TrayLyn71

I have a 45 gallon freshwater tank that I am currently cycling - going into week 2 now. Due to lack of information on my part and bad advice from Pet Smart, I have the following fish in the tank:

4 - zebra danios
1 - pleco (the kind that stays small according to the PetSmart employee)
4 - cory catfish
1 - platy
3 - neon tetras

Per the advice I've received here, I'm doing 50% water changes daily until the tank is fully cycled.

Okay, now to my question:

I had to re-arrange some of my decorations and in doing so noticed a slimy coat on the plants, rocks, etc. I also noticed a slimy feeling to the filter intake valve.

I'm just wondering if this is normal or if I should be doing something about it?

I haven't been cleaning the substrate, filter or anything else on the inside of my aquarium as I don't want to hurt the cycling process by removing bacteria.

Any advice, thoughts, suggestions?

Am I doing something wrong?

URFisher35

can you further describe what you mean by slime?
and when you say you haven't been cleaning the substrate, have you been vacuuming the substrate? or no?

Drew 43920

Wow ! You are changing 22 /12 gallons of water a day. That is 22 1/2 gallons out and 22 1/2 gallons in. And you are also making sure the all the water is at the same temperature. And you are going to do that for maybe a month !
You are the man ! How do you do that ?

TrayLyn71

I have not vacuumed the substrate, I have just been siphoning the water out of the middle of the tank.

Although, when I had to re-arrange my plants - they became dislodged when I accidentally hit them with my siphon tube, a bunch of floating particles (I am assuming uneaten food and fish waste) began floating around my tank. I tried to suck up as much as possible with my siphon tube.

It was when I was re-anchoring by plants underneath the rocks that I noticed that they had a slimy feeling. There is nothing visible; the rocks, plants, decorations & intake valve just have a slimy coating on them.

URFisher35

IMO i think its fine to be honest. have you tested your water? how far into the cycle are you? and vacuuming the gravel won't hurt your cycle, and it is VERY beneficial to your fish. it will help reduce the amount of waste and thus toxins that will harm your fish.

docjr03

Water conditioners like prime have additives for the slime coats of fish. My stuff feels that way, too- I bet that's what it is.

TrayLyn71

Python No Spill Clean and Fill is my best friend!

Amanda

Decor & such feeling slimey is normal.
It would be a good idea to vacuum your substrate at least once a week. The way you are talking, there is a lot of excess waste in it. This is causing excess ammonia in your tank.

Drew 43920

How about temperature ?

2lucky

It depends what sort of slime it is... if it's white and looks milky then thats nothing to worry about either -it's just calcium from the water. I have it in my tank and the fish eat it all day!

I wouldn't worry bout the slime, it's usually normal. Its prolly some sort opf algae and you could get a catfish to keep it down (once you've cycled).

I give you props on the 50% water changes too!