Faye Rod

I was told and have read that it's important for the pleco to have a varied diet. I put a small algae wafer in the tank last week and he ignored it for awhile - then really went at it. So I put another in three days later and he went for it right away. The other fish like it also and it was gone within the recommended 10 hours. My ammonia reading rose - just to .5 - but I'm wondering how often to drop in the small algae wafer?

susitna-flower

Hey Faye Rod, WELCOME to FISHLORE!

Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? I am concerned because the ammonia shouldn't be going up if the tank is cycled, and since it is going up and you have fish in, it can be toxic to your fish.

Read the articles at the top of this page on setting up a tank, and the nitrogen cycle. This can save you lots of heartache.

If your ammonia is going up do 25-50% water changes every day till your cycle is finished...you can also add Prime to help de-toxify the ammonia and nitrite....I would also recommend Bio-spira to jump start the cycle.

How big is your tank? What fish do you have in there besides a pleco? Many fish benefit from algae wafers. My mollies need and love them also.....Good Luck

Faye Rod

Thanks for the welcome - we got our 55 gallon aquarium seven weeks ago. I had the bad experience of losing 10 tetras the third and fourth weeks after the tank was running. I've done a lot of reading since then about the cycle (this site is great!) and have been testing the water with an API test kit for four weeks now. I use Tetra Aquasafe, Tetra Nitriban and Topfin bacteria supplement. As well as Stresscoat when adding fish. The pleco and one guppy have been with us for two weeks now. Doing good. We added two more guppies and six Cherry Barbs this week. The ammonia is back at 0 today after doing a 25 % water change when it was elevated yesterday morning. Nitrite and Nitrate are 0.

Last week I added 8 fish and used two algae wafers. Could that have made the ammonia level increase? I want to make sure the pleco is getting enough food - how often should I give him an algae wafer?