# Plant debri



## GypsyV (Nov 28, 2010)

What eats the dead plant matter that I can't get out? I have had ghost shrimp and otos and neither really ate any of it. 

I try to get the dead stuff before it falls apart but sometimes I am to late.


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

When you have plant debris, you have to up the water changes. There are "detritivores" - fish that eat such debris, but all the ones I can think of get big - I don't think a small fish could flourish on that diet because of the intestine length needed to process the huge amounts of low nutrition food it would need to stay alive. I may be wrong, and would love to hear of such a beast, but I don't know of one offhand.
Bacteria eat it, and they need oxygen to do so, so leftover plants are generally the recipe for a bacterial bloom or a low oxygen tank.


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## GypsyV (Nov 28, 2010)

This could be why I keep loosing my fish and shrimp. I keep killing otos and I have no clue why. They water peramiters are fine, and there is algea for them to eat. All the shrimp I buy keep dying also. My tank is currently fishless so i will do some major water changes and try and suck up all the dead plant matter. It would help if my plants hadn't all started dying too.


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

Otos are notoriously touchy in the first few days in a tank. They are fish from rushing water and they need lots of oxygen and current to be at their best. If they adjust to a new tank, they have a tendency to do well, but they are delicate.
The adjustment period is always dicey.
I can't comment on shrimp - hate the things.
Why don't you try the plant section of the forum to see what advice comes your way? A lot of pet store plants do very badly as they are cuttings from things that are out in shallow water in blazing sunlight, or they are flood tolerant terrestrial plants submerged. There are lots of hardy, easy aquarium plants but my local stores rarely carry them - they like to see you coming back for more.

Oops, we are in the plant section ;-) over to the experts!


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

navigator black said:


> Otos are notoriously touchy in the first few days in a tank. They are fish from rushing water and they need lots of oxygen and current to be at their best.


Not exactly. Some of the other species which are closely related to the Otocinclus such as the Nannoptopma and Parotinclus would require a bit of a current and high O2 levels. However, the standard Oto breeds don't.

As for the plant matter, your basically looking at shrimp and snails to do your cleaning up from that aspect. If it doesn't really bother you, you can leave and let it break down naturally and it will in turn feed the plants.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

How much plant matter are we talking? If it is just the odd leaf don't worry too much. I pull out larger debris form time to time but I don't worry too much about what is left. If you are getting lots of plant matter it could be because your plants are not happy.


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## GypsyV (Nov 28, 2010)

Currently it is my plants adjusting to my tank and so I am having some dye off. So a few dead leaves and stems that fall apart and then are hard to remove by hand. I have had an issue with debri since the beginning, theres always something floating when i am done lol.

I did buy a sword from the LFS and it took off at first but now a few weeks later its leaves are turning orangish-yellow. I removed a few baby swords and left them floating and they all turned brown, whereas the one my sister got and put in her tank is doing great. 

BTW my temp is at 80 degrees, my heater won't go lower than that >( or without the heater it was 65.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

sound fairly normal and you do have to do some maintenance with planted tanks.

I let the stuff build up then once every year or two suck it out. 

but most people suck it out more often.

my .02


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## luananeko (Aug 27, 2010)

Easy solution to the floating debris... After you're done with your water changes (assuming you're doing them fairly frequently), let things settle and finish floating up to the top. Then, take a fish net and skim around the top of the surface to scoop it all out. If you're having issues with debris that's intermingled with your plants and such, its a bit tougher to get out and is probably better left alone unless it's choking the healthy plant-life.


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## jbrown5217 (Nov 9, 2011)

snails will eat deritus and algae so I would try them. You do need to supplement with algae wafers however.


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