10 gallon tank gets foggy

Question
I have a 10 gallon tank with three gold fish.It gets foggy a lot.Is this normal? What should I do?

Answer
Hi Satarah,

You should upgrade immediately to a 40 gallon tank with an 80 gallon filter.  This 10 gallon tank is severely, severely overstocked and the waste is backing up causing an ammonia cloud which is highly toxic and deadly to your fish.

Goldfish require a 20 gallon tank for one with 10 gallons for each additional fish and double filtration.  Anything less simply cannot keep up with the bioload (as you are seeing) and the waste backs up.  This stresses the fish, causes illness and finally death.

You need to test your tank asap for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.  Ammonia and nitrites should ALWAYS be flat 0 and nitrates 5-20 ppm.  Otherwise there is a big problem.  I would upgrade asap and you won't have cloudy water or the potential for sick and dying fish.

A good reference site for goldfish keepers is:

www.kokosgoldfish.com

Good luck : ) April M.