# betta tanks cloudy?



## daniel89 (Nov 28, 2009)

So all my betta tanks are cloudy, Im thinking its the betta mint flake food with color enhancing. I dont over feed them with the flakes and usually the day after i give them flakes the water is cloudy even after i change all the water in there tank and rinse them out really well to perfection.

Any idea how to stop this :S


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## Zenandra (Dec 28, 2009)

Sounds to me like it might be the food. Maybe try switching to pellets instead of flake food? Ive found that my bettas much prefer pellets over flakes any way


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## Guest (Dec 28, 2009)

I talked to him in chat.

he said he has been using the food for a while and he sees no correlation between when he switched to this food and when the cloudiness appeared.
FishontheBrain and I seemed to have narrowed it down to algae bloom or the food, and crossed out the food. Yet an algae bloom in 7 tanks simultaneously and continuously is very unlikely lol. I think he said he has 8 or 9 tanks total and only 7 are affected, the only linking factor being the food. And if it were the food all tanks should be affected. He also said that he only feeds every 4 days or something.


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## Cam (Nov 9, 2009)

Do not feed daily. When I first started, I fed my fish daily. Not a good plan. A slimy and oily buildup forms on the top of the water and takes about a week to go away. I currently feed my fish once, every other day.


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## Guest (Dec 28, 2009)

Like I said, he feeds every 4 days. I talked to him at length about the problem and his setup today.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

filtered tanks or not? cloudy white or cloudy green? Algae and bacteria are possibilities, they multiply when food is present. Don't assume food doesn't change, companies reformulate to keep costs down and buy their ingredients from different suppliers. Also don't assume your water supply is constant. Even a small amount of certain metals can trigger algae blooms and that metal could come from food or water. Time to experiment, feed a different food to 2 of the tanks that get cloudy, put fresh activated carbon in 2 more. What do the non-cloudy tanks have in common? for instance, are they out of direct sunlight, warmer or cooler, or have bottom feeders or live plants?


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## daniel89 (Nov 28, 2009)

5 of the male 1 gallon tanks all got water changes on the same day, they are not filtered, they have fake plants, and they all got water changes friday. i feed them once and by saturday the water was cloudy.

My 10 gallon which all the females in it, it has filter, one real plant, and 6 pygmy corries. It is the cloudiest of them all. And i have been using this same flake food for about two weeks now so im guessing its the food. cause before hand i noticed a slight film on top of the water and its on top again.


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## Guest (Dec 28, 2009)

He also said the one with the filter he puts fresh carbon in ever 2 weeks. I suggested adding fresh carbon while it was cloudy, but I really didn't know what was going on haha.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Bettas like high-protein food. High-protein food tends to leave an oily film on the surface of the water which you can skim off or suck up with carbon. That could be related to cloudiness or not. If it were just the unfiltered tanks, I'd just tell you to double or triple the water changes. But the 10 puzzles me. Please list everything you are adding to the water. Do you have an ammonia test kit? One side effect of replacing carbon often is you end up throwing away some of your filter bacteria. So a spot check to make sure the cloudiness isn't something eating an ammonia spike is a good idea.


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## daniel89 (Nov 28, 2009)

i haven't even changed the carbon in the tank... it hasnt been up and running that long for it to need changing.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Cloudiness in a tank less than 2 months old is pretty normal and usually goes away by itself as the tank finishes cycling. But it could still be the food. I had one goldfish flake that made my water blue.


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