little gray things?!

[SilviaGTO]

I have a 5 gallon FW, with two zebra danios and one otto.

My tank has black sand in it, and I added the fish yesterday, and now there are A LOT of little gray cylindrical things all over the bottom. about 1mm long. I would say it looks like fish poop, but its way way way too much for 3 little fish!!! theres got to be 100-200 of these things lying around..

any clue to what they are?

 

[TankGirl]

Well, if they look a bit wormy they are probably planaria, but if it is fish poop looking then I think it is fish poop! Otocinclus are pretty prolific with the waste matter, and in a small tank with dark substrate it probably shows up well. If it is not moving around like a worm, then rest assured it is um, waste product (mulm, as some elegantly refer to it).

 

[SilviaGTO]

ill probably assume its fish poop.

Are planaria harmful?

 

[William]

5gal is really to small for any fish, except maybe a betta.

The Zebra Danios don't have near the room they need to be able to dash about and be happy.


I'm not sure about the otto, altho I know they like to be in groups. Or atleast seem happier that way

 

[SilviaGTO]

my danios are very small right now.. all theyve been doing is darting around and playing in the water stream from the filter.

I have a 20 gallon, but i have to wait until i move into a new place and have more room to set it up.

my otto and the danios play together.. its interesting.

 

[TankGirl]

Planaria are not harmful per se, but they usually mean too much waste material in the gravel, a result of overfeeding, usually. At some point we have all had the little miniscule white thingies in the gravel or attached to the glass. The cure is increased water changes and more attention to gravel vacuuming, and not overfeeding.

I think it was Allivymar who has commented on the incredible poop factories her otocinclus are, so this sounds about right. I noticed this happen when I got a bunch of shrimp. I had no idea how much waste they generated!

 

[Allivymar]

Omg. 2 inch otos give 8 inch plecos a run for their money! I have NEVER owned a fish that pooped that much. I have to gravel vac the sand in my planted tank every week (even tho your not supposed to vac planted tanks too often) cause the substrate is just covered even after one day. Bleaugh.

The poo is usually greenish tho due to their diet. I'm sorta curious about the grey thingies. Are the irregular in size (then likely poo)? Are the uniform? Whats shape are they? Are there any plants in the tank? And do they move?

 

[SilviaGTO]

No living plants at the moment.

all uniform.. little and gray (i have no idea what the LFS fed my oto)

I have concluded its his poop. It spiked my ammonia through the roof. Used ammo lock, and it only helped a little. My nitrites went through the roof too.

did a 25% water change..cleaned all the poop out of the tank. my zebra danios are acting like nothing is wrong and are still playing and chasing eachother around, but my poor oto seems stressed.

actually now that the light is off and levels arent as high he seems to be doing alright.

 

[TankGirl]

It spiked my ammonia through the roof. Used ammo lock, and it only helped a little. My nitrites went through the roof too.

That is bad news, for sure. That oto is going to have a tough time getting through it, so keep a close eye on things. For nitrites I believe salt will help (Alli can advise on this one) but you are going to have a dicey period here any way you slice it. The Ammo-lock will help reduce the ammonia, but it will also slow down the production of your "good" bacteria that feed off the ammonia.

If this was my situation I would net the fish, drain the tank, set it up again with new water and Bio-Spira, and not put the fish through the stress of the cycle.

 

[Allivymar]

*nods and agrees*

Salt is THE treatment for nitrite poisonging; a teaspoon per 10g (or a little less actually). The chloride ions compete with the nitrite ions, and this way the fish can breathe (nitrite suffocates fish in a way similar to carbon monoxide suffocating us). If you can get a hold if BioSpira tho, I suggest taking TankGirl's suggestion.

 

[SilviaGTO]

ok well heres what I did.

I went to the LFS and asked them to give me 2 gallons of their cycled water which they gladly agreed to, and did a 50% water change and replaced the water with the cycled water.

I stopped feeding the fish for the time being, and i cleaned all the poop out.

and after one day, i checked my results.. EVERYTHING is off the scale.. ammonia nitrites nitrate.

However, my danios and my otto are doing fine.. no signs of stress, theyre playing around, my otto is digging tunnels in the sand under the rocks..

but why is my water doing this?!

Also, Ive looked left and right for bio-spira. no one around here carries it, and the only website i can find is out until later this march..

but like i said my fish appear to be fine, theyre not stressed.. maybe the product i used that claims to remove ammonia, nitrites and nitrates that i used is throwing off my tests?

Its called Amquel plus. also my test kit isnt the strips, its the add by drops method.

Edit:
also my otto doesnt look exactly like this one:

mine is very similar, but he has black spots above and below the black line along his body, and his tail is clear, not colored.

he was sold at the store as a chinese pleco, which i think isnt the proper name at all.. what do you think he is?

 

[SilviaGTO]

ok after careful research hes a chinese algae eater, not an otto.

 

[Allivymar]

Try The Fish Store. They're one of our sponsors; check the sponsor forum. They usually have BioSpira and they do ship.

 

[SilviaGTO]

it says theyre out of stock until late march.