VERY CLOUDY WATER

[plankton]

It does sound like there's a sudden bacteria bloom - did you add conditioner to the water?
I know sometimes it's easy to forget.
Then the filter munchers are upset by the chlorine and/or chloromine and die off.

[Ric]

It might be an idea to link this to your original thread: https://www.aquariumforums.co.uk/viewto ... =43&t=3348

Some possible issues have been pointed out there; just saves covering the same ground again

[Stephen]

Thanks for quick response.
The tank is 6 months old now. Until a fortnight ago, I've had no issues apart from horrible green algae weed around 2 months ago. Thankfully, its all cleared up now.
Around 50 fish inc neons angels gourami kois penguin tetras rosy barbs pleco several guppies harlequins platys red eyed tetra frogs.

Feeding regime was daily until this cloud appeared now its every other day. New plants installed lately (post cloud problem) Lights on 10 - 12 hours daily.

Just for the record, the glass has a lot of green algae. I've tried to remove it, had to use a razor blade in the end, as it was so stubborn to get off! Still quite a lot remaining on the glass here and there!

I hope this gives you a better idea of the aquarium set up.

Many thanks again. Cheers Mark

Hi Mark

Does your aquarium get any direct sunlight?
This together with having the lights on for 10-12 hours a day won't help with the algae issue.
Reduce the aquarium lighting down to about 6 hours a day, use a timer so that the lights come on when you are at home.

You say you have around 50 fish in a 105L aquarium, that sounds a lot.
What quantities of each fish species do you have (Example 6 x penguin tetra) also which pleco do you have?
In addition, which filter are you using?
What is the aquarium water temperature set at?
If we can sort the stocking level out and address the lighting then hopefully you will have years of happy fish keeping.
There may be several issues going on, so let's attempt to address them and make the necessary adjustments.

All the best


Stay safe & healthy everyone

[Lthrbecks]

Many thanks for taking the time to help me out, much appreciated. The tank never receives sunlight.
FISH STOCK
10 Neon Tetra
3 penguin tetra
1 snowflake pleco
2 kuhli loaches
3 frogs
4 corys
6 guppys
4 platys
3 Angels
6 Harlequin
2 rosy barbs
1 blue gourami
2 red eyed tetra
5 other tetras? (can't remember the names)

Tetra 600 filter
Water around 25 degrees

The green bloom has gone but I'm now left with a milky bloom! I've had the tank from last December and have had milky issues before, but they didn't last very long. It's at least a week to ten days now thats its been an issue!

I look forward to hearing back from you.

PS water parameters inc ammonia are excellent. Aoart from water hardness which is 180.

[Andys temperate tank]

When I had cloudy water I used easylife filter medium. When dosing it I had left the filter off for 3 days by mistake and it still cleared up.

[Stephen]

Many thanks for taking the time to help me out, much appreciated. The tank never receives sunlight.
FISH STOCK
10 Neon Tetra
3 penguin tetra
1 snowflake pleco
2 kuhli loaches
3 frogs
4 corys
6 guppys
4 platys
3 Angels
6 Harlequin
2 rosy barbs
1 blue gourami
2 red eyed tetra
5 other tetras? (can't remember the names)

Tetra 600 filter
Water around 25 degrees

The green bloom has gone but I'm now left with a milky bloom! I've had the tank from last December and have had milky issues before, but they didn't last very long. It's at least a week to ten days now thats its been an issue!

I look forward to hearing back from you.

PS water parameters inc ammonia are excellent. Aoart from water hardness which is 180.

Thanks for that.
Please take my reply with the good intension as it is meant.

As I suspected you will be severely over-stocked when all the fish are adult size and also severely under-filtered.
Your stocking level is something close to someone with a well stocked 280L aquarium, also the filtration will only be about 20% of what is required (when the fish are adult size).
The water hardness of 180 is approx. 10dGH (degrees German hardness) which I would not be too concerned about.
The tank water temperature of 25C is another concern as some of the fish species would prefer cooler temperatures (below 24C) and some would maybe prefer slightly warmer temperatures long-term.

To address the issue you could upgrade the aquarium to a 300L aquarium with a superior filter such as an external filter that has approx. 1500L/h (litres per hour) flow rate.
The other way to address the issue is to re-home some of the fish to a more realistic and manageable level.
The options may sound extreme but the welfare of the fish is always paramount when giving advise.

All the best



Stay safe & healthy everyone

[plankton]

Well spotted @Ric

[plankton]

I agree with Stephen, otherwise the fish you do have will have growth problems, leading to other problems.
It also probably means you are getting ammonia spikes as the filter and tank can't manage that bioload, even though you aren't catching them with the test. That would be causing bacterial blooms which means cloudy water.
This is all meant for the welfare of the fish, not a "slap-on-the-wrist" for you.

[Lthrbecks]

But why oh why is it only happening now? What do you suggest i do to rid myself of this horrible cloud? Baring in mind, i cannot upgrade to a bigger tank.
Thank you

[plankton]

You really need to re-home the bigger fish like the angels and gourami, probably even the frogs as it's quite possible they aren't getting enough food with the fish you have in there.
Sorry, it's a big learning curve with fishkeeping.
You have to research, then do some more research, and then research again.
It's much easier with t' interweb than it used to be - everything was trial-and-error, which is why some of us have joined sites like this to advise against the mistakes we've all made at some time or another.