Troubleshooting a Ceramic Bucket That Will Not Hold Fluid

Check If It Is Fired

The most common problem is using an unfired clay bucket. Look at the item name — if it still says "unfired," it has not been smelted. Place it in a furnace and smelt it into a ceramic bucket before trying to scoop anything.

Check the Fluid Source

Buckets only pick up source blocks, not flowing fluid. If you are aiming at a stream of water or a lava fall, the bucket will not fill. Find the still source block at the origin of the flow and right-click that instead.

Check Your Aim and Hand

Make sure you are right-clicking the block, not the air above it. If you are sneaking, you may be interacting with the block rather than the fluid. Release sneak and try again.

If It Still Fails

• Confirm the bucket is the ceramic bucket item and not a different mod's bucket.
• Try a fresh bucket in case the current one is somehow corrupted.
• Check that the fluid is a supported type; some mods add fluids that vanilla-style buckets cannot pick up.

Prevention

Fire every bucket before storing it, and label chests so unfired and fired buckets do not get mixed up.