# Cloudy Fry Tank



## Mentalmunchkin7 (Apr 11, 2014)

My fry tank has been set up for just over two weeks, and has 8 danio fry and at least 3 ghost shrimp fry in it. There's only an air stone and a heater in the tank, and a live plant (can't remember the name of it). Yesterday morning, when I looked in the tank, the water was cloudy. I've been doing water changes at least every two days, normally every day. This time, I missed cleaning the tank the one day, and yesterday it's cloudy. It's not a milky cloud, just a foggy cloud. I tried doing about a 20% water change yesterday, and did a 5% water change this morning, but it hasn't helped. How can I get rid of the cloudiness, without doing a major water change and shocking the babies?


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## Mentalmunchkin7 (Apr 11, 2014)

I forgot to say that the water in the fry tank was originally from an already established tank, pulled out (without the guk off the bottom) from the main danio tank, so it's not necessarily 'new tank syndrome'..


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## Elliott225 (Jan 9, 2014)

The tank will cycle till there is enough beneficial bacteria in it. Also, you could be over-feeding.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

there is very little bacteria in just the water , that is why you need to use old media..even though , your tank still needs a filter...
your tank will still cycle like it was just set up from scratch...


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

Well it won't cycle without a filter, my guess is this is just a temporary set up until the fry are large enough to join the other fish? Keep up the water changes, cloudiness is due to dirty water most likely.


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## Mentalmunchkin7 (Apr 11, 2014)

We will cut back on the food, and keep up on the water changes (obviously, since without a filter the water is going to get dirtier faster  ). Yes, this is a temporary tank. Once they are old enough, they are will be going either back in with the other danios, OR into an already cycled tank. How much of a water change should I be doing, and how often? So far, I've been doing about 10% just about every day (like I said, I did miss a day, and did miss a day or two before as well, but I try my best to do one every day!), but maybe that's not enough?


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

How big is their tank? The amount of water you need to change depends on the size of the tank


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

short term- larger water changes
long term- replace the air-store with a small sponge filter.


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## Mentalmunchkin7 (Apr 11, 2014)

The fry tank is about a 4.4 gallon (it's homemade, so it's not exactly 4.4, but very close to that), 10 inches high, 10 inches side to side, and 9 3/4 inches front to back. We started with a sponge filter, but because of the size of the tank, it was spitting water out too much and all over the place :???: We'll keep up with the water changes (did a approx. a 20% last night, and again tonight.. so far the danio fry seem to be okay with the changes), and feeding less. The tank is still a bit cloudy, but not as bad as it was a few days ago.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

get a gang valve,, give the sponge just enough air to blub.. blub .. blub a bubble at a time, give the rest to the stone.


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## Mentalmunchkin7 (Apr 11, 2014)

We did buy a gang valve.. going to try it in the tank tomorrow, and keep our fingers crossed that it clears the water! It's not as bad as it was, but it is still cloudy. We've been feeding the fry less, and sucking up the bottom of the tank sooner than normal (we have shrimp fry and mystery snails that are also eating the left over food). Thank you everyone for your help


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Not new tank syndrome? It's EXACTLY New Tank Syndrome. It clears up on its own.


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## Toshogu (Apr 24, 2009)

lohachata said:


> there is very little bacteria in just the water , that is why you need to use old media..even though , your tank still needs a filter...
> your tank will still cycle like it was just set up from scratch...


basically till you get a filter you're going to have lots of issues. water changes will throw your bacteria out of wack cause they'll exist where they can stick to stuff and there is some sort of water flow. so they all living on the surface of things.

get a small sponge and stick it on your air stone. problem solved


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## jennifer (Jun 24, 2014)

emc7 said:


> short term- larger water changes
> long term- replace the air-store with a small sponge filter.


Or a DIY sponge filer using the airstone. Turn the air way down to it filters slowly. You can so run small sponge filters hidden away in back corners of established tanks to ensure you have an insta cycled tank when transferring fry. Just move fry and filter. Start with clean, conditioned, water though. The old tank water is filled with nitrate and hormones and all kinds of things the babies do not need.

I get a little miffed when people talk about not wanting to do water changes because they don't want to shock their fish. Think of it this way, if you put 20 babies in a closed room and left them, it wouldn't take long for diapers and air to become very polluted. Changing the diapers and pumping in completely fresh air would be .. a welcome shock. Don't you think? I think your fish feel the same way. Same with adult fish, stick 20 adults in closed room for a week and see if they don't celebrate when the air is changed over completely. 

I've raised a lot of fry in my life and they have always done better with more frequent and larger water changes. They grow faster and I experience less loss. At least, with fish that is how it goes. I can't really speak for the shrimp, I never raised them. I have heard some shrimp breeders say the opposite of shrimp, but that would simply make raising fish babies and shrimp babies in the same grow out tank a bad idea.

I also don't understand moving old, polluted tank water into a new tank. The beneficial bacteria grows on surfaces, it doesn't float freely in the water. When you transfer tank water you are transferring water that already has a build up of nitrates and pheromones and hormones and waste products and ... possibly even parasites and things like that. I always moved my fry into completely fresh, conditioned water with a cycled sponge filter running very, very lightly.

That's what always worked well for me.


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