my water is always cloudy, so the lady at the store said i should try stress coat or stress enzyme to help develop the bacteria...so, i used it on friday for the first time, and the stuff is purple and kinda smells like grape koolaid...is this normal?

also i'd like to know if y'all can help me figure out why in the my water is sooooo cloudy
-I don't have test kits, so i took some water to the store. She didn't give me actual #'s, but what she said is:
- the ph is a little bit low
- there is a little bit of ammonia in the water (but she said it shouldn't be enough to cause cloudiness)
- she did the nitrite test and she said the test water stayed yellow, which meant the levels are good...

ok, so here goes:
30 gallon tank, set up for about 2 months
2 fantails, each about 5 or 6 inches long
not showing any signs of stress or sickness
water changes once a week, about 30%
2 bubble walls
penguin bio wheel 330 filter
aquarium salt and water conditioner are used
-i added some of the stress enzyme on friday......the water got horribe looking, so i changed some of it today; and I tried some "algae fix" because there seems to be some water borne algae in there, and it completely cleared my 10 gallon betta tank...but it didn't make any difference in this tank, the water is still horrible looking......it is so cloudy that i can barely even see the bubble wall or the filter uptake pipe in the back :crp
-i'm so frusterated, i don't know what to do...i am about to just empty the whole tank and start over again :angry:

If it's white cloudy, rather than green cloudy, it's not algae. It's most likely a bacterial bloom. *MAKE* the girl give you numbers next time, she can do it. You need to know your actual levels, not just what she thinks about them, particularly given that she's not given you the greatest advice so far.

Stop using the Stress Zyme, it's worthless. The bacteria in it are not the right kind, if anything it will just make your water worse. Try doing a 10-20% water change every day for a week. White cloudy water is most likely a bloom of free floating bacteria that will *usually* go away over time and with water changes. It can also be caused by dust from unwashed substrate (bit late in the game for that in your tank) and certain medications (Maracyn/Maracyn 2 for example).

It sounds like your cycle hasn't completely worked itself out yet since you still have ammonia levels. I would do frequent small water changes for a while and see if that helps.

Btw, I don't recall the stress zyme I used in my first tank looking or smelling like grape koolaid, your's might have gone bad.

What klind of filter do you have? If you have a kind that can hold a carbon filter, then the carbon filter should clear up the water. Carbon they say is useless but it will make the water more clear if rinsed out really well before use and will also take the smell out Like said before you need exact numbers because pet stores don't have a clue what their talking about, exept for the select few

I found mine got cloudy once my fish hit a certain point, and extra filtration cleared mine up.

I have been doing the small water changes for about a month now, and it is still not working.
as for my filter, it is a biowheel 330....i do have carbon in it too.

well, i haven't done anything to it, but oddly enough, my water is suddenly clearing up