When cleaning my tank...do I remove all decorations?

[Hokieokieamy]

Hey all,

One of my corydoras has a bacterial infection (I think?) and this has me wondering if I clean my tank efficiently enough. I do a 25% water change each week and gravel the sand. I clean under most of the decorations except for two of them. One is really large and a huge pain to remove from the tank. The other one is just hooked up to a bubbler so I don't like to remove it, but I could start to move it around to clean under it efficiently.

Thank you

 

[Byron]

You should not need to clean the substrate under decor items like chunks of wood, rock, and other items. Clean the open areas. The substrate under the decor items will usually become anaerobic, and that is good because this is part of a healthy substrate/aquarium. But you also do not want to disturb these areas because they can be rapidly toxic.

Change more water at one time though, 50-70% of the tank volume once a week. This is basic regardless of the fore-going.

Re the cory issue...is this still present? If yes, can you post a clear photo? Also, what is the GH and pH of the water? And have you tested for amonia, nitrite and/or nitrate, and if yes, what are the numbers?

EDIT. I just came to your other thread specifically on the cory issue...it will be best to leave that issue in that thread and not continue it here as well, that can get confusing for you and us.

 

[Hokieokieamy]

You should not need to clean the substrate under decor items like chunks of wood, rock, and other items. Clean the open areas. The substrate under the decor items will usually become anaerobic, and that is good because this is part of a healthy substrate/aquarium. But you also do not want to disturb these areas because they can be rapidly toxic.

Change more water at one time though, 50-70% of the tank volume once a week. This is basic regardless of the fore-going.

Re the cory issue...is this still present? If yes, can you post a clear photo? Also, what is the GH and pH of the water? And have you tested for amonia, nitrite and/or nitrate, and if yes, what are the numbers?

I will work on getting a picture as well as the water parameters. However, an additional question, is it okay to remove my one decoration when cleaning? The reason I ask is because it has a hidey-hole that my pleco hangs out in a lot and there's often a lot of fecal matter and debris in there. Is it ok to clean under this decoration if I do it every week, and the toxicities do not build up underneath it?

 

[Byron]

I will work on getting a picture as well as the water parameters. However, an additional question, is it okay to remove my one decoration when cleaning? The reason I ask is because it has a hidey-hole that my pleco hangs out in a lot and there's often a lot of fecal matter and debris in there. Is it ok to clean under this decoration if I do it every week, and the toxicities do not build up underneath it?

I have never done this, meaning, clean under the "home" of a pleco, catfish or loach. Provided the tank is biologically balanced, and water changes are 50-70% weekly, and you are not overfeeding, this should not pose a problem. Snails can help though, common small ones like Malaysian Livebearing Snails, or the pond or bladder snails. Snails eat fish excrement which breaks it down faster for the various bacteria to deal with it.

 

[KevinZ]

I don't think it's really necessary to clean your tank every week.
I think 25% water change / week
And clean the filter every 2/3 weeks (depending on how big your tank is) its okay.
I do any deep clean every 4-5 months and my fish is happy with it.
I had some hiding space for my upside down catfish too. And yet I never touch it.
Your fish can keep the hiding spot clean by itself I think (especially bottom dweller) or maybe you can get some help from a man shrimp/MTS.

 

[JuiceBox52]

I agree with byron. Do a 50%+ water change weekly and see how it goes