Clown Pleco Waste Management

[Zac]

Hey y’all,

I have a clown pleco that produces a lot of waste. Like probably more than all of the other 20 something fish  I have in my 30 gallon (don’t worth it isn’t overstocked but it’s probably at about max capacity). Anyways, as I said, clown pleco produces a ton of waste. He hasn’t been producing this much waste until probably the past couple of weeks or so. He is healthy. This waste seems so cause my ammonia to fluctuate anywhere from 0-.25 I’d say with .25 being the worst. It’s usually about at .1 and then drops back down to 0 within a day or so. I know this isn’t normal. And the waste produces what I would assume to be either protein foam or ammonia foam around the perimeter of the tank but it doesn’t stink like protein foam. Obviously I can’t vacuum out the waste every day. Will my tank eventually get accustomed to this waste? Or should I consider doing a 5 gallon water change/gravel vacuum weekly?

[Colu]

What type of filter are you using it might not enough to cope with the amount of waste your fish are producing I would do a 25% water change every week and dose with prime if your consistently seeing ammonia 

[Zac]

 

On 11/4/2021 at 12:44 PM, Colu said:

What type of filter are you using it might not enough to cope with the amount of waste your fish are producing I would do a 25% water change every week and dose with prime if your consistently seeing ammonia 

I have a seachem tidal 35. Should I consider upgrading?

[lefty o]

here's my questions. how long has the tank been up and running, and do you have any plants in it? pretty much all pleco's are poop machines. if you do semi regular water changes with a light gravel vac , the tank should accommodate it on its own if you have plants, all the better as they are excellent filters themselves, and all that pleco poop that gets down into the gravel becomes fertilizer.

[Zac]

On 11/4/2021 at 4:34 PM, lefty o said:

here's my questions. how long has the tank been up and running, and do you have any plants in it? pretty much all pleco's are poop machines. if you do semi regular water changes with a light gravel vac , the tank should accommodate it on its own if you have plants, all the better as they are excellent filters themselves, and all that pleco poop that gets down into the gravel becomes fertilizer.

The tank has been running since mid September so it should by cycled by now. I don’t have live plants but I want to get some within the next month or so. As of now I’m going to start doing weekly water changes with a thorough gravel vac and hope that can stabilize things

[lefty o]

On 11/4/2021 at 3:50 PM, Zac said:

The tank has been running since mid September so it should by cycled by now. I don’t have live plants but I want to get some within the next month or so. As of now I’m going to start doing weekly water changes with a thorough gravel vac and hope that can stabilize things

since mid september, so its still not real mature, so things will keep getting better with it, and when you add plants, they will do many good things for you.