# Milky, cloudy, bubbly water



## jdsierra92 (Jan 28, 2010)

Hi, I have well established (11 years), 29 gallon, freshwater aquarium. I have 9 fish, including an angel that is about 6 years old. In the last couple of weeks, I started noticing that the water looked milky. I did a water partial water change & cleaned the filter (The power filter is a Marineland/Biowheel. I did not, of course, clean the biowheel). The next day it still was cloudy & also had lots of bubbles at the top, almost soapy looking. I tried to think about what I may have done different lately. I did add live, aquarium plants to the tank back in Nov., but plants have been doing well & the tank looked just fine, until recently. We live in Florida & had some freezing weather earlier this month. I did adjust the heater in the tank a few times to keep it at around 78 degrees. We do not have a heater with set temps, so I had to keep adjusting it. So over a couple of days, the tank went from 78 to about 74, up to 80 & back to 78. I read somewhere that a temp. change could cause cloudy, bubbly water? The fish seem to be doing fine. My angel isn't eating as much, but I don't think he likes all the bubbles on top (he's very skittish). When I did the last water change (the water was milky, but no bubbles) I did place some plant food tablets in the gravel around the plants. Could this have caused the bubbly water? I checked the ammonia & Ph. Ammonia level was 0.25 ppm. Ph was 6, but I have had issues with Ph in the past. I just add a handful of natural coral sand to the gravel & this usually helps. I have never seen cloudy, bubbly water in my tank before. I am at a loss. Anyone know what could be causing this & what can I do to fix it?


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## Dmaaaaax (Nov 20, 2008)

Is the tank in your house? I don't understand why the temp outside made you add a heater if the tank is in the house. What is the temp in your house usually? The reason I am asking about temp is because the warmer the water the less oxygen it holds. If you had to add warm water from your faucet due to the freeze outside you are also adding oxygen depleted water. 

The other issue is that you have ammonia present. Your water change/temp fluctuations and filter cleaning could have caused a lot of bacteria to die and the cloudy water you see is a bacteria bloom. This may also explain the bubbles at the top. Do smaller water changes with cold water, and keep the heat as constant as possible. Try to test your nitrite and nitrate levels if possible.


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## RentalPhilippines (Oct 14, 2010)

Dmaaaaax said:


> Is the tank in your house? I don't understand why the temp outside made you add a heater if the tank is in the house. What is the temp in your house usually? The reason I am asking about temp is because the warmer the water the less oxygen it holds. If you had to add warm water from your faucet due to the freeze outside you are also adding oxygen depleted water.
> 
> The other issue is that you have ammonia present. Your water change/temp fluctuations and filter cleaning could have caused a lot of bacteria to die and the cloudy water you see is a bacteria bloom. This may also explain the bubbles at the top. Do smaller water changes with cold water, and keep the heat as constant as possible. Try to test your nitrite and nitrate levels if possible.


This is also happening to my aquarium right now! The water is so cloudy and bubbly as if someone sprinkled powdered soap. I'm so worried because I lost my 2 5-mo.-old gold fishes (tulips & spotty) and my "Charlie's Angels" fishes. =( I changed 30% of the water but I don't know how to test nitrite and nitrate levels. I live in the Philippines and the weather here is humid, around 27-30 degrees Celsius. Please tell me what to do. I don't want to lose my remaining fishes. Thanks and More Power!


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

I would think it's cleared up by now being 9 months ago. ;oP

What kind of maintenance have you been doing on the tank?


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