Losts of debrease at the bottom of my tank.

[rocktrns]

I noticed that when I move My gravel in my fish tank there is allot of Debrease such as fish food,and white stuff. I can't get a gravel vaccum into next week what can I do.
I'm cycling my tank right now with Zebra dainos and a betta. They don't eat the food on the bottom.
How can I clean all the debra I have at the bottom of my tank, I also see some dog hair.

 

[bluerose]

Get a gravel vac, and feed less. Particularly since you're cycling, feeding the proper amounts is pretty vital as your ammonia levels will skyrocket and kill your fish.

All you need to feed, really, is as much as they'll eat within a minute or so (you may need to come up with another way to feed the betta his own food-- they are often slower to notice food and prefer to stalk it rather than gobble), once daily, and skipping a day won't kill them. If you accidentally feed to much, get it out of the tank before it sinks.

 

[bluerose]

Oh, and make sure nothing that goes in to the tank (net, gravel vac, whatever you're doing your water changes with) is dirty, has dog hair on it, etc. If you think it's flying into the tank somehow, get a lid if you don't have one already.

 

[i3k]

What do you mean by "I can't get a gravel vacuum into next week"? Do you have one of those gravel syphons? you'll have to clean the gravel every time you do your partial water changes. trust me it's better to clean it every time with water changes, than to wait and try to clean it later. you'll have dark brown sludge buried deep in your gravel causing your fish all sorts problems.

 

[mgamer20o0]

yea i dont get it. if your tanks new you are just feeding way to much.

 

[rocktrns]

Well I have a lid,and light on my tank.
I don't have a Gravel siphon yet.
I need to know how to get all the stuff up at the bottom of the tank until I get one.
I see some red betta food,,and some unknown white lent.

 

[DragonFish71]

The white lint can be the food starting to rot. Sometimes it turns into "cotton ball" looking stuff.


Until you get the gravel cleaner I can't think of any way to clean the gravel without upsetting the cycle. But I will agree that it does sound like you are over feeding. Try cutting back on that for now, then once you get the cleaner start cleaning the gravel in small amounts. The bacteria you want lives in the gravel and on decor, not in the water table, so too much gravel cleaning will also upset the cycle.