If you are familiar with aquariums, you will agree with me that one of the common problems many aquarists have is dealing with cloudy water, especially freshwater. In this article, you will know the causes of cloudy water in a crayfish tank.
Why is my crayfish tank cloudy? Bacteria bloom and Algae bloom are the causes of cloudy fish and crayfish tanks.
Cloudy tanks or cloudy water is a simple thing many hobbyists find a problem to contain or prevent.
In this article, you will not only learn the causes in detail but also how to prevent and how cure a crayfish or fish tank that is already cloudy.
Causes of Cloudy Water In A Crayfish Or Fish Tank
There are two causes of cloudy water in a crayfish tank, they are:
Bacteria Bloom
Bacteria bloom is the main cause of cloudy tanks. These bacteria infest a fish or crayfish tank and make the clean fresh water in the tank less transparent and dirty (cloudy).
Many aquarium hobbyists fight this bacteria almost every time without knowing the causes.
There is no how you can fight any disease or bacteria and achieve success without first knowing the cause of such.
Bacteria blooming in a crayfish or fish tank is caused by 2 things which are an uncycled tank and dirt in the tank.
An uncycled tank could be very harmful to any living thing that might be put in it, be it fish, crayfish, or another aquarium, so, therefore, it’s very compulsory to allow a new tank to cycle so that it could be safe.
The purpose of cycling a tank is to change the harmful bacteria and chemicals in the tank to become friendly bacteria.
When a new tank is bought, the cycling period of the tank could be anything from a week to a few weeks, depending.
To know when the cycling is complete, get testing kits and test the tank to be sure it’s free from chemicals.
Without going through this process, trust me, anything you put in that tank will develop one problem or another, and this normally leads to having a cloudy crayfish tank, etc.
A cloudy tank caused by bacteria bloom is always white and cloudy like a cloud.
Apart from an uncycled tank, another factor that could cause bacteria to bloom in and cloudy tank is dirty water.
We all agree that dirty water is not good for both man and animals, so keeping a dirty tank could harm your crayfish or fish and also could cause bacteria which will. have the tank turn cloudy.
Dirty water could be caused by many things such as leftover or uneaten foods, fish or crayfish poops, and dirty substrates.
Any of these factors could make the tank and its water dirty, which will feed or breed bacterias that will change the pure color of the tank and its water, thereby making the tank unsafe.
Although crayfish are hardy creatures that could survive in any condition, but keeping them in dirty water is not very nice for their health.
Algae Bloom
Algae bloom is another thing that could make a crayfish tank to become cloudy.
Although this is very different from bacteria bloom in the sense that algae are green and bacteria bloom is cloudy or kind of white.
What could cause Algae bloom is exposing the tank to the sunlight or decayed food particles and crayfish or fish poop.
Decayed particles feed and breed algae that if not controlled will change both the color of the water and the tank.
Unlink bacteria bloom, algae is not harmful to crayfish and other animals such as some fish and snails, etc as they eat them.
But all the same, to keep a clean and sane aquarium, both algae and bacteria bloom should be avoided or prevented, in that case, both the tank, the water, and the animal in it will be very comfortable and healthy too.
You have learned the cause, now the question is, how do we prevent or stop the crayfish tank from becoming cloudy.
How To Treat Cloudy Tank
A cloudy tank could be sometime harmful to crayfish and other animals, so if you are unlucky to have this in your crayfish or fish tank, then here is how to treat it.
To treat a could tank, you must, first of all, identify the primary cause of it.
If the primary cause is the substrates, then here is what you need to do to get rid of this bacteria so that your crayfish or fish tank will be free from being cloudy.
Either change the substrates which is the best idea or bring them out and treat them.
To do this, empty the crayfish tank and bring out the substrates, place them in a container then mix a bacteria killer of your choice and add little water so that the chemical will kill those bacteria.
Allow for a few hours, then rinse and put them back in the tank and add water.
With this, any bacteria that are hiding in the substrates will die.
If the bacteria is caused by an uncycled tank, then you should relocate the crayfish and treat the tank with chemicals.
There are many good chemicals out there to do this, do it and put the crayfish back when the tank test 0 ammonia, nitrate, chlorine, etc.
If it’s caused by sunlight, then it’s very simple to treat, just get more crayfish to eat them up or remove your tank from having access to sunlight by buying an aquarium light for the tank.
Again Get a good filter to help you keep the tank clean in order not to breed or feed those bacteria.
Plants could indeed turn some of these bad chemicals and bacteria into food, so have your crayfish tank planted, so that it will help you clean up some of these bacteria that are making your crayfish tank to be cloudy.
Again there are many chemicals out there that could clean up your tank when dropped in it, so buy them and use them.
How To Clean Crayfish Tank
Cleaning your crayfish tank could prevent many things from happening such as a cloudy tank, the crayfish contacting some diseases, etc.
To clean your crayfish tank, you have to be changing their water at least 20% every week.
Again have the tank planted and put in place a filter that will help to keep the tank clean by filtering those leftover foods and poops that might dirty the water and cause diseases or make the tank Cloudy etc.
Treat the substrates from time to time, at least once in 6 months or more, depending on the number of crayfish in the tank.
You can do this by washing those rocks and gravels with any suitable bacteria killer etc and changing their sand if necessary.
By doing these, your crayfish tank will be clean from any bacteria and disease.
How Long Does A Bacteria Bloom Last?
If you are unfortunate to have Bacteria Bloom in your tank, and that’s why your tank is cloudy, your may be wondering how long it could last.
How long does a bacteria bloom last? How long a bacteria bloom might take to clear up depends on how you treat it. Sometimes it could take 10 days for your tank to clear up.
The fact is bacteria bloom could be harmful and sometimes it could not, depending on the primary cause.
For instance, bacteria caused by uncycled tanks could be harmful to animals including crayfish.
Sometimes they could clear by themselves without you having to put any effort, and sometimes they don’t naturally go away, so it depends on the primary cause.
For those that will clear naturally which is sometimes caused by dirt from substrates and foods, it could tank a few days for them to clear and the tank water will become crystal clear again.
So, the time a bacterial bloom will last strongly depends on the primary causes.
What Does Bacteria Bloom Look Like?
Talking about bacteria bloom, you might be wondering what it looks like if you haven’t seen a cloudy tank before.
What do bacteria bloom look like? If you have a bacteria bloom. in your tank, the want will become cloudy and might turn milk as time goes by. You will not see inside other the tank because the water will not be transparent again and you will not see any floating particles.
Bacteria Bloom could be dangerous to aquarium animals if it is not properly taken care of by finding the cause and solving it once and for all.
Although crayfish are hardy animals, bacteria blooming in their tank could be harmful in many ways if not controlled.
Will Water Changes Help Bacteria Bloom?
Water changes are one of the most effective ways to fish bacteria to bloom which could cause cloudy tanks and water.
This is because once the water is changed, it reduces the overall level of any bacteria in your tank which could cause a cloudy tank, etc.
So water changes will help you in this if you do it consistently.
it’s advisable to do a 20-50% water change at least once a week, depending on the number of animals in the tank.
Although water changes could help, but won’t eradicate bacteria in your tank as they tend to reproduce quickly, so even when water is changed, some of them will still be in the tank and multiply.
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