Two things

by Sandman1969 Fri Jul 10, 2015 2:39 am

Just realized that it appears that my pleco has not been eating much if at all for an unknown amount of time. I did a gravel clean just now & there's a LOT of left over food. Hard to see as the gravel is basically the same color.
So I also did a 50% water change & also emptied out the 10g tub filter & siphoned out all the bad stuff that had built up in there.
Hopefully he starts eating soon.

Also, I have an idea for gravel cleaning but no clue how to implement such a thing.
I have a 325GPH pump running my 10 gallon tub filter and want to come up with a way of attaching the siphon to it to clean the gravel as it would be stronger.

Any ideas on both?

by GaryE Fri Jul 10, 2015 5:32 am

A common pleco's heavy waste production can look like uneaten food.

by Suprd71 Fri Jul 10, 2015 1:26 pm

On a big plec, the area between the eyes on its forehead is where fat reserves are stored. Any indent of this region is a sign of malnutrition. Your pump will pull gravel right into the impeller. Then no pump, no filter. Python attached to a faucet with good pull is the best way to manage substrate in a big waste aquarium

by Sandman1969 Sat Jul 11, 2015 12:14 am

Suprd71 wrote:On a big plec, the area between the eyes on its forehead is where fat reserves are stored. Any indent of this region is a sign of malnutrition.

No indent between the eyes, but I do see indents back about an inch behind his eyes.
He has a fresh piece of zucchini in there but has not touched in it 10+ hours now. I also bought a fresh bag of algae wafers that he has eaten before & no go.

Any ideas on what to do?

by Sandman1969 Sat Jul 11, 2015 3:05 am

BTW, he used to happily eat algae wafers, some shrimp pellets & the zucchini. But now, he won't touch any of it.

I've already lost one pleco this year, don't want to lose him too.

by Suprd71 Sat Jul 11, 2015 8:32 am

He actually looks to be in pretty good shape. Nice dark color. Also, when they are in really bad shape, the dorsal will begin to fray and decay. I dont see that on your guy. Why he is not eating, I cant say. Have you done an accurate water test?

by fish lady Sat Jul 11, 2015 9:30 am

My female was the same way this time of year for about 2 weeks it started just after she hit the 9in mark in sure she will eat soon

by Sandman1969 Sat Jul 11, 2015 10:40 am

Suprd71 wrote:He actually looks to be in pretty good shape. Nice dark color. Also, when they are in really bad shape, the dorsal will begin to fray and decay. I dont see that on your guy. Why he is not eating, I cant say. Have you done an accurate water test?

I'm actually going to take some water to Big Al's to test later today.
If need be, it should be safe to do another water change tomorrow right?

by Suprd71 Sat Jul 11, 2015 12:55 pm

There is only benefit to water changes. Done properly, with conditioner if needed. The only way a huge water change will adversely affect fish is if the fish have had prolonged exposure to very poor water. Then a half or three quarter volume blast of clean water can lead to osmotic shock. If your test comes back showing any ammonia, nitrite or nitrate over 40, I would do consecutive days of lesser volume changes. You need to strive for a maximum nitrate level of 20, and zeros on the others. When you see 20, a big change is required.

by Sandman1969 Sat Jul 11, 2015 1:27 pm

All tests came back clean except for the ammonia. I cleaned half the gravel of the 6 foot long tank & also changed out the floss on top of changing 50% of the water.
I'll do a small water change tomorrow.

by Suprd71 Sat Jul 11, 2015 2:20 pm

If you have an ammonia reading over .25, then your bio filtration is being overwhelmed. Not enough beneficial bacteria to process the amount of ammonia that big fish produce.

by Sandman1969 Sat Jul 11, 2015 2:33 pm

Well, the filter I have is home made. It's a 10 gallon Rubbermaid plastic tote.
Water feeds in from the bottom. There's a plastic shelf about a 1/4 up from the bottom that holds around 30 of those plastic pot scrubbers that sit in a bowl shaped floss. Floss first then the scrubbers, then the water comes out through the top back into the tank. The pump is a 325GPH. This has been running on this tank for a few years now & this is the first time any of the fish stopped eating. First time the ammonia got this way. I do want to build another one of these filters as the FX6s are too damn expensive.

by Sandman1969 Sat Jul 11, 2015 3:40 pm

I just changed pumps from the 325GPH to a 600GPH. Think that would be better?

by Suprd71 Sat Jul 11, 2015 3:44 pm

Yep, I am familiar with your setup Sandman. You have lost some bb somehow, or you are at the point of the homemade sump just being too small. Ammonia present is the evidence. For a hundred bucks less than an FX6, you could add an API Filstar canister. The xpxl is a 4 tray system. I have many of these, they are quiet, efficient, and very reliable. xpxl will hold about 5lbs of ceramics. Dont you have an xp3 on a tank somewhere?

by Suprd71 Sat Jul 11, 2015 3:46 pm

Higher gph is actually detrimental to bb viability. Ideal flow is 250-300gph. Mechanical filtration benefits from higher gph flow.

by Sandman1969 Sat Jul 11, 2015 3:58 pm

Suprd71 wrote:Higher gph is actually detrimental to bb viability. Ideal flow is 250-300gph. Mechanical filtration benefits from higher gph flow.

Well crap. Now I gotta switch it out again.

This is what the top of said filter looks like.

The flow you spoke of, the stronger flow would be at the bottom of the tank as the flow rises to the top through all the filtering stuff before leaving.

by **Sbenson11** Sun Jul 12, 2015 5:00 pm

Your pot scrubbers look really clean, almost to clean. Have you cleaned/changed them recently?

Steve

by Sandman1969 Sun Jul 12, 2015 6:56 pm

Sbenson11 wrote:Your pot scrubbers look really clean, almost to clean. Have you cleaned/changed them recently?

Steve

Nope, never. It may be due to the fact that the heavy stuff falls to the bottom before reaching them?
They've been in there for over a half year now.

by Sandman1969 Wed Jul 15, 2015 11:29 am

As you can see from the pic, there's no real flow over the scrubbers as the tub feeds from the bottom upwards.
Would the bigger pump still be bad? It's just more output of water really, so more is filtered.