I have clouds

[fishface]

its my 10 gallon ive had it about 4 monts or so its been cycled had a few fish deaths but apart from that ive had no problems with it but now its gone a browny unclear colour it went like that about a day ago i put some new fish in 2 leopard corys and also put some rocks in the rocks were alreadly in my 25 gallon but i moved them in the 10 i did a water change but no difference i dont want to do to many water changes because it will stess my new fish out i cleaned the filter sponge but when i put it back in the bottom was off could this have done it? i notied the bottom of the filter on the gravel about 3 hours after i put it back in so i turned it off and put it back on what should i do? more changes and wait?

 

[FroggyFox]

What are your water parameters like? (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates) It looks to me like your tank is overstocked, so adding more fish could have been what started the problem.

You said its a brownish cloudy? How much light does your tank get? It sounds like maybe could be an algae bloom?

I would do a pretty big water change (your fish shouldn't mind as long as you dont do it every day) and then wait for awhile and see if it clears up. If you have fluroescent lighting, no live plants and the tank gets quite a bit of light...I would leave the lights off for an entire day and see if it looks better. If it does, then you probably have an algae bloom.

 

[fishface]

the tank doesnt get that much light its just a normal 15 watt bulb i have it on form 10.00 am to 9.00pm (11 hours) everyday and i do have live plants about 10 yes its browny murky sort of colour its gotten worst now i have to get real close to the tank just to see the fish! i think ill wait till tomorrow then do a big water change (80%?) i dont want to stress the new fish so ill wait for tomorrow the parameteras are:

Ammonia = 0 ppm
Nitrite = 0.25 ppm
ph = 6.7 ish

( i have never done a nitrate test on any of my tanks i have dr.well fish freshwater master test kit and a nitrate wasnt in it is it important should i buy one?)

it may be a little full but the most of the fish are really small and i did make a thread before i bought my corys thanks for the help

 

[fishface]

*bump*

 

[FroggyFox]

bumping after two hours?? geez what do you think I do, LIVE on this board?! lol j/k

Nitrate can be important...but usually if you do regular water changes its not something you have to worry about. Its time to do a water change if your nitrates get above 10ppm.

The fact that your nitrites aren't at 0ppm, I think you need to do a good gravel vac, sounds like maybe its decaying matter and is now getting into the water and has caused an algae bloom??

I don't know much about live plants...but do you put phosphate in your tank? if you do that could be causing the crud. Sounds like an awful long time to be leaving your lights on, but I guess 15W in a 10G isn't even two wpg so maybe its not that long.

I would definitely do a big water change and a good gravel cleaning. I don't think the new fish will mind, I'm sure they'd rather have a clean tank to live in.

ps...pH doesn't really matter when someone asks for your water parameters unless its unstable. If you have a stable ph then don't worry about it...you can just forget that you have that test kit

 

[fishface]

lol sorry i was bored so i bumped i did a big change today like 70% and they was a LOT of uneaten food in there the water cleared up a bit but not a lot but the the nirites are a little better but not much so im guessing it will get a bit better with every clean i do im sorry but i dont no what phosphate is is it the stuff in the gravel that is surrpose to be good for the plants? if it is no i dont have it. the light my seem a lot the reason is that i have live plants and i was told they need 10-11 hours of light a day how long do you have yours on for?

yeah i no ph its not important but i did the test so i put it on

so what do i do now then a gravel clean 40% every other day and wait something lik that? thanks

 

[mfj]

be careful with that 80% water change. last time i did a very aggressive one i lost 5 fish!

 

[CoNMaN]

does the title of this thread remind anyone else of "its a wonderful world" performed by Ray Charles?

 

[fishface]

thanks mjf i only did like a 60-70% anway and comman sorry if you clicked on this a hoped to hear a song!

 

[Gomer]

15incandecent watts over a 10g...perhaps that brown is from all of your plants decomposing!!!

even if it is 15watts fluorescent, it could be plants.


Brown water is usually due to poor water qualities...like stirred up mulm etc. I had yellowish brown cloudy water a while ago, but the water conditions were fine. ..it turned out to be the onset of green water (unicellular algae).

 

[fishface]

yeah thanks gomer...

it seems to be clearing up so im gonaa do another change today 40%.

 

[fishface]

*bump*

 

[FroggyFox]

you and your bumpin. lol

Sounds like its either from your plants (like gomer said) or overfeeding??!

Either way more regular gravel cleaning sounds like its in order

 

[fishface]

hmm may be overfreeding i put 2 pinches of flakes in at 4:30 6:45 and 9:00pm is that to much?

 

[fishysmell]

yeeeees....way too much. Feed once a day! Especially if your worried about overfeeding. Once a day also doesn't mean 6 pinches then to make up for the other feedings. I'd do one pinch per day for now and maybe up it later to two pinches per day...maybe. Big maybe.

 

[FroggyFox]

if they are TINY pinches that might not be too much. The important thing is that you see all of your fish eat a little somethin...and that there shouldn't be ANY leftovers after a couple minutes.

Fishysmell is right, that if you're waiting for a problem to clean up you should feed less. Once a day or skip a day and then once a day...until you get the problem figured out Your fish wont mind I promise.

 

[RobMiller]

filtration..filtration...filtration. theres your answer. Get a bigger filter. or try filter floss it polishes the water.

 

[fishface]

well it seems better so ill cut back on the food for a while the thing is i was told to feed your fish 3 times a day if possible and i only get back from scholl at 4:30 so i feed them then and then thier last feeding is a 9:00 and the middle in there is 6:45 so should i just feed at 4:30 and then at 9:00 when this problem has gone? and im doing there regular 40% clean today anyway and ill clean up the filter too.