yellow and cloudy water please help!

[lisa]

Hi its lisa here, I have a problem but its not with my axolotls tanks its with my fish tank thats got 3 fantail gold fish in it. I know i shouldnt be talking about fish as this is an axolotl site but it about the water and i know quite a few of you know quite alot about water quality. The problem is my fish tank keeps going yellow and cloudy and i dont know why, the tank is only small but the fish place said i could have 3 fish in the size fish tank that i have got, its in the living room under the stairs near the fridge. I have cleen the stones over and over again so its not the coulour thats coming off the stones any way the stones are red. All i keep doing is doing water changes to try and get rid of the nasty yellow cloudy water coulour, when i change the water i leave it to stand over nite and put decloranater in it for the next day. I have never had this problem with the axolotls and i have four tanks with axolotls in them. Sorry this is so long im just a bit angry as i have already have to fish die with in a week of buying them and dont want these to die, i feed the fish once a day, Is there any thing im doing wrong to make the water turn a horrible coulour i just carnt under stand it as i said my axis tanks have never gone a yellow coulour and i have had fish before and its never happend to there water. Could some one help me i would be very greatfull and sorry that i am on about fish i just thought you lot would be the best people to talk to about the water coulouration. Thanks Lisa. x

[russell]

Silly question, but is your goldfish tank filtered?
The yellow cloudy water will be a bacterial bloom, generally harmless to fish, but could indicate that you are over feeding, allowing the bacteria a meal.

What size is your tank?

And I suggest you look here for goldfish questions its a little more suitable for this sort of question.

[lisa]

Thanks for the reply, yes the tank has got a filter its a filter pump mini. I think its a 40 gallon tank its a hexigone 50p tank, The fish look quite happy at times and like i said i only feed them once in the morning even one block of bloodworm or a pinch of tetra gold fish food.

[Jay]

G'day Lisalee,

I see no problem with you posting this in here because an axolotl also thrives in freshwater, so this same issue may arise in the future with other members

Goldfish tend to be very messy animals, and contrary to popular belief, they are not the best fish for beginners (but that's not to say that you're a novice ). They do require a large tank to dilute the ammonia, and over-stocking a small tank can prove to be some what troublesome in the long run. Also, they can get rather big. Just out of curiosity, what size tank do you have?

Russel has made a good point regarding cycling. However, bacteria seldom remain suspended in free water; instead, they colonise surfaces such as substrtate, decor, filter media, the glass, etc. So, it's more likely to be suspended colloids than a bacterial bloom. Colloids are efficient light scatterers and are present in the initial set-up of a tank. When light is focused on the tank containing suspended colloids, it will have a distinct cloudy appearance. However, I doubt that an 'un-cycled' tank will have a yellow discolouration to it.

Having said that, it could be that the tank is hazy and not cloudy. Haze is a result of planktonic bacteria. The easiest way to minimise planktonic bacteria is to reduce feeding. Another factor that can bring about a hazy tank is when the aquarist uses phosphate buffers, i.e. those products that claim to stablise the pH at neutral 7. When these products are added to a tank that contains >100ppm of either calcium (Ca) or magnesium (Mg), the phosphate can precipitate Ca/Mg, subsequently adsorbing either to the phosphate.

Originally Posted by lisalee2

The problem is my fish tank keeps going yellow...

Do you have any wood in the tank? Newly introduced wood can leach humic substances, i.e. tannins, into the water and cause a yellow tinge. If you do have wood in there, and it is the cause of the yellow discolouration, I would suggest that you place some activated charcoal into the tank, that's if you don't already have this sort of chemical filtration in your tank already.

Originally Posted by lisalee2

Sorry this is so long im just a bit angry as i have already have to fish die with in a week of buying them and dont want these to die...

I would stop introducing new fish into the tank until you have ascertained the cause of death for these fish.

Could you also post a picture of your tank set-up?

Best of luck!

Jay.

