Water In Fish Tank Is Cloudy

Why is the water cloudy in my fish tank?

We just set up our fish tank again. It’s a 40 gallon tank. We filled it up with tap water and set up the filter and had it running for a few days. We bought some tap water conditioner at the pet store and some goldfish. We feed the fish every day. Now the water is cloudy. What would cause the water to go cloudy. too much chemicals, not enough chemicals, overfeeding?
Thanks for your responses.

Hi there

Since you said you have goldfish after running the water for few days, it means that you haven’t cycled your tank.
Normally, I’d suggest you do fishless cycling from here:

http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApADCKDanrcvhlf2hp0WB6zBFQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20100820040654AAuuHnu&show=7#profile-info-o29jGLAqaa

If you can return your fish, please do so, and bring it back once you’re done cycling.

Else, it is true that people use goldfish to cycle a tank, and it has great chance to survive the cycling due to its hardiness, but it’s very not recommended, and it’s not very nice to your pet.

Anyway, do answer your question, the cloudiness’ gotta be due to bacteria bloom.
The fish waste and leftover food turns into ammonia which is poison to your fish.
Once ammonia is present in your tank, a type of nitrifying bacteria will grow in your tank to convert ammonia into nitrite, which is also poison to your fish.
Once nitrite is present in your tank, another type of bacteria will grow in your tank to convert nitrite to nitrate, which is no longer poisonous to your fish.
The cloudiness you’re seeing is likely the bacteria blooming due to the sudden high presence of ammonia, and the bacteria is blooming in order to consume your ammonia.

In the meantime, to increase the chance of survival of your fish, I’d recommend you do a 50% water change in order to ease the pain of your fish. Doing that every other day will be great. Or 25% daily.

Just to be sure of things, you should test your water for ammonia and nitrite. It’s normally free at major fish stores. Once your ammonia and nitrite has gone down to 0, then your tank is done cycling, and your tank is safe again.
Else, do frequent partial water change to ease your fish’ pain.
If unfortunately your fish does die, dont’ buy anymore fish until it’s done cycling.

Good luck!

oh and the full cycling process can take from 2 to 6 weeks normally depending on lots of variables.

Clear Water-Healthy Fish in an Aquarium