Milky water

[Rod]

I just did a water change yesterday and cleaned my canister filter. Now my water seems a bit milky, WHY??

[mikev]

Likely because you did not clean up the filter sufficiently.

Canister filter tends to collect a lot of waste if you don't clean it for a couple of months. When you partially clean it, you disturb the waste and the filter dumps it back into the tank. If this is the cause, the water should clear in a couple of days, or, if your water change was small, you can do another small change to speed up the cleanup.

[Rod]

Sweet! I was sure it was nothing, but why not utilise this great site for some usefull opinions..
CHEERS

[TammyLiz]

The milky look is from a bacterial bloom. What mikev was describing could cause one. They are caused by excess waste. Sometimes they can be pretty persistent. When I used to use UGFs I had problems with it from time to time.

[Rod]

But it will not do the fish any harm?

[sophie]

the other possibility is that you overcleaned the filter and killed off a lot of the beneficial bacteria and you're now seeing a cycle, in which case you need to check ammonia/nitrite levels and carry out appropriate water changes. If you haven't got test kits, do daily water changes.
that's if the water is definitely milky rather than murky. Murky looks bad, but isn't actually as problematic for the fish.

[Rod]

Cheers, it is alot clearer today. I will change some water anyway. Should be all good, I hope? Thanks for all the help...