i am a new oscar owner (january 2009). no matter what i do i have cloudy water. i have a marineland eclipse 3 system, and the water is clear until i put the oscar in the tank. within hours the water is cloudy white and i dont know what to do with it.

i have tested the water, dechlorinated it, and there are only 2 small feeder goldfish in with him.

i live in an area with very hard water and high minerals. is there some other type of test i can do or what can i do to have the crystal clear water i so desire.

calcium deposits are common in my home.

can too much calcium in the water cause this? and is there something i can do about it?

please any recommendations would be greatly appreciated

thank you
roni:(

could you please give us the exact water results for ammonia, nitrate, nitrates and pH? The fact that your water is clear until you put the fish in indicates that your tank is not cycled properly. In many cases cloudy water is caused by free swimming bacteria that build up in the tank water when your biological filter isn't established enough to deal with the toxins, i.e. ammonia. So you would need to test the water after it had gone cloudy, I would bet that there is either ammonia or nitrite present.

It would also be handy to know exactly what size your tank is. I would also recommend not housing the goldfish in the same tank as the Oscars, Goldfish are incredibly messy creatures, even small ones produce quite a lot of waste so that will not help your cause.

Have you cleaned your filtration at all, if so have you done it in tap water?

So until we know your exact water readings, and what size your tank is, it is a little difficult to give you any more advice

Sounds like a bacterial bloom.

You need to change you water more.

i dont meant to disagree with art or contradict what he says in any way as he gives great advice every time .............but............with a bacterial bloom more fresh water feeds the bloom and it actualy gets worse...its a common mistake people make with bacterial blooms the best way to treat them is to turn the lights off for a week...and DONT change any water for a week and stop feeding for three days, then if its a bacterial bloom it will clear ..but like ofl says ....please post water parameters

biggamehunter wrote:


Exactly.

More water changes in the first place would have greatly lessened the chances of a bacterial bloom to happen.

My guess would be ammonia present. as OFL asked provide test results please. and how long have you had tank set up. Have you cycled it.

This may be a post for you BGH.)))) I know you like the cycle stuff.

marcus wrote:





i beleive marcus has found the key to this lock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ya'll are fantastic and i appreciate u answering so quickly.

1) its a 37 gal marineland eclipse 3 system

2) brand new: tank was filled and run for 24 hrs before adding fish to it

3) the only test i knew to do was pH and that was 8 with a temp of 78-80 degrees

i will test for ammonia and nitrites tomorrow, i'll have to get a test kit for it.

thank all of u so much. as soon as i have the other test results i will repost.

biggamehunter wrote:


??? cycled it ??? how do i cycle it?

If you read the following information in the link, this will give you a good idea of how to cycle a tank. However, I think that you are going to need some one-to-one advice because it's going to take a few weeks to cycle your tank properly. I know for sure that big game hunter will love this one. Try and get an understanding of what cycling a tank means, and how you go about it. The following information should give you a good start. But we will be here to hold your hand through the cycle;) it will be a few weeks of water changes and constant water testing so make sure you get some water test kits, you will need them through the cycled process.


www.oscarfishlover.com/index.php/Cycled-...cle-an-Aquarium.html

hi roni, i believe you had been covered by the guys....
all i can say is welcome to the site.

and as a side note when you get a water test kit make sure to get one that uses a liquid reagent. i use the master test kit from american pharmaceuticals and it is very precise and easy to use.



oh ya and welcome to the site