. I thought it was putting it in a good space. I'll have to see about correcting that. This may sound like a dumb question. Here goes. I already have one algea eater couldn't I get another one. Would this help this situation?

I have 3 small banana plants. Would more plants help? If so what type?

Thanks

Faye

 

[Feargal]

Faye,

It definitely sounds like the natural light may be causing this.

I have seen this several times before and it has usually been when tanks are getting too much sunlight.

As Dragonslair says, the first thing is to identify and correct the cause. If you believe that the tank is getting too much natural light (especially direct sunlight) then you need to correct that first.

As for clearing the mist... I would try a fine floss, as pete suggested, in your filter and continue with the water changes.

There are commercial products that you could use to clear this but none that I can recommend.

 

[Dragonslair]

To continue Feargal thread and to answer your question about algae eaters. It depends on the type of algae eater you have. If you have a sucker loach which some lfs sell as algae eaters can be quite territorial as adults and as they develop into adults their algae eating days fade. Some plecs, such as the bristlenosed plec are good algae eaters and they will keep the algae at bay. However if your tank is subjected to sunlight particurarily, no amount of algae control will stop the formation of algae. Too much sunlight especially combined with excessive heat will cause a dangerous type of algae to bloom. The algae is a blue/green algae that floats on the water surface and chokes everything, it is also toxic to waterlife. You need to review your tank position and control the amount of light entering the tank. As to plants I would suggest that you add a few more into your tank. Rose is your person regarding plants. If you go into the "How does your garden grow" forum, you'll get some ideas there. Good luck.
By the way do you know about photosynthesis?

 

[pete]

Also once you have moved the tank get some Ancistrus from your lfs and put them in there as they are the best algae eaters known to man lol, they will clear up your tank in no time at all but remember that when theyve finished cleaning up for you that you will have to supply an algae supplement such as Hikari Algae Wafers (these are the best IMHO, ive tried em all lol) or your little friends will starve to death :0

These really are incredible little fish :love: 8)

 

[faye]

I think I have the algea under control now. Tried to get ancitrus but lps did not have any so I got a plec instead. I been closing the curtians across the room during the evening hours. If this doesn't work I will have find a new spot for the tank. I have been doing partial water changes every couple of days. The water look great now. Thanks for your help.

Faye