New and in need

[Aquanut]

Hi there, Aquanut here

I’m quite new to this fascinating hobby and already stuck in the mud....
My tank keeps on going milky coloured?? It's a 90L tank - two parrot fish, 3 Malawi's (used to be 5) and one big sucker fish (plecostomus or something like that). Two of my Malawi's died earlier today. Only bought them yesterday. I cleaned the tank on Sunday and its milky again.

Any idea what can cause the milky waters

[veegal]

Hi Aquanut - Welcome to TASA!

Just a few questions which may help us to establish the cause...

Firstly how long has your tank been set up for?
How did you set the tank up if it was recently - eg did you wash the gravel etc
Do you have any plants in the tank?
How often do you do water changes?
Have you added any chemicals/fertilisers etc to the tank?
How long after you set up the tank did it take for the water to go milky?

Answer these questions and I'm sure we'll be able to pinpoint what the probable cause may be.

[Aquanut]

Hi Veegal,

Tx for replying. I think I found the cause of my problem.......my two year old son. He's "feeding" my fish his food i.e. bread etc. and that caused the nitrate levels to rise or something like that. I took some H2O to my LPS and thats what they told me.

Anyway, my tank has been running for about a year now with just the two parrots and the plecostomus. No plants. My filtering system is working as always and I do a 30% water change every month. I haven't added any chemicals before it got milky. The first time it went milky was on the weekend, did a water cahnge and now its milky again....

I hope I supplied you with enough information to maybe explain what turns it milky if it is not my sons bread...

Tx, Aquanut

[solex69]

Welcome to TASA mate...enjoy the stay here

Cheers
Dale

[Zafgak]

Welcome Aquanut - Yep those toasted cheese sandwiches will make the water cloudy every time :bigsmile:

[Aquanut]

A big THANX to my LPS. After a few tests and chemicals, the milk is gone and my fish are happier.... lost three of them though. The others love their new and improved chemicalised habitat.:bigsmile: Just have to keep my son out of there!!!

[veegal]

That's great news Aquanut. What did they say the problem was - other than those munchies your son was feeding them :)

[Jim]

Hey guys and girls, newbie on the block here, just thought I'd drop in and say howzit!!

Cheers,

Edd

[Aquanut]

Hi Veegal, great news isn't it! The bread in the water caused it to build up nitrates or something like that. He gave me Nitridac and stresscoat+ which sorted my tank out. Anyway, I'm just glad my tank looks the way it's intended to...and that the fish are fine. Now I can live in peace again.

Hi Edd, I'm quite new to and I must admit, the site is very usefull and the people are very helpfull. You'll enjoy your stay TASA

[veegal]

Hi Edd - Welcome to TASA. How about starting a new thread under the new members section or else plenty of members won't see your post here and you may miss the awesome welcomes from them.

Aquanut - I can well believe the relief - pleased it all worked out.