Help Please! Advice on Cleaning the Back Wall of the Freshwater Aquarium

[Flossy]

HI all,

We have a Aqua Szut 25 gallon freshwater tank. With 2 x sailfin mollies, 2 x platys, 4 x neon tetras, 2 x female dwarf gouramI & a plec in.

We have had the tank since the end of June. I do weekly water changes & gravel cleans but have just looked at the back wall of the tank, which is a black plastic artificial Brick effect "thing" and it is filthy! It has a coating of what looks like brown dust on the ledges of the artificial bricks! I can only assume this "dust" is food debris!

In order for me to clean it, I will have to move plants out of the way and was going to use my algae scrub pad to remove it but I'm afraid it will release the dust/food debris into the water and pollute it.

Can anyone suggest the easiest way for me to clean it without causing too much mess in the tank or, if it does happen, will it harm the fish or the biological filter?? Please help. Thanks so much!

 

[Adam55]

Do you have a picture? It could be algae. It could be a lot of things, actually. Can I ask what plec species you have? As far as releasing it into the water, it's in the water now.

 

[Flossy]

HI Adam,
Thanks for responding! I'm pretty sure its old food.......we started using NLS Optimum flakes to feed the fish and I've had to crumble it up before putting in the tank so I think its probably that. Do you think it will be ok then if it releases into the tank? I need to get it clean and I know there will e enough muck that will be released into the water when I move the plants at the back which haven't been moved for a while groan! I don't know the species of our plec but I've attached a photo, we've only had him about a month. Also tried to send you a picture of the brown stuff on the back wall but its not very clear sorry! :-(

 

[342down]

I'll leave advice-giving as to the mysterious brown stuff up to Adam55 or whoever else responds, but I would like to say that your pleco seems to be a common pleco. No matter what specific type he is, his appearance doesn't suggest that he's of any tiny pleco variety, so... know that you'll have to rehome the little guy eventually. Commons and many other pleco varieties can grow up to around two feet, despite their tiny purchase size.

Also, he'll poo- *ahem*, make a lot of waste.

 

[Adam55]

Diatom algae, maybe. It's a little hard to tell. How long do you leave the light on daily and how much do you feed? Can you give us your nitrate reading?

And yeah, plecos are waste factories. They're messy. That does appear to be a common, so he will outgrow that tank in a hurry. And he'll make a huge mess in the meanwhile.

 

[342down]

By the way, if I may say one more thing about the whole plecostomus situation, if you would like to have a pleco that won't outgrow the tank, then I have a few recommendations.

-Pitbull Pleco (best of the three as it is smallest, but harder to find)
-clown pleco (good size, but I hear that you'll barely get to see them in your tank)
-bristlenose pleco (okay size, and males have bristles on their face, just so y'know)

The bristlenose plecos are also called bushy nose plecos, just for reference. Also, the bushy plecos are best for a 30 gallon tank, but if you do get one then it should be fine as long as you keep up on cleaning.