Important
Information
about
Cloudy,
Foamy, or Smelly
Aquarium Water |
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This page
explains briefly
why your fish's water is cloudy, foamy or smelly
and what to do about it. Cloudy, foamy, or smelly
water will almost always cause stress and disease
to your fish, so
you should
immediately take action to clear the water.
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Why is the Water
Cloudy, Foamy, or Smelly?
Each of
these three problems is caused by a high concentration
of bacteria in the water. Uneaten fish food or fish
waste in the water provides nourishment for bacteria,
that are floating in the water, and feeding on the
waste in the water.
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These
bacteria often cause Signs of Stress and Disease
in the fish. Click
here for more about some of the Signs of Stress
and Disease in fish.
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The advertisement, shown below, links to
this advertiser's web site. |
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Click
here to hear a
Special Interview on Pet Fish Talk about the EcoBio-Block
Family of Products, which are very effective at keeping
aquarium water clear. |
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1. Get
Rid of Cloudy, Foamy, or Smelly Water.
Start by thoroughly cleaning your fish's home. Depending
on what kind of home your fish have, click on one
of the topics below for more details.
●
How to Clean Your Fish Bowl
●
How to Clean
Your Cool Water Aquarium
●
How to Clean
Your Warm Water Aquarium
●
How to Clean
Your Pond
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2. Change Some Water Every Day.
Change some water every day. We recommend
that you change 20% of the water. Changing more
than 20% of the water in one day is risky to your
fish.
By
changing some of the water, you'll remove some of
the dissolved waste and begin to starve the bacteria.
But don't get impatient and change too much water,
because that can harm the fish. Click
here
for more details about changing water.
You can put the water from your aquarium on the
plants in your yard, so you won't be wasting water.
Once the water clears, you can go back to changing
water twice a week instead of every day.
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The advertisement, shown below, links to
this advertiser's web site. |
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3. Reduce the Amount
of Food.
Too much
food often causes Cloudy Water, so reduce the amount
of food, and be sure your fish eat all the food that
you feed them. Remove uneaten food after 10 minutes.
Click
here
for more information about feeding your fish.
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Click
here
to hear
a Special Interview with Dr. Tim Hovanec about One And Only
- Nitrifying Bacteria, which can help keep aquarium water clear
and odor free. |
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4. Add these Chemicals to Your Water.
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Aquarium Salt.
The dose is on the box.
Click here for information about Aquarium Salt.
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Water Conditioner.
The correct dose is on the bottle.
Click here for information about Water Conditioner.
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Quick Cure.
Add a half-dose as a preventative.
Click here for information about Quick Cure.
Do not add
any other chemicals or medications
to the water.
Add
the Aquarium Salt just once, but repeat the
Water Conditioner
and Quick Cure every day until the water clears.
Be careful to use the correct doses of each chemical
because more will not be better. All three of these
items are available in most stores that sell pet
fish.
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Generally speaking it is not safe to mix chemicals.
Some knowledgeable advanced aquarists may be skeptical
about mixing Water Conditioner and Quick Cure, but we have
been assured that these two chemicals are compatible.
Do not add other chemicals that may not be compatible.
Do
not assume that other chemicals can be mixed unless
you have checked with the manufactures of those
chemicals. Mixing chemicals can be unsafe. Click
here
for more advice about Safety.
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The advertisement, shown below, links to
this advertiser's web site. |
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5. If your Fish's
Home has Gravel.
Get a handful of gravel from an established aquarium
with healthy fish and sprinkle that gravel on top
of the gravel that you already have. The beneficial
bacteria that are living on the handful of gravel
will quickly multiply to cover the surfaces of the
rest of the gravel in your cloudy aquarium. The
beneficial bacterial will digest the waste in your
water, and the water will quickly clear. Click
here
to read more about Cultured Gravel.
The water in my small pond got
cloudy, about a week after I started to feed the
fish. My pond had about 1/4-inch of gravel. When
I noticed the Cloudy Water, I added a handful of
gravel from an established aquarium with healthy
fish. My pond water cleared-up about 36 hours, after
I added the handful of gravel. Click
here to read more about my cloudy pond water.
Where can you get a handful of
gravel from an established aquarium with healthy
fish? Often you can just go to a local fish store
and ask for a handful of gravel, and they will give
it to you. You might offer to pay. Ask them to get
the gravel from an aquarium that has been trouble
free. For example, you certainly wouldn't want to
get gravel from an aquarium that recently had a
case of the disease called ick. Click
here to read more about ick.
The fish store may also offer
to sell you several different products that will
solve your Cloudy Water problem. Just tell them
that you'd like to try the handful of gravel first.
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If your water is cloudy or was recently
cloudy and is now clear, be sure to check your fish
for Signs of Stress and Disease. Click
here to read more about these signs. Click
here to read about a Recommended Treatment for
fish with Signs of Stress and Disease.
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The advertisement, shown below, links to
this advertiser's web site. |
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6. Avoid the Problems in the Future! |
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Don't feed
your fish more than they can eat.
Learn to feed your fish so there isn't any uneaten
food left over. Carefully watch your fish eat
and then remove any uneaten food after 10 minutes.
Click
here for more about how to feed fish.
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Be sure to
clean your fish's home once a month and change 20% of the water twice
a week. Click
here for a complete schedule of maintenance
tasks.
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If you have
an aquarium, it should have the correct type of filter that's
clean and working properly. We recommend a power
filter with a BIO-Wheel. The BIO-Wheel is very
important. Click
here for more information about aquarium
filters.
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A layer of
gravel 1/4-inch thick will help keep the water in a fish bowl clear.
But an aquarium with a bio-wheel filter doesn't
need gravel. If you like the appearance of gravel,
make sure it's only 1/4-inch thick. Always stir
the gravel gently just before you change water.
Click
here for more about gravel.
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Click
here to go on to another page in this web
site with Customer Comments and our Replies about
Cloudy Water. |
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The advertisement, shown below, links to
this advertiser's web site. |
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Click
here
to verify our "PayPal Reputation",
which shows we have been selling on PayPal since 2002,
and we've sold items to thousands of satisfied customers.
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Holliday Gift Idea
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PayPal Gift Certificates
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Click on
the orange button, just below, to buy
a PayPal Gift Certificate for
someone, who loves pet fish.
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About our Fish Photographs ...
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Almost all the photographs and videos, shown on this web site, were taken
by us in our aquariums of our fish. Compare the healthy,
beautiful, energetic fish in our beautiful aquariums to the
fish in our competitors pictures. Their fish often look thin
with clamped fins and poor color.
We buy the highest quality fish, produced by the best fish
farms or caught by the best collectors of wild fish, then we take incredibly good care of our fish in our beautiful aquariums. If you compare the pictures on this site to our competitors pictures, you can instantly see, our fish and aquariums are better!
;^ }
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o
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