Messy pleco and water changes

spamn

spamn

SW Newbie
Sep 7, 2008
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I just got a 3" pleco to help me with my algae issue. However, he seems to make as much waste as all of my fish put together. I do weekly water changes for the most part. 25% or so. I just use my gravel vac and a bucket. Then I wash my sponges out in my bucket.

My waste problem never seems to improve. My bioload is out of control now since the Pleco was added. I would have assumed that he would have cleaned up the tank. He just sleeps unde driftwood all day and poops a lot. :silly:

Any suggestions? Am I taking care of the tank wrong? I've never had a pleco before either. Also, with the gravel vac, it claims to be self starting but I'm dumb and can't get it to work so i disgustingly start the flow with my mouth. Knock on wood, I haven't sucked up any water into my mouth yet. I've noticed the suction it has is weak though. It sucks up water and that's about it. To get waste up I have to dredge the gravel and stir it up and then try to get it to flow into the vac.

What am I doing wrong here?

Thanks in advance.
 
Plecos do seem to create much waste and it seems like you are forever cleaning it up. This is fairly normal as they can't create waste if they don't eat.

As far as your suction problem, there is no need to suck on it to get it started. You simply fill the tube with water, raise high enough to get the water to flow over the rim and then plunge it back down before it empties. It gets easier with practice.
 
krytan said:
What sort of pleco do you have? A lot of plecos grow VERY large and produce a LOT of waste.
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The kind that sleeps a lot. Just kidding. I don't know. Up until recently I didn't even realize there were different types. I'll take a picture of him if I can. He hides under the driftwood all day camoflouged in.

I just feel that I'm doing something wrong. My water looks good, my I have white gravel and it's covered in brown algae and there is fish waste everywhere. I vacuum constantly and do water changes constantly.
 
I tried to take a picture of him but since he's attached to the underside of the driftwood 24/7 and blends in, it makes it hard to see him even with the naked eye. I guess my camera isn't the greatest either though.

This is all I could get, hope you're able to tell something...

IMGP1424.JPG
 
It's really hard to say from that pic but it looks like a common pleco. I hope you have a big tank as they can grow to 24".
 
My assumption was common pleco as well. He was cheap. I bought him just to be a worker more than a pet. My LFS said they do exchanges all the time. People bring in their overgrown Plecos and they will give them smaller ones. I heard they grow very quickly so I could see that becoming a hassle to exchange frequently.

My tank is a 60 gallon.

I plan on switching to marine in a little under a year. Until then, I'd like my FW community to not be so messy.
 
I've found plecos arn't that great at eating algae and buying them to help fix an algae problem is a really bad idea. If you want a pleco i would recomend an ancistrus as these stay reasonably small.
 
welcome to the world of plecos.

larger water changes may start to help with your problems (like 50% weekly).

while a pleco may eat algae, algae feeds on excess nutrients (fish waste). by adding a fish to the tank to reduce the algae rather than cleaning it yourself, all you have done is add another stage to the algae's life cycle. unless you remove the source and the nutrients, you are going to be trapped in an endless cycle.

algae grows, fish eats algae, fish poops (massively), algae eats waste, algae grows more, etc. . . . you have to break the cycle, and part of that is not adding more fish when there is already a problem in the tank. less light, less waste, more water changes.
 
wataugachicken said:
algae grows, fish eats algae, fish poops (massively), algae eats waste, algae grows more, etc. . . . you have to break the cycle, and part of that is not adding more fish when there is already a problem in the tank. less light, less waste, more water changes.
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I'm happy someone pointed that out. If you want to fix a problem, you have to address the problem, not the symptom. In this case, the problem is an overload of nitrates the symptom is excessive algae growth. So, you need to find a way to reduce the amount of nitrates. There's two ways to do that: Live plants and water changes. If you don't want to open up the can of worms that live plants can create, you'll have to stick with water changes.

Personally, I think smaller, more frequent water changes are the healthiest way to go. Start with shooting for 50% weekly change by doing two 25% changes through the week (or 5 10% changes). See how that does. If that doesn't help, go for 75% weekly by doing three 25% changes through the week.
 
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