Water Clarity Problem

Question
QUESTION: Hi Nathan,

I know that this may be a common problem, but, I'm having some difficulties with my 5-gallon setup at the moment. My tank has been running for 5 months now, and it's fully cycled (there's no ammonia, nitrite, and less than 10 ppm nitrate, as tested last week.) I have one Betta and 2 Bronze cory Cats in there.

I feed them in the morning once with Hagen Nutrafin max food, and in the evening, I feed them an algae wafer.

Is there anything I can do?

Thanks so much, Nathan.

ANSWER: Hi Richard,

Cloudy water is caused by a variety of things. The most common three causes are bacterial bloom, debris particles, and overfeeding.

It is unlikely that bacterial bloom is the case in your aquarium, since you tested no ammonia nor nitrite, and the tank is fully established by now. However, if you recently added fish, the biological filtration may still be adapting to the new bio-load. Bacterial bloom is not a cause for concern, and over time (1-2weeks), the beneficial bacteria will establish themselves in the filter media.

The second possible cause is particles/debris. If you've recently cleaned the gravel, your gravel siphon may have rustled the dirt among the gravel around. This is the easiest problem to solve - your filter will pick up these particles, or they will simply float back down into the substrate. This will clear up in 1-2 days at most.

Finally, the most likely cause in your case would be overfeeding. feeding once is actually enough, and 2 Cory Cats may not be enough to eat a whole wafer - and particles in the uneaten wafer may start floating about, causing the cloudiness. I experienced this firsthand in one of my smaller tank, where I accidentally fed too many Algae Wafers, and the water became a bit cloudy. You can feed them once per day to solve the cloudiness - Alternate between flakes and wafers.

Whatever the cause may be, performing 10% water changes daily will help alleviate the problem sooner.

Good Luck, and Happy Fishkeeping!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Nathan,

I'm currently using Top Fin Algae Wafers (or rather, "Algae Thins") - does the brand matter whether it will cause cloudiness?

Thanks once again.

Answer
Hi Richard,

Top Fin is PetSmart's own brand, and is a line of aquarium products designed for the average or budget-minded aquarist. They are not of the best quality, and are not as nutritious as other Algae Wafers, but they are still good as a supplement, instead of simply just feeding flakes.

A better brand is Hikari Algae Wafers. These nice little wafers are actually green! (like the algae!), rather than the beige-brown of top Fin wafers. They are probably the most high-quality and nutritious wafers commonly found at pet stores (Petsmart carries them). However, they are more expensive than regular ones (about twice as much as Top fin ones). That's the only downside.

Good Luck!