Completely stumped.

Ok. So..... I have been PM-ing Azhael about this and we are both completely stumped as to what it could be. He suggested starting a thread to see if anyone else would know what is going on.

As you know I have 2 male paddle-tail newts...each in their own 2 foot tanks. The tanks have been up and running forr approx 8 weeks now. One of the tanks is perfect. The other tank however is murky looking, cloudy too. You can hardly see through the tank.

I do a partial water change of 20% once a week. After this week's change the cloudiness started.

I tested the water and everything is spot on. So Azhael suggested a partial change again, which I did. There is no change even after another.

I visited a shop and the woman there kept newts. She said that everything seemed ok with my tank and did not know what the clouding could be. If it was from the substrate it should have settled by now.

She spoke to another couple of employees who keep amphibians.. They all said if it was something to do with my water the other tank would have the same cloudiness, as they are changed at the same time.

They did say that if there's no improvement over the weekend I could bring a sample in for them to test but they said it will more than likely turn out that everything is fine.

It was suggested to me that it could be hair bloom algae? I looked into it and it doesnt seem like that to me. However today something has appeared on some of my plants and i don't know if it is snail eggs (this tank had an infestation of snails and eggs lately) or something else. I will try and upload a photo of it so you can see.

Another guy in a different shop told me it was due to over feeding...but they are fed every 3-4 days and hand fed too. So there isnt any excess food lying around...and if I see any I scoop it out. He also claimed that I must be washing my filter out in the sink and that I should always wash it out with the aquarium water. I explained to him that I havent washed my filter out as yet as my tank was still cycling. But he wouldn't listen.

The newt is eating fine. He isnt avoiding going into the water. He is swimming about fine. I am worried though that something will be wrong?

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions as to what it is or could be? It seems most people are stumped as to what is going on.

Thanks for reading this.

do both of your tanks get the same amount of lighting/sunlight?

yes they are next to each-other on the same table with a lamp between them both. xxx

Hi, I have the same thing on my plants - I just assumed it is some sort of algae (even though lists of types of algae don't show anything like it.). So if someone can tell what it is I would also appreciate it. I have no problem with cloudy water so it might be unrelated.

Regarding the cloudiness...I remember my brother had awful milky water from some epoxy he used on his 3-D backdrop. I suppose that doesn't apply to you. Just thought I'd mention it.
Otherwise - would you consider re-doing the tank? I mean putting the newt in a temporary home and cleaning the whole tank. I think as you have a cycled tank with the other newt, the cycling should only take a few days with stuff brought over from it..?

thats something i have been considering doing if things do not improve. xxx

Are the plants in the two tanks the same? Some plants seem to get a strange like fluff around their edges, where as others don't, maybe it could be related to that? just a thought...

My immediate thoughts when I read "cloudy" went back to when I have set up tanks in the past, and when you introduce a lot of new water you get that bacterial blossom that makes the water cloudy for a bit. But of course, you are only changing 20% so I doubt that, that would happen and am sure you and Azhael would have considered that if it was likely to be the problem.

Is there anything different at all in the tank? decoration? metal? even maybe different type of filter? (have you checked in the filter?)

I had a similar problem in one of my aquariums last year. It turned out to be a cynobacteria bloom (Cyanobacteria in the Aquarium: What It Is and How to Get Rid of It). It was a pain to get under control and my parameters were within an acceptable range. My two aquariums were set up similar with similar conditions and water between them was often exchanged, but only one ever got the contamination. Water changes didn't seem to help much. It lasted about 3 or 4 months. Ultimately, it got it under control by reducing light and adding a lot of floating java moss to the surface with the hope of soaking up light and nutrients. Once it started declining It took about a month and a half before my water was completely lucid. It never transferred to my other aquarium. It was a real pain, but never seemed to affect the animals in the tank.

im thinking this could be what it is, ,y newts isnt stressed at all and is eatong and feeding fine. i will read up on it more tomorrow when i have my laptop... Im on mobile just now.

Nothing in the tank has changed.. Nothing new has been introduced to it decoration wise... Both tanks have the same plants in them bought from the same shop at the same time. Thanks all 4 the advice.

Hi Claire,
think I just found out what that strange stuff on the plant is:
Is this algae? - Algae - Aquatic Plant Central
Eva

It does look very familiar. Thank you so much. I have moved the lamp from between both tanks and although slight cloudiness remains despite water changes... it is only very slight. It isnt thickening up as much. So I am assuming the light was making it thrive more.

Thank you.