really dirty under gravel

[panboy]

i have 4 platys and 2 corys in a 10g and for some reason the tanks gravel is realllly dirty. the water looks clean, not foggy, and the water nitrite, ph, etc are fine, but when i vacuum the gravel, sooo much crap comes from underneath it, like the amount of a big pinch of food in each couple of square inches... it looks horrible when i vacuum, lol
is it the platy's that produce this much waste? i was thinking it could be the rocks, i have the small type river rocks, about 1cm square, and a tad bit larger. do u think the food falls through the gravel gaps.. i dunno why but maybe
thanks

 

[mashimaro_0000]

have you changed more than 50% water? cuz that may be some bateria boom in a mini cycle

 

[suemack]

hi there panboy

how are your fish - do they look and eat well? and......how often are you doing your water changes and how much water do you change each time, how much and how often do you feed and how long has your tank been set up? sorry about all the questions - it just helps us to get a more complete picture of your setup

regards - sue

 

[pondfreak4365]

I am surprised by the amount of 'stuff' that I siphon during water changes too. I also use natural river rock, not too large, but I think the excess food falls into the rocks and the fish don't retrieve it.

 

[Jo]

I too have been surprised in this way....was cleaning the glass on the inside of my tank last night and I disturbed some of the gravel, only to find that a cloud rose up from it...the fish seemed tolove me doing that as they frantically all started feeding from what was rising up..I presume that the same happens, some of the food (I have to crush it up small because of my fry) falls between the gravel...and they don't eat it...

Going to invest in a gravel hoover to clean a bit of it at a time, just to be on the safe side...

 

[Sinuhe]

I'm starting to think platies are huge tank polluters . I got 3 platies 2 days ago (and they aren't even grown up yet) and am currently housing them in a 10 gallon QT. I see them pooping all the time (I'm feeding them just small amounts twice a day), and today when I vacuumed the gravel I found tons of poop. I can't believe 3 small fish produced all that in just 2 days .

 

[panboy]

haha yeah, wierd, at least i know im not the only one.
my fish are eating fine, i set it up almost 2 months ago. since its just been cycling, i did lots of water changes to keep the nitrte lower, but now the cycle is done and im doing my regular 20-25% water change every week. thanks for the responses

 

[MAM]

youre not alone. i have the same problem. i do a 25-30% water change and gravel vac every week. i'm assuming its food and poo.

sinuhe, my mollies are the same, pooping machines!!! everyday i do a mini gravel vac with a turkey baster to get the big stuff (have black gravel and feed the color enhancing flakes so their poo is usually brightly colored and very obvious), they just eat, poo and make babies. what a life.

 

[panboy]

hahah i guess thats how all fish are.

i was wondering, do u remove your 'ornaments' and fish during each vacuum?
i think it really bothers the fish when u vacuum withj the fish in the tank, but i also think it bothers them when u have to catch them and put them in another tank for the moment. thanks again

 

[Sinuhe]

I would think it's much more stressful to the fish to be moved to another tank and back every time you vacuum the tank. The water will likely be a bit different in the other tank, and the constant damage caused when catching fish would probably cause them problems sooner or later.

 

[Alien Anna]

Don't worry about the "dirt" that appears in your gravel. It's the fish tank equivalent of soil. Just pop some live plants in there and consider part of the ecosystem!

FYI, it's the stuff remaining after the beneficial bacteria have broken down all the fish poo and left-over food. Be careful not to suck up too much of it when cleaning your tanks - it's doing good things!

 

[panboy]

thanks, i actually got my first live plant yesterday, it looks great too. ill be sure buying more live plants in the mean time

 

[akhtar]

before you do a water change stir the gravel

works for me, and half of it is sucked up into the filter

 

[joshua]

maybe ur plants are dying.. when mine were dying they really made the filter and gravel dirty fast.. just threw the whole lot away after one of my plants were totally dead and my water had algae