Fish tank is milky?!?

[Troutfisher]

Is there anything i can do about this?This is a 50 gallon tank. I did about a 40% water change where i cleaned the gravel and the filter. I hadnt done that since the tank was first set up. (about 5 - 6 weeks ago). After the water change the water turned this milky cloudy color. Looks like someone poured milk in the tank. Ive heard of bacteria bloom (i lost 8 angel fish due to this same reason) Never tried to fix the problem though.....i was so devistated i tore down the whole tank and started over.I must have taken out too much good bacteria and now ive thrown the tank off cycle. This was about a week ago. I did a small 25% water change yesterday and now the tank is even more cloudy!!! Cant even see the fish. We have an oscar and a LM bass in there. I feed them live feeder goldfish. They both eat those and then i supplement the oscar with some vitamin flake food. How can i fix this???Can it be fixed?Doing a water change made it worse........I use a whisper 40 power filterI just turned off the filter. Im going to leave it off for about an hour to see if any particles fall to the gravel. To see if it clears up....just to see what happens....This happened due to my taking out too much good bacteria....right??

[SaltwaterKing]

YEA i had this happen to mine awhile back. turn the filter off for an hour or two. then use your water treatment. ( you know the stuff you put in the water to take the clorine out when adding tap water. i hope you have been doing this.) i also added ick away drops to the water to kill any unwanted bacteria. My water cleared up gradually and all my fish lived. but make sure you are using that water treatment.if it doesnt work, which it should.... take a water sample up to you local aquarium. they should be able to tell you what exactly your specific problem is.good luck!

[Fisherman23]

May i suggest , change 80% of the water before all the fish die, use a gravel vac t get the water out, add bacteria in a bottle, pull your filter apart , clean it with aquarium water, add some charcoal to the media, add pillow stuffing to the media.Some reasons why this could be happening, overfeeding,not enough bacteria to break emonia and nitrites down, maybe there is decor in there with paint coming off, maybe there is wood making it cloudy, coral can do this too.I hope my advise helps.re:this happens because of not enough bacteria.Yes, buying ready to use bacteria in a bottle and adding it will help it come along, you should never use chemicals or tap water when cleaning the tank or filter, put a spunge aside for your tank that hasnt been used and only use aquarium water to wash them.Realy the only thing you want to remove is dead plants,uneaten food and fish poo.But at the moment, you want to do at least a 20% water change daily untill the water clears up.Once this happens, you have to follow a few rules,1.Only enough food for the fish to finish in 5 mins, if you feel they need more after the five minutes, repeat the rule and twice a day is more than sufficient.2.Never wash the tank and accessories with chemical water, no soap , no clorine.3.Make or buy a gravel vaccum, they are brillient, you can stir the yucky stuff up in the gravel and then suck it out :P4.If the plants are slimy and going brown, take them out and throw them away, they have a habbit of going wrotten and turning the water brown and acidy.5.When you think all is stable , take a water sample to the pet shop, to make sure.This should be done every once and awhile anyway just to be a good owner.THEN once its absolutely stable, you wont need to wash it unless it goes cloudy again, but by then the bacteria build up should help break it all down.Hope this helps

[Fisherman22]

You just need to wait,don't turn off the filter that will make things worse and don't clean the filter again for awhile that was probably what caused you problems not the water change.Also how did you clean the filter,never rinse the filter pads under the tap or it will kill the good bacteria just rinse them in the water you take out of your tank.

[fishmaster911]

You just stirred up all the stuff. Turn the filter back on, but put in some filter floss (poly-ester fiber fill - you can get a huge bag at wal mart for very little) It happens. It will clear. Cycling happens in the filter not in the water. DOn't be scared to change water. Get new activated carbon will help too.