[lisa]

Thank you for your reply jay, My fish tank is a 40 gallon heli 50p fish tank and as they grow i will be putting them in a bigger tank so they have room to swim around but at the minuet they are realy small, I do not have a light in the tank only natraul day light sorry bout the spellings.All i have in the tank is 2 plants, red gravel, and filter/pump. The bloke at the pet shop (pets at home) said i could have a max of 3 fantails in the tank any more than that it can cause stress and death and very mucky water.
I hope i am not doing any thing wrong i dont want to kill the poor fish off, Shall i still feed thm once a day i dont want the fish to starve bless them, I just carnt under stand it iv had fish before and there tank has never been a problem and the fish only died of old age apart from 2 that was in my dads pond and they grew realy big and still living must be 6 years old now.Will the coulour of the water go away on its own, do i need to do daily part water changes,or cleen the filler or any thing. I carnt think what else to do i think iv tryed every thing.

[optimist]

Hi. I've got goldfish too. Are you sure your coloured stones aren't leaching colour, or any other ornament in the tank? I'd take them out, and change half my water, and see if that improves matters. Also I wouldn't feed the fish for a week (they will easily survive that), but I'd change about 20% of my water daily during this week. In the meantime, I'd soak my gravel/ornaments relentlessly. Good luck!

[Nat]

My water for my axolotls seems yellow, but not cloudy, and I've only had them 2 days. I've been told not to worry about the colour but there seems to be a slight oily layer on to and I'm worried it will harm my babies. I have no filters at all.

[lisa]

Mines a bit of both but more of a yellow coulour it seems to get worse as the days go on.You should get a filter and do you have a pump for the oxegen.How long has your water been set up for and when did you put your axis in it.Sorry but i carnt answer your question as i have the same problem just keep looking on here to see what other people advise thats all i can say realy because thats what i am going to do duck.

[Sharon]

Could it be tank decorations? Driftwood? Gravel (by the way - smallish gravel can be a problem for goldfish too - its crazy but true, holding one and trying to pull out gravel from their mouths is a pain!!)

Sharon

[Nat]

Pumps can stress them so I won't get one, because they appear very happy as they are in still water, I only had my tank 2 days set up with them in it, it was just the oil layer that confused me. I do have some plants, which I've had in with crabs, but not in he water wih the crabs (they were land crabs) you could be right about that, I never even thought about it! Thanks for the help everyone!

[lisa]

Hi sharron i do not have any driftwood in the tank and the plants was washed really well before i put them in i allso use the same sort of plant for my axolotls and there water hasnt gone funny, good point about the stones ill keep an eye on the fish but they tend to pick them up while looking for food and spit them out bet there thinking bloody hell thats a bit hard carnt eat that.But its 3.30 in the morning in the uk and have had a look at the fish all 3 seem happy and the water hasent got any worse so far so hopfully all will be going well, also i have bought some 5 in 1 test strips and amonia test kit they should be here in the next few day so will keep an eye on the reading and ill post them on here to keep you guys up to date and i will be puting pics of my fish tank on here just got to put them on the computer first.

[lisa]

I just thought ill let you all know i am going to take the fantail goldfish back to the shop if they will have them back and i do not want any money back for them. So many people on the practical fish keeping fourm have told me to take them back to the shop as i havent got an biggernoth tank for them and they will get strest and die so i thought illd do the best thing and going to take them back least they will get the loving they need as i canot afford a bigger tank and filter at the moment and i do not have the time to do water changes every day untill i get a bitter tank the reson i bourght goldfish was because they are quite easy to keep as i have had hem before but in a big tank must of been 3ft by 2ft by 2ft, I am a bit sad really i enjoy watching them they look so happy bless them.
So before they go to a new home they just want to say thank you for trying to help them with there water and for trying to make them happy.

[geosheets]

maybe they'll trade you for some smaller fish... guppies can be pretty cool to keep.

[lisa]

thank but i perfur fantailsthey are so cute bless them well i have dissided sorry about the spellings im not very good with my english, but i might keep them so what i am going to do is do regular water changes every day till i get my water test kits then ill know how often to change my water and when they do get a bit bigger ill be geting a bigger fish tank.

[lisa]

Hi again, just thought i would let you lot know a couple of things i have got my water tst kits in today and have checked the fishes water the readings are nitate-20 nitrite-0 amonia-0.25 ph-6.0 kg-120 and gh-180 the fish also seem to look happy still but they are going back to the shop this weekend as i was told that one fantail would be a tight squese in the size fish tank that i have got so hopfully they will go to a good home that they will have plenty of space and a happy healthy life im going to miss them tho but i have dissided i am going to get some neon tetras and some guppys next weekend so i can put the heater in the tank and let the tank do its magic for another week so hopfully all should be good.