Can Cucumber Cause Bacterial Bloom?

I put a slice of cucumber into my tank for my pleco, and now my water is a bit cloudy. It's fully cycled and have been up for almost a year, and it has frequent water changes. I tested and the water is fine, is the cucumber causing a bacterial bloom?

 

How long after you put the cucumber in the tank did it get cloudy?

What size tank?

 

Ten gallons, and the cucumber was in there for around 16 hours? I've replaced it now.

 

A 10 gal is too small for a pleco (they get too big and have a large bioload). It may be that the breakdown of the food is causing a bacterial bloom. I'd remove it after a shorter period of time and upgrade your tank to a larger one.

What species of pleco?

 

It's a 2.5" bristlenose pleco. I know the tank is too small, I'm going to rehome him soon. I do water changes almost every other day, and there is literally no nitrates due to this. The tank is cycled, none the less, so isn't a bacterial bloom out of question?
I'm hoping to upgrade to a 20, but it may be too far into the future. I'm going to rehome St. Jimmy (The pleco) if I can't get the new tank in time. He was a gift from my father, who refuses to accept fish will outgrow their tank, so I couldn't get rid of him immediately like I wanted to. :I

 

I don't think it's cycled if you're showing zero nitrates, even with the frequent water changes. Why are you doing such frequent water changes?

And no, a bacterial bloom can occur even in a cycled tank. It should go away on its own, though water changes won't help (and may make it worse).

 

I'm very finicky about water quality, and my tank is overstocked due to platys, so I'm always worried about keeping the water clean. The tank has been running for about ten months, and after the initial cycle, I've never detected ammonia or nitrite since. I'll keep off the water changes for a few days until it clears up, though. Thanks for the help!

 

I'm very finicky about water quality, and my tank is overstocked due to platys, so I'm always worried about keeping the water clean. The tank has been running for about ten months, and after the initial cycle, I've never detected ammonia or nitrite since. I'll keep off the water changes for a few days until it clears up, though. Thanks for the help!

Lots of babies?

 

Yeah, I've got at least ten. I'm looking for a place to get rid of them, though. They'll be gone within a month or two. I might be able to upgrade to a 20, though, and keep some of them