This is a bit disgusting.. Fish poo EVERYWHERES

[MMarr]

Ok so about 5 minutes ago i "vacuumed my substrate/ did a 25% water change". so I finished doing that, and dumped out the water. I came back to the tank... and I hadnt been able to find my African Clawed frog.. so I lifted one of my decorations (its like a mini cave) and as i opened it, fish (or frog) feces flew out EVERYWHERES, theres all kinds of it, it looks disgusting, and i'm not sure that its very good for my fish... as they seem to think its food... but that would explain why my nitrite levels haven't been lowering, being that its been almost 7 weeks since the tank has been running, and it probably should have cycled by now. So i have a few questions:

1.Do i keep that decoration?
2.If so, how do i keep the feces from building up without stressing my fish?
3.Do i just let the feces in the tank right now all get filtered, or should i try and suck it all up?

Greatly appreciate it,
MMarr

 

[rich311k]

I would change the water again. You don't need to throw out your decorations just move them and vacuum under them when you change water. If there was that much stuff try feeding your fish less.

 

[Kasakato]

Thats normal. Keep the decor. Another water change may help, but you can just let the filter take it too.

 

[ashdavid]

Regular tank maintenance, once a week if possible , the smaller the tank the more frequent the maintenance, if you dont the fish will suffer, through disease, stress from bad quatilty water or a combination of both. Clean the gravel regularly, and if it is possible take that decoration out or lift it up and clean underneath it. I would not think you would have to get rid if it though.

 

[MMarr]

Regular tank maintenance, once a week if possible , the smaller the tank the more frequent the maintenance, if you dont the fish will suffer

Oh goodness, I do regular water changes literally every 2-4 days. I suction all the graval until what im suctioning is clear, and then if i dont have 25% of the water, ill suction the outside of the decorations to remove large amounts of algae (my pleco usually takes care of it however) but i hadnt moved the cave-like decoration in about 3 weeks, because i was afraid to bother the frog. So when i moved it, the fish poo that was in the graval underneath the cave was loaded with it. I had no idea i was supposed to actually move things out of the graval when it was cleaning tme, i always went around them... but I realize how important it is now. Thank you everyone who responded!

 

[f8ldzz]

Undisturbed gravel will allow mulm to sit and accumulate.
Gravel vacuums under the decor will minimize this.
This is why I run RUGF which seem to keep down the mess also.

 

[ashdavid]

Very good then, I am sorry that I assumed you were not doing regular maintenace, my apologies. Now you know what to do, so goodluck and keep up the good work(I sound like my old math teacher,LOL)

 

[MMarr]

Very good then, I am sorry that I assumed you were not doing regular maintenace, my apologies. Now you know what to do, so goodluck and keep up the good work(I sound like my old math teacher,LOL)

No apologies necessary, your like, an aquarium god, 1850G.. when i heard that i could barely believe it, then i saw the pics and was stunned... but YES, thank you very much for the help!

 

[mooman]

No apologies necessary, your like, an aquarium god

David prefers the title "Supreme Emperer of Aquariums", or just "Grand Extinguisher of Fish Poo"
If you're doing a good gravel vac with your water changes, then you should be able to leave a few "poop pockets" (please excuse the feces based illiteration) and not see a spike in nitrites no? I have large portions of my 29g that don't get gravel vaced at all (plantings, slate caves) and my numbers stay at zero. It may just be the fact that your tank is still pretty new. I'm starting to think it takes months for a tank to really become stable. Keep up the water changes, but don't make it such a chore that it makes you rethink the hobby.

 

[anonapersona]

feeding less

You may need to look at feeding less. Fish will eat whenever they see food, to the point that undigested food falls out the other end. That much waste in the tank while you are cleaning well says you are overdoing the food, IMO.