35 gallon tank that is very cloudy

Question
We have a 35 gallon tank that is very cloudy, we have changed about half the water twice already and also have used tablets that say they clear up water about 3 times and have gone through countless filters.  All we have in it is one placo about 3 inches long and 4 cheap tank goldfish that are about 4 inches long and maybe about an inch or so tall.  We have had these fish for over a year or so and this is the first time we cannot get the water to be clear.  What could be causing the cloudy water?

Answer
Hi Amanda,

Cloudy water is due to 2 main things - Bacterial bloom and overfeeding.

Bacterial bloom will clear itself up in 1-2 weeks, as the bacteria floating in the water gradually moves to live in the filter. These beneficial bacteria remove wastes from the aquarium, and over a period of a weeks or so, will eventually establish themselves in the filter media. You have an abundance of beneficial bacteria because either

-You changed the filter media, which killed a large portion of them
-You added more fish, which increased the bio-load
-You added a medication recently which killed and displaced bacteria
-You changed too much water, which significantly impacts bacteria

Only change a maximum of 30% of the tank water at a time, to prevent killing the beneficial bacteria and stressing fish.

To help clear up bacterial bloom faster, perform 10% daily water changes.

Overfeeding another probable cause, as wasted food decomposes and the particles begin to mix with the water. To solve the problem, only feed fish once per day. This is actually quite adequate, and the fish will not go hungry. This should solve your cloudy water problem.

Performing 10% daily water changes will clear up any cloudy water problem.

Good luck, and Happy Fishkeeping!