cloudy water?

[Lydia]

i have a fifteen gallon fairly heavily planted tank with a temp of about 78 F with fine gravel substrate that has 2 platies, 2 mollies, 5 zebra danios, 1 dwarf gourami, 2 albino c. aeneus, and one oto in it (also about 4 platy fry that are still small)

i dont know what the nitrates, nitrites, or ammonia levels are (sorry i dont have a test kit) but this tank has been running for years....i usually do about 40% water changes every 1-2 weeks....the tank has a good filter in it, but i have cloudy water. ever since it started getting cloudy, i have been doing much more water changes (about 40% once every 2-3 days) hoping that would make it clear up. the water isnt really bad cloudy, but its definately not good....it was crystal clear before, and i want to get it back that way....i havent been feeding more than usual and i even tried switching foods to see if that would help....i do a gravel vac every time i do a water change and there never seems to be much muck, if any, in the gravel.....does anyone know what causes cloudy water and how to get it back to normal? any help or suggestions would be appreciated!!

[maxpayne_lhp]

How cloudy? White cloudy or green cloudy?

[Lydia]

white cloudy...maybe it is a bacterial bloom or something?

[Damon]

Sounds like a bacterial bloom. Slow down with the waterchanges. Let the bacteria develop.

[Lydia]

oh ok thank you!

[Damon]

Glad we could help.