i dont got pics but latly theres been small flys on the top of the water + massive amounts of what looks like small fish poop (but its not ) in my tank the poop stuff totaly took over my ceramic rings and i ceand it but it looks like im gonna have to get new ac sponges + ceramic media the tank is a 50 with a piece of drift woon and gravel with 2 ac 70 2x 5 inch plecos a 7 inch jag a 8 inch jd and a 6 inch red oscar any ideas on what this stuff is and how to get rid of it
sick tank
- Thread starter justwatching
- Start date
Hiya justwatching, welcome to MFK.
Did the "poops" show up at the same time as the flies? Can you get a look at one under a strong magnifier? If the poops are hollow cases and contain small worms with tiny legs toward the head end and little beady heads then you probably have a midge infestation, there are many species, some types ot the immature ones make casings like caddis fly larvae do but they are much smaller and the adults are a bit smaller than fruit flies. As annoying as they can be they are harmless. The young feed on detritus and bacteria, most of the adults don't eat at all, just breed then die. More frequent gravel cleanings will reduce their numbers but the best way to get rid of them is to use fish like guppys, ricefish,etc. that might be a problem with the oscar, weatherfish like dojo loachs will also gobble them down and are big enough not to be an oscar snack. I suggest more careful feeding and frequent siphoning off of any detritus to help control them.
Did the "poops" show up at the same time as the flies? Can you get a look at one under a strong magnifier? If the poops are hollow cases and contain small worms with tiny legs toward the head end and little beady heads then you probably have a midge infestation, there are many species, some types ot the immature ones make casings like caddis fly larvae do but they are much smaller and the adults are a bit smaller than fruit flies. As annoying as they can be they are harmless. The young feed on detritus and bacteria, most of the adults don't eat at all, just breed then die. More frequent gravel cleanings will reduce their numbers but the best way to get rid of them is to use fish like guppys, ricefish,etc. that might be a problem with the oscar, weatherfish like dojo loachs will also gobble them down and are big enough not to be an oscar snack. I suggest more careful feeding and frequent siphoning off of any detritus to help control them.
yeah i do tend to feed them alot i think that they are what u said cause i also noticed but faild to mention i see littel worms wiggling around in the water i just cleand the tank so i think therg gone do i need new ceramic rrings and filter?
The worms i guess are white?Many times these show up after a drop in water quality for reasons such as filter blockage or impeller damage etc.At this stage do not just replace the filter medium.Ceramic rings need periodic cleaning to clean the detrius that accumulates.Clean sponge filters in aquarium water first by squeezing out, and after a couple of weeks rinse ceramic rings in aquarium water.This will minimise the impact on your bacteria.If some of the sponges have had it replace half after another two weeks,the rest after a further two weeks.And keep testing water with minimum of 25% changes weekly.
As Clare said, just squeezing pads or sponges clean in clean water a few times will get rid of most of them and rinsing of the rings will help, if the worms aer white they are flat worms or microworms and if dark or reddish probably midge larvae that turn into the flies you see. It will take a little effort to reduce the population down to where you won't notice them. They are not really anything to worry about except that they show that you could improve your tank maintainance routine. It would not be a good thing to replace the media as that oftenleads to an ammonia spike that can kill the fish and unless you get them all the ones inthe tank will just recolonise the filter, be patient, do weekly partial water changes using a gravel vac, and make sure you only feed as much as the fish will eat, and the larvae numbers will fall off pretty quickly.