I got 2 plecos to clean the mold that has been growing on that wood I put in my tank(they did a really good job at it too) but now, the mold is replaced with loads of their waist. Once the mold is completely gone, should I get rid of them?
Plecos, good and bad
- Thread starter 100gallons
- Start date
They are nice to look at, but as you said they produce a HUGE amount of waste.
In my 55 gal I have one pleco and one scomb with rather high nitrate levels. He produces a lot of waste but I cant bring myself to getting rid of him even though there is a lot of poop around the tank almost always.
With an aerator, and power head I have to remove the sponge I put on their intakes almost every day to remove the stuff that sticks onto it.
So its up to you, the mold or algae may come back if you decide to remove them keep in mind.
You can try not feeding them as much which will reduce the amount of waste but don't over do this one.
But personally, I just do 50% water changes every week and vac all of his "left overs" in the process.
What i do doesn't really solve the problem, but it makes the environment livable for both fish which is my primary concern.
In my 55 gal I have one pleco and one scomb with rather high nitrate levels. He produces a lot of waste but I cant bring myself to getting rid of him even though there is a lot of poop around the tank almost always.
With an aerator, and power head I have to remove the sponge I put on their intakes almost every day to remove the stuff that sticks onto it.
So its up to you, the mold or algae may come back if you decide to remove them keep in mind.
You can try not feeding them as much which will reduce the amount of waste but don't over do this one.
But personally, I just do 50% water changes every week and vac all of his "left overs" in the process.
What i do doesn't really solve the problem, but it makes the environment livable for both fish which is my primary concern.
this is the exact reason you should never get a fish to do YOUR JOB..
you could have cleaned the mold off of the driftwood in about 2 minutes (put it in the shower and scrub it with a brush/wash cloth).. after you did this once or twice the problem would have taken care of itself unless you have soft wood which will continue to rot which is why it is not used underwater...
you could have cleaned the mold off of the driftwood in about 2 minutes (put it in the shower and scrub it with a brush/wash cloth).. after you did this once or twice the problem would have taken care of itself unless you have soft wood which will continue to rot which is why it is not used underwater...
I didnt put him in to do MY JOB, I cleaned the log off and wanted him to maintain it. I do feed by the guides in here also so thats not all he eats. I really dont know about hard and soft wood but its from a tree that was cut down about 10 years ago. I soaked it for about a week and baked it for about 2 hours at 300. Should I take this out?
no your DW is fine, unless it continues to be a problem. If it becomes a re-occuring issue then you may want to think about ditching it in favor of a new bit of wood. But I would agree, never get a pleco because it "cleans", get a pleco because you like the pleco.
By mold do you mean a cloudy white-ish film growing on the wood? If so that will go away on its own after time. Its just a process that some drift wood goes through and doesn't stay there forever. As for the pleco like already stated, keep it because you like it not as a maintenance fish. Fish are usually are not good janitors of tanks (not saying they can't just usually aren't) snails are a much better clean up crew.
