I have an oscar and a pleco in a 55 gallon tank. The oscar is not even a year old and is probably like 6 inches long. He is not big. My pleco on the other hand is huge. We JUST did a total water change 3 days ago, put in new filters, and again already the water is disgusting and green. Why can't we keep this tank clean?? Isn't the pleco supposed to help? Do I need a bigger thank for just the two of them? I feed my oscar small amounts at a time, I make sure he eats everything before I give him more, and I scoop what he doesnt eat out of the tank.
Maybe my filter (not the cartridges) itself sucks? But the cartridges always have a ton of stuff on them. I just dont' know what to do and I feel bad for my fishies living in filth.
heeeeelp
2007-07-22 10:49:18 · 8 answers · asked by Its a secret! 2 in Pets ➔ Fish
I'm not sure the brand but it says it can clean tanks up to 70 gallons....and mine is 55. :(
2007-07-22 10:57:15 · update #1
when you completely change the water and the filter you remove a lot of the beneficial bacteria needed to break down the massive amounts of waste produced by those fish. so the problem was you did to much. you are better off putting in the old filter and maybe just adding new activated carbon so you reintroduce those bacteria you need to breakdown the waste.
2007-07-22 11:01:06 · answer #1 · answered by craig 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If the filter always has a ton of junk on it, then it's getting that much junk out of the water, so it's doing it's job as well as it can. Maybe you need a larger filter for the tank, but what you need to do it figure out where the junk on the filter is coming from. Usually it's extra food, so try to be extra careful at feeding time for both of the fish.
When the water turns green, that's free floating algae i the water. It needs two things to grow; light and nutrients in the water. The nutrients come from fish waste and excess food. Be sure to clean the gravel well with a gravel siphon when you change water and change about 30% once a week.
As for the light, make sure your tanks doesn't get any direct sunlight. Light from a window or door should never shine on your tank for a long period of time. Also leave the tank light on no more than 10 hours a day, less than that would be even better.
If you do those two things, along with keeping the filter cartridges cleaned off will get rid of the green algae. It will take a while, but it will work.
MM
2007-07-22 11:01:12 · answer #2 · answered by magicman116 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If your oscar is eating all the food you feed it, then the only thing the pleco is "cleaning" is algae. There are types of algae that fish won't eat, and this will have to be dealt with in other ways. Common plecos, which are the ones that generally get huge, create nearly as much waste as they get rid of. They are very good at eating algae and excess food that sinks to the bottom of the tank, but they are also good at pooping a lot.
There is no fish that will eat poop. You have to get rid of it with vacuuming and water changes. The filter helps with that and with minute debris that would otherwise be floating freely through the water column, but it will not clean your tank for you. After all, where can it put all that stuff? You should not be doing complete water changes, but 20-25% water changes every other week, or every month if your tank is well established. If you are cleaning up the crud on the bottom, then don't worry about your fishies "living in filth". Green water bothers us people much more than it bothers fish. In fact, most of them like it! Some people who raise fish keep a tank of green water growing to squirt it into the fry tanks to feed the fry.
Plants are actually a much bigger help at keeping algae and fish waste levels down to manageable levels as they will use the waste for fertilizer and outcompete the algae for nutrients, starving it out. The best plants for this are fast growers, like watersprite, anacharis, java moss, java fern, naja grass, etc. These are mostly easy to care for plants as well.
2007-07-22 11:21:03 · answer #3 · answered by Ghost Shrimp Fan 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, plecos and oscars are some of the dirtiest tropical fish you can get, but....
You say the tank is "green" already. Are you leaving the lights on 24 hours a day? This may be an issue. Turn them off at night, or when you aren't home. This will keep the algae from taking over.
I had a huge pleco. Looks cool , but they are sooo dirty. I had bought him to keep the tank clean, but as he got big, he messed it up more than he cleaned it. I ended up getting rid of him. I use otocinlius and Chinese algae eaters now.
Good luck.
P.S. You should never change all the water out. It messes up the natural cycle of the tank. 25% at a time.
2007-07-22 10:57:16 · answer #4 · answered by Bruce J 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Oscars and Plecos are some of the messiest fish you could possibly own. Plecos only eat algae, and they tend to do a poor job of it. If you have those fish in 55 gallon tank, I would say the filter should be adequate for 100 gallons. Get a massive filter (canister preferably) and do weekly water changes and gavel vacuuming. To keep those two together is going to require spot on maintenance.
Nosoop4u
2007-07-22 11:09:15 · answer #5 · answered by nosoop4u246 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The total water change and filter change did it. Never do more than 25% at a time. Never do the filter within 72 hours of a water change.
Your tank needs to cycle. Every time you do and clean the daylights out of the tank, you've restarted the cycle process.
http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php
http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html
http://www.bestfish.com/breakin.html
2007-07-22 11:44:31 · answer #6 · answered by Democrat with 5 Guns 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
maybe you should clean the filter itself then procede to water changes etc..
2007-07-22 11:31:51 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
What kind of filter do you have?
Is it the right size?
They have to have enough energy to filter all the water, it's possible yours isn't big enough for the tank.
2007-07-22 10:53:58 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