Anyone any ideas re my cloudy water in my non discus community tank?

[Maria Ashton]

I have had cloudy water in my other community tank for more than four weeks now and I can not work out what the problem is. I have been doing weekly water changes of 75% and it is not helping, up until now I was doing water changes every two weeks with no issues.

Tank is 68G or 260L, occupants: 10 plecos of various sizes, 1 betta, 1 dwarf gourmi, 7 angels - 4 of which are babies, 2 guppies, 3 small clown loaches, 2 tiger barbs, 3 platties, 1 molly, 1 rainbow

The problem started when I went away for a week and left the tank in the care of my parents in law, I measured out food and left instructions. They also cared for my discus community tank. I came back to one dead fish in each tank but the discus tank did not have cloudy water like the tank in question.

My water parameters are fairly normal, nitrates slightly higher than normal at 25, they come down slightly after a water change and then slowly rise again.

Anyone with any ideas?

[Ardan]

Sounds like a bacterial bloom to me. I would slow down wc's a bit but keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrites just to be safe. Also cut back on the feedings.
Make sure the filter is not dirty, but only clean it in used aquarium water.
If you have an extra sponge in the discus tank and can transfer that sponge to the community tank, the water should clear rapidly. However you can run the risk of transferring disease doing this.
hth
Ardan

[shoveltrash]

all else fails, try a submersible uv sterilizer?

[TNT77]

Make sure your filters dont have excess buildup in them from the overfeeding while you were gone.