Wierd fish waste issue....

[noclueman]

I had a 10 gallon tank with about 11 fish in it and decided it was time to upgrade because they were growing. I took out 8 of the fish and put them into a 55 gallon and left the 3 oto's in the 10 gallon tank.

Since then, the water in the 10 gallon tank has been nasty. I've done water changes but within a day there is fish poop everywhere (it looks like fish poop anyway). I do a water change and suck it all out till it looks clean, then the next day it's back the same way.

Anyone have any clue what is going on? When I had 11 fish in there it wasn't even close to an issue.

noclueman

 

[Fiddlesticks]

R U sure its not just old food or algae. When I emptied my 20 one time I got a break out of brown algae cuz I hadnt been turning the light on.

 

[noclueman]

Interesting. I wish I knew what it looked like. It is brown, and I have been leaving the light off a lot more.

It is small brown "pellet" type things all over the ground and plants.

If I stir up the water at all it all starts floating around easily. I always thought algae stuck to things better.

Anyone if I am just getting a lot of brown algae?

 

[noclueman]

Oh, and I haven't put any food of any kind in there since I took all the fish out. I figured the oto's would do good on just the algae that is on the glass and rocks.

 

[Nauplii]

is your filter working properly

 

[canarsie11]

is your filter working properly

Thats only thing I can see also, how long has those filter pads been in there? Maybe its clogged

 

[SirMinion]

Got any snails in there?
Without the other fish to hassel them, snails will spend more time out in the open and will leave little pellets and brown strips of slime over everything. Fish will usually clean up the slime, but with no fish in there, this gets out of hand and the tank looks nasty.

Even tiny pinhead snails leave a helluva mess.

 

[noclueman]

No snails that I can see.

I will do another water change today and double check the filter.

Thanks for the tips.

noclueman

 

[Kittycat]

Actually, I've been getting loads and loads of poop from my 3 ottos, too. What's up with that?

 

[noclueman]

Very wierd......cause when I had 11 fish in there it wasn't an issue at all.

Ok, so I did a water change this morning and took out tons of it. 20 minutes later it looked just as bad. I left the light on all day and I got a couple goupies this morning. I was gone all day (just got home).......and the tank looks way better.

I have no idea what is going on but it looks like it's getting better.

Could it have anything to do with having other types of fish in there? Having the light on? .... wierd.