Important to clean up dead leaves?

[kev_kb]

Hi all,

I've got a few dead leaves floating around and small pieces of plants after a bit of trimming. How important is it to clean all this up? I've managed to get most out but there is still some in hard to reach corners.

Will these just decompose and will they harm my fish?

 

[Lateral Line]

Yes, they will decompose/rot and release their constituents back into the water. In a large tank with just a few bits and pieces this is not a problem. In small tanks with a lot of pieces it can be.

So how large is your tank and how many bits really?

As long as you have taken most out and it is literally a couple of bits left it should be okay. Rotting plant matter is a natural feature of most fishy eco-systems, however, most fishy eco-systems are larger then the average tank, so you do have to be a little careful.

 

[kev_kb]

Its a 13 gallon tank, not sure how many pieces but theres more than a couple, so I'll try again to remove them all later on. Thanks for the advice. Is there a test kit that can measure for pollutants such as this?

 

[Lateral Line]

Not a test, no. Often, depends on the plants to a certain extent, rotting material can throw an oily film on the surface of the water, although if you have a lot of surface movement, this can be difficult to see.

What is the problem with removing the material? How are you attempting it?

 

[kev_kb]

I'm trying to get rid of it using a syphon and a net, I had another go today and things are better but I guess there was more debris than I thought...

The main problem is the parts are really small and they get hidden in the plants I have, so I'll clear some away and think I'm done. Only to put the internal filter back on and see lots of little pieces floating around. I think the main problem was I did the pruning in a hurry and didn't think about where I was cutting the plants, so I've made a lot of work for myself.

 

[tsr770]

I recently had a cyanobacteria outbreak in my 46 gallon tank that I contribute to too much dead plant matter in the tank, and trust me you don't want a cyano outbreak.

It started on a few dead leaves on my sword plant that I had put off pruning, then there was the dying wysteria that got it next, and then bang the whole aquarium had it in the gravel and on some of the healthy plants too.
After setting up a new 40 gallon aquarium, cleaning and moving all the plants to it, and finding a ton of dead plant matter hidden in my tank I think its getting under control with some help from a treatment of erythromycin, it's all dying off now.

In the new tank where all the plants went, it dissapeared from the plants overnight since there is almost no organic waste in there for it to live off of.


So in short, get as much out as you possibly can, because in the long run it may get expensive.