Betta Fish poop?

I recently got a Betta fish and I’ve never owned fish before. I made sure to do a lot of research and I’m trying my best. I got plants and some of them are dying so I’m working on reviving them. I have this debris all over the bottom of my tank and I can’t tell if that is Betta poop or if it’s from my plants dying. If it is Betta poop what’s the best way to clean it and if it’s not could someone help identify what the heck it even is? It’s scattered all over the bottom of the tank and looks really weird.

Looks like poop to me. Do you own a siphon to clean the substrate? You should clean it weekly along with a water exchange. You can buy an aquarium siphon for under $20 on Amazon or at Petco or Petsmart.

gwand said:

Looks like poop to me. Do you own a siphon to clean the substrate? You should clean it weekly along with a water exchange. You can buy an aquarium siphon for under $20 on Amazon or at Petco or Petsmart.

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Thanks, I do own a siphon but it never seems to have the power to pick it up. Maybe I’ll invest in a better one. As for the water change I’ve been doing it every Saturday and I do about 25%.

Get a basic model gravel cleaner like the one in the following link. then use it each time you do a water change on the tank. You should try to do a partial water change once a week and I recommend a 50-75% water change each week. The gravel cleaner can be bought at any pet shop or online. You don't need anything extra, just a nice simple model like the one in the link.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Colin_T said:

Get a basic model gravel cleaner like the one in the following link. then use it each time you do a water change on the tank. You should try to do a partial water change once a week and I recommend a 50-75% water change each week. The gravel cleaner can be bought at any pet shop or online. You don't need anything extra, just a nice simple model like the one in the link.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Aquarium Cleaning Made Easy

Aquarium cleaning should take 30 minutes every two weeks. Learn how the professionals do it in 18 easy steps.

www.about-goldfish.com

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Wow okay thanks for the help this was really helpful

It looks as though you have sand; if that's what's on the bottom hold the siphon tube half an inch above the sand and make small circling movements. This will lift the poop etc off the sand to where the siphon can suck it up. If you push the siphon tube into sand like you do with gravel, it'll suck the sand up as well.

Auttie_Pie1 said:

Thanks, I do own a siphon but it never seems to have the power to pick it up. Maybe I’ll invest in a better one. As for the water change I’ve been doing it every Saturday and I do about 25%.

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If the siphon doesn’t work, it could be because the water in the tank and the water in the bucket are at about the same level.

Can you lower the bucket that you siphon the water into so that it is at least 0.5m or 2 feet below the water in the tank?

I wouldn't worry too much about fish poop or other detritus. It's food for the live plants. It's natural and doesn't harm the fish. It's just a little unsightly.
As your tank matures, it will get better at breaking it down. Until then, you can use a turkey baster to spot clean any detritus that you don't want to see.