The Puffer Forum

first off. Tank is a 37g FOWLR with 1 fuzzy dwarf lion fish, 4 nessarius snails, and 2 dwarf hermit crabs. I'm running ONLY a bakpak 2 skimmer for protein/filtration/biofilter.

I did a 70% water change yesterday because I was reading high nitrates. I changed 16 gallons, which, with 50lb of rock and 40lb of sand that was a decent chunk of water taken out. Everything was fine until I woke up this morning and the tank is super cloudy. My fish doesn't seem to be bothered by it, he was still swimming around like normal. I have no idea what could have gone wrong. The worst part is I had a party at my house last night and I'm afraid someone might have put something in the water.

Test results as of 5 minutes ago

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 15ppm
pH: 8.1
Sg: 1.026

so test readings aren't bad but I'm still worried that this will be harmful to my tank inhabitants. I don't have any saltwater mixed up at the moment to do a water change (used it all yesterday), and the LFS that I trust isn't open to hang onto my fish while I fix the problem. What do I do? This is the first time something like this has happened, and I don't have another tank to hospitalize anything..

take a pic.

this isn't apparently a bacteria bloom. maybe do another water change? What are you using for a substrate?


There is a tank I clean that is cloudy for 24 hours after the water change... it only happens on that tank.

Its hard to show it in a picture since theres 2 bright windows on either side of my tank but this is the best I could do. It could be a bacteria bloom. But I don't think its from the water change. After the change, the water was crystal clear. I didn't notice this cloudiness until this morning when I woke up.

Thank for the photo.

Judging from the pic.. I would say the water change stirred up some sediment and that is what you are seeing. Also note the powerhead pointed down at the rock. That may contribute.

Something may have been dislodged out of place causing the sediment to rise. If there are no fish in the tank... wait a day and don't sweat it.

If you think someone dumped a drink or something into the tank.. add carbon.

From the looks of it, I'd wait a day and check again.

Any difference between the old water & the new? SG, pH, temp, etc?

+1 I forgot about the spring thaw coming early this year...

BTW, if your parameters are good, fish don't mind swimming in cloudy water.

plus if you have fiends who would consider messing with your tanks you may want to consider getting new fiends.I would not allow anyone near my tanks if i had the slightest doubt.

well its not that I think one of my friends did anything. But it got a little crazier than I expected and there were some people here that I didn't know. I don't think anyone would have done anything like that, but I know that for at least 6 hours or so after the water change everything was crystal clear, then I didn't look at it before I went to bed, and woke up and it was like this so my first thought was that someone must have done something to it. But it very well could have been a bacteria bloom for one reason or another.

the water I used shouldn't be any different than what I was using. I still use tap water, conditioned with prime and mixed with instant ocean salt. 1/2 cup per gallon to get a ~1.025 sg. I keep the water in rubbermaid totes with a powerhead and a small heater to bring it to about 76-78. That particular water sat for almost a week before I did the change.

I really don't think its kicked up sediment. Like I said the tank was crystal clear for at least 6 hours AFTER the water change, so this must have developed later.

bertie 83 wrote:plus if you have fiends who would consider messing with your tanks you may want to consider getting new fiends.I would not allow anyone near my tanks if i had the slightest doubt.

that was what i thought! lol 'fiends' =P

My GSP aquarium looks exactly like the tank pictured above regarding the cloudiness... 2 weeks later looks the same. Gonna remove the decor and do another large water change today and give the substrate a good sifting as I had a SW LFS Specialist use his SW test kit and he found high phosphates to my surprise. I only have a FW test kit and had no way to test Phosphates so the only indicator I had during my last test that something was actually wrong with my water was a PH of 7.8 (usually hangs around 8.4-8.6) and unfortunately Ammonia was at 0.25 ppm.

Fortunately my GSP's all behave the same as always and have clean bright coloration.