cloudy water

[Jbones]

Hey all,

My girlfriend has a 72 gal aquarium containing 2 very large koi, 3 large gold fish, and a small fan tailed gold fish. The water is always cloudy and we can't figure out why. Some research and help from a very knowlegable employee at a local fish store tells me that the fish are being fed waaaaay too much. She (my g.f.) feeds them 2 - 3 times a day substantially. So now she is going to cut back the feeding to once every 2 - 3 days. One would think the bigger the fish, the more food, but what from what i have learned it just doesn't work that way. Some people have a hard time understanding this so the easiest way to explain this is; the more food, the more waste, the more nitrite, the more problems.. which makes perfect sense but I would just like to have some extra feedback on this for peace at mind sake. Thanks.

[scrubby]

Hey all,

My girlfriend has a 72 gal aquarium containing 2 very large koi, 3 large gold fish, and a small fan tailed gold fish. The water is always cloudy and we can't figure out why. Some research and help from a very knowlegable employee at a local fish store tells me that the fish are being fed waaaaay too much. She (my g.f.) feeds them 2 - 3 times a day substantially. So now she is going to cut back the feeding to once every 2 - 3 days. One would think the bigger the fish, the more food, but what from what i have learned it just doesn't work that way. Some people have a hard time understanding this so the easiest way to explain this is; the more food, the more waste, the more nitrite, the more problems.. which makes perfect sense but I would just like to have some extra feedback on this for peace at mind sake. Thanks.

yup that it you got it plus the fish you have are pretty dirty fish

[Vallisneria]

Yes, 2-3 times a day is a lot for adult fish so cutting back will definately help. The fish won't starve.

Also what kind of filtration is on the tank? and how often are water changes and how much is changed each time?

Have you tested the water? You might need to up the water changes untill the tank get back into cycle.

[jvision]

Cloudy water is usually an indication of excess ammonia. With her bioload, 50% weekly waterchanges would not be out of the question. But, who wants to do that with buckets??!! Get a tap adapter and a garden hose, it'll make life A LOT easier!

[Qattarra]

She could let them rest.... stop feeding , don't heat the tank (assuming it's not heated anyway ). Cover up the tank with a blanket and only leave the filter/air going. Leave them alone 2 to 3 months, they need the dormancy.

[Jbones]

She could let them rest.... stop feeding , don't heat the tank (assuming it's not heated anyway ). Cover up the tank with a blanket and only leave the filter/air going. Leave them alone 2 to 3 months, they need the dormancy.

I don't understand... stop feeding them completely for 2 months??

[Qattarra]

yes.

[BooUrns!]

My girlfriend has a 72 gal aquarium containing 2 very large koi, 3 large gold fish, and a small fan tailed gold fish. The water is always cloudy and we can't figure out why.

How large is 'very large'? If your koi are over 12" you need to move them out of that tank or find them new homes. The goldfish should be ok in the 72G if you keep up a water change routine.

As Jason mentioned, the water has high levels of ammonia in it due to overstocking of fish/ lack of adequate filtration. The cloudiness is a bacterial bloom that has arisen in response to the ammonia overload. I would recommend a large canister filter loaded with small bioballs (no charcoal) to allow the tank to complete cycling. You can go with a large HOB (hang on back) filter but I think you find the canister to require less maintenance.

If the fish are being kept at room temperature in your house, you will need to continue feeding them. Reducing their food intake will help with the cycling of the tank by reducing ammonia levels from fish excrement. If your goldfish were being kept in a cold water tank (below 5c) then you shouldnt feed them. Below these temps, the enzymes in the fishes intestinal tract become inactive and the food they consume is not digested. This can lead to sickness as the food will rot inside the fish.

I'm curious to know if you are doing these things:

Water changes

Treating the water added to the tank with an aquarium water conditioning product (to breakdown chlorine and chloramines found in city tapwater).

Adding salt to the water - 1tblspn per 5 gallons (coarse salt)

[Jbones]

Yes, 2-3 times a day is a lot for adult fish so cutting back will definately help. The fish won't starve.

Also what kind of filtration is on the tank? and how often are water changes and how much is changed each time?

Have you tested the water? You might need to up the water changes untill the tank get back into cycle.

She is using a canister type filtration system that supports a 100 gal. tank. It was being cleaned and maintained in 1 - 2 week interverals. now she will be doing this once a month to keep a ideal bacteria level. 25% Water changes were done once a week while cleaning the gravel. To get the tank back into cycle she will do 15% water changes for the next couple of days with the use a water stabalization formula that was recommended by a very knowledgeable employee at a LFS. He gave me instruction on how to get the tank back to an ideal level of health.

We tested the water last night and found out the following: very high nitrate, a caution zone nitrite (yikes), hardness level was at very hard (good ol' edmonton city water), zero chlorine, PH level was at the low end of nuetral (which i would like to see a little higher), and the alkalinity was low. I will test the ammonia levels once a get an ammonia tester. Now that we know the results of these tests we can now utilize this info to implement fixes to the tank.

Hopefully we can get it back to normal. Is there something else we should be doing?

[BooUrns!]

Yes, 2-3 times a day is a lot for adult fish so cutting back will definately help. The fish won't starve.

Also what kind of filtration is on the tank? and how often are water changes and how much is changed each time?

Have you tested the water? You might need to up the water changes untill the tank get back into cycle.

She is using a canister type filtration system that supports a 100 gal. tank. It was being cleaned and maintained in 1 - 2 week interverals. now she will be doing this once a month to keep a ideal bacteria level. 25% Water changes were done once a week while cleaning the gravel. To get the tank back into cycle she will do 15% water changes for the next couple of days with the use a water stabalization formula that was recommended by a very knowledgeable employee at a LFS. He gave me instruction on how to get the tank back to an ideal level of health.

We tested the water last night and found out the following: very high nitrate, a caution zone nitrite (yikes), hardness level was at very hard (good ol' edmonton city water), zero chlorine, PH level was at the low end of nuetral (which i would like to see a little higher), and the alkalinity was low. I will test the ammonia levels once a get an ammonia tester. Now that we know the results of these tests we can now utilize this info to implement fixes to the tank.

Hopefully we can get it back to normal. Is there something else we should be doing?

I admire your diligence in trying to maintain a healthy tank. Out of curiousity, what type of canister is it? That's not so important as long as it loaded with bio media (either the ceramic rings or plastic bioballs). Cleaning the canister every few weeks might be part of the problem. The beneficial bacteria are trying to establish their colonies in the canister filter and the full cycle can take up to four weeks. If you are washing the filter every one-two weeks in tap water, you are regularly killing off the bacteria. I might clean out my canister filters only once every 6-9 months. I don't use charcoal in them, just bio media. If I find the water flow is being impeded I will rinse out the sponge prefilters in a bucket with some of the aquarium water. Keep up the water changes and you should complete the cycle in the next few weeks.

For water conditioner, I would recommend Seachem Prime. It's highly concentrated so you use less in comparison to other products. Any other products such as stress-coat or the bacteria support are in my opinion, unneccessary costs. Salt added to the water (aquarium salt sold in petstores is just coarse salt with a higher price) and allowing the bacteria to fully cycle will have the same effect.

[jvision]

1 tbsp of baking soda per 10 gal will bring up your pH and alkalinity.