# The bottom of my tank is dirty.



## CluelesFishFace (Dec 11, 2006)

We have a 35 gallon tank with 3 gaurami, 2 black finned sharks and an algae eater. We do not have algae growing, but there is gunk (left over food & poop) at the bottom of our tank. Is there a fish that will eat that stuff so that I don't have to clean the tank out? We have had the tank set up for less than 2 months.


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## Puffer Pita (Jun 16, 2006)

No poop eaters, sorry. Gotta do gravel vacuuming with a siphon when you do water changes.


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## Guest (Dec 12, 2006)

There is no getting out of gravel vac'ing and changing water. Sorry!


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

...so clean it. You just sound lazy to me. If there is that much poop collecting you must not take very good care of the tank. Ther is not poop-eater fish


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## BV77 (Jan 22, 2005)

no fish eat feces, they may pick it up, but will spit it out....there's no getting out of vacuuming and water changes


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## CluelesFishFace (Dec 11, 2006)

never had a tank before. Just trying to find out what to do. Thanks for the rude comment, really appreciate the help. By the way, if I didn't care about the fish, I wouldn't be on here. Thank you to everyone else. I have already started a cleaning process!


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## MaryPa (Jan 25, 2006)

In forums you see all types of people,some come here just to pull our strings. They must have thought you were doing that. This is a nice group of people. Doing weekly water changes of 25% or more, using the gravel vac to clean up the waster will keep the tank clean.


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## pokagon55 (Jan 31, 2006)

I have already started a cleaning process!


Make sure that you don't go overboard on the cleaning, just make sure that you vac. the gravel but don't go cleaning plants and the sides of the tank or decore as to much cleaning can throw the tank into a cycle again.


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## CluelesFishFace (Dec 11, 2006)

Thanks! My friend told me to take a gallon or 2 of water out each day and replace with fresh (temp adjusted) water the next day and do this for about a week and see if the cloudiness clears up. He also has a gravel vac I am going to borrow. He thinks maybe when I got the fish from their original tank, I got some bad water with it. Whats a cycle? Thanks for all the advice! This is my first time in a chat-room type environment and it has helped alot!


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## Guest (Dec 12, 2006)

A great thing to get for water changes and gravel vac's is a Python. It is a siphon that hooks up to your faucet and it will take water and gunk out of the tank and then you adjust it and it will put clean water back in. Its great! 

http://www.pythonproducts.com/nospill.htm

Some LFS sell them or you can find it online at http://www.drsfostersmith.com.

Sorry we were rude. I didn't know you were a beginner, so I didn't know that you didn't know what to do! Sorry!


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## CluelesFishFace (Dec 11, 2006)

I think it is mostly food at the bottom and not as much poop as I thought. I don't have any bottom feeders. i assume this will help cause they will eat the food on the bottom, right? What should I get? and how many? my friend told me to cut back on feeding to every other day ( and told me how much to feed).


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Gourami Swami said:


> ...so clean it. You just sound lazy to me. If there is that much poop collecting you must not take very good care of the tank. Ther is not poop-eater fish


Is this a necessary statement?


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## Guest (Dec 13, 2006)

Well, if by Black Finned Shark you mean Columbian Shark, I'll tell ya that they are Brackish fish (fresh with some salt, but not quite saltwater) and they will outgrow your tank because they can get around a foot long. You'll have to decide if you'll be able to house them in the future (i.e. buying a bigger tank).

I don't know how well they get along with smaller fish. How big are the sharks now?

If they aren't big, I think you could get some Cory catfish for the bottom. There are many different types, I'd get some that grow to around 3 inches. Bronze, Albino, or Peppered cories are easily found in fish stores and get around 3 inches. They will eat the food on the bottom and may even need some type of shrimp pellets if there isn't enough leftovers.

You can keep feeding once a day, but only feed as much as the fish will eat in about 2 minutes. What types of food do you feed (flake, pellets?). If you still feel like you are feeding too much, you can cut back to every other day.

Here are some articles about the nitrogen cycle:
http://www.tropicalfishcentre.co.uk/Cycle.htm
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cycling.php

Cycling is the process where you build up good bacteria in a new tank. The bacteria takes in the ammonia from fish waste and decaying food and converts it to nitrates.

edit: fixed that link


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## CluelesFishFace (Dec 11, 2006)

Thank you! I will figure out what kind of fish I have!


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

columbain sharks aka bull sharks aka silver tipped sharks, aka silver sharks aka columbian catfish but never heard of _Hexanematichthys seemanni _ being refered to as black finned shark

usually black finned sharks are refered to as _Balantiocheilus melanopterus_
or
bala shark http://www.aquariumarticles.com/articles/1300573/fish_profiles_melanopterus1.jpg
a common species that is offered at almost any lfs (live fish store), and are almost always sold to people with too small of tank to house these fish long term. They get around 12" hopefully this helps you ID your fish


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## pokagon55 (Jan 31, 2006)

Make sure that you get testing kits for the cycle. They will be Ammoina, NitrItes, NitrAtes and PH. Test your water often and make nessassary adjustments when the ammoina and nitires go up to bring them back down to a safe reading. When you have a reading of zero and a rise in NitrAtes then your cycle will be done. Depending on temp. and pH reading will tell how long it will take your cycle to complete but the norm. is around 6 to 8 weeks, so have a bit of patients


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## Sable (Nov 6, 2006)

You may lose some fish from the cycle if you can't find one of the following:

1. Freshwater biospira (adding this, as long as it's still cold, cycles your tank very quickly with fish in it; you shouldn't lose any fish)
2. A filter pad, airstone, or significant amount of gravel from an established tank - make sure when transporting this and even as you add it to your tank, it's covered in the established tank's water.
3. Live plants - they can _help_ to lower dangerous ammonia levels during a cycle.

Good luck, and we're so glad you're here!


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## Lupin (Aug 1, 2006)

Sable said:


> 3. Live plants - they can _help_ to lower dangerous ammonia levels during a cycle.


Plants do not consume ammonia. They serve as support or grounds for beneficial bacteria. They are useful during cycling as they tend to keep down the nitrate level which tend to increase at a dangerous level.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

Actually I frequently hear damon point out that ammonia and nitrite are taken up before nitrates, apparently they are easier to take up than nitrates.


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## judya (Jan 23, 2005)

Also for the next few months, only gravel vacuum half of the tank at one water change, and half at the next - as your tank is still fairly new, it is still getting cycled, and you don't want to disturb or remove too much of the bacteria in the gravel at once. One recommended level of water changes is 10%-20% per week. Corydoras (cories) are very cute catfish that will eat up dropped food, and stir around in the gravel a bit to loosen up stuff. 

Between water changes, a (clean/new!) turkey baster can pick up little bits of stuff. 

The Python is nice, but expensive. A plain gravel vacuum -long tube with a wider tube on one end -is fine. Ask someone at the fish store to show you how to use it. You DON'T have to suck on it like a straw to get it going! (Good way to get a mouthful of yummy fish water :-( ) Also get a new bucket or two and use ONLY for fish.

A nice addition to your tank would be some harlequin rasboras (rasbora heteromorpha). Easy care - you could get a school of 6 or so.


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## CluelesFishFace (Dec 11, 2006)

thank you so much!!!


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## Sable (Nov 6, 2006)

Blue said:


> Plants do not consume ammonia. They serve as support or grounds for beneficial bacteria. They are useful during cycling as they tend to keep down the nitrate level which tend to increase at a dangerous level.


Take it from someone who was in AP Biology last year and studied the nitrogen cycle at length: plants do, in fact, use ammonia. Not terribly much, but all the same...


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