Cleanup Crew

[Disneyworld]

Yep, its disneyworld and her cichlids again - due to the fact that I do live on the earthquake fault I decided months ago to decorate my new cichlid tank with big stones at the bottom, and light wood at the top. At least that way the decor won't crash the glass in a shake. A small side effect I have noticed is that the wood stains the tank with a light brown sediment. Is there a "cleanup" fish available that would be happy to feed on this, and at the same time is not murdered by the agressive cichlids? I am currently combatting this problem by cleaning the glass at least twice a week, but there must be a better way :-?

[Fee]

I find that most appropriately sized catfish get ignored by the cichlids, In normal circumstances a Black Line Flying Fox is a really good fish for cleaning up, however it would be hard to find one of a good size.

A large Pleco is probably your best option- size "Usually" intimidates Mbuna cichlids.

[Caryl]

Maybe you have two different problems here Disneyworld. The brown stain in the water is the natural tannins released from the wood. The only way I know of to fix it is to do regular water changes. This should not affect the glass though so aren't sure why cleaning the glass helps the problem. I would have thought it would not stick to the glass. Have you actually got a brown algae growing on the glass as well as the tannin from the wood?

[Disneyworld]

Oh no Caryl, please don't tell me I have more problems, there are enough as it is - I do a weekly water change, the stuff sticking to the glass is also not algae, its a brown powdery substance, and comes off easily. I can only think its residue from the wood. It doesn't seem to bother the fish in any way, but it bothers me. I'll be out there shortly looking for a ctafish, perhaps they can help.

[Caryl]

Had you done anything to prepare the wood before putting it in the tank? It does sound like sediment from the wood and not algae but it must be leaching a lot to be forming on the glass like that. It will not harm the fish but does look unsightly. Ancistrus (bristlenose) catfish need wood as part of their diet. It must be a hard wood though. Never use willow by the way, I understand it is toxic to fish.

[Disneyworld]

I finally found a beautiful, large catfish to clean up my tank. The cichlids do not dare intimidate him, but why did I have to buy the laziest one of the lot? This fellow cruises around the tank all day, but has not cleaned as much as an inch of the tank. Starving him also doesn't help, anyone for a catfish? He is yours if you can catch him

[Ira]

What kinda catfish? Might have to grab my nets and come for a visit since you're in wellington.

[Disneyworld]

disneyworld will be in Upper Hut this Saturday, Ira I'm not sure what the scientific name of this catfish is: he is quite large, long whiskers, grey body, white belly, sharp erect fin on his back, and infinitely lazy. If someone really wants to see him I'm more than willing to send a photo. (disneyworld embarrassed at getting such a lazy cleanup crew :oops: ) I purchased him only so he could do a job, and he aint doing it...

[AbelaJohnB]

LOL.. wood in tank stains glass... that is a classic question :lol:

Are you sure you bought 'pre-treated' wood, and not that reptile crap? (or even worse, something from your yard!)

I've only found one way to counter this....

First, buy the 'pre-treated' wood. (this means they've already washed it *cough*)

Then, let it sit outside in the hot sun for a few days.

Then, get a BIG pot, fill it with water, bring it to a boil, throw you wood in, and let it boil for a few hours.

Then, throw it back out into the sun.

Then, let it sit in the pot (with fresh water) for a few days and see if the wood continues to 'leak'.

If it doesn't toss it back into the tank.

If it does, repead the above

If repeating doesn't work... go buy a new peice of wood!

I had a South American Cichild tank for a couple of years, and while the take was developing it's system (before fish where added) I had a peice of wood that I had already 'boiled' a few times (before I ever put it into the take, as I always do this with new wood) begin to leak into my tank.

Totally pissed me off. But, I really, really, wanted this particular peace of wood, because it looked really good in the 'natural tank' I had built.

Anyway, the moral of this short story.... sometimes you just have to use wood in the fireplace!

[Warren]

I collect all my wood from the rivermouth at local beaches. I only go for the dark hardwood that does not rot.

After the boot of the car is full I head home. All the wood then gets dumped into a couple of 1000L drums at the back of the house. They have the waste water from my RO unit going through them. Most of the logs sit there for 6-12 months. During this time the wood has sunk and has also stopped leaching. All the bark and rubbish attached has rotted off too.

When I want to use a log in a new tank I do the following.

1. Take it to the local sandblasters who give it a light blasting. This removes all the leftover bark and rubbish and really brings out the woodgrain.

2. It then goes back into the outside tank to sink it again (can take up to 2 weeks if it spent too long drying out at the sandblasters).

3. Remove it from the tank and pour a weak bleach solution over the prepared log and leave for about 5 minutes. I then hose it off thoroughly.

The log is now ready. This works really well on big logs (over 2000mm long). I've got a couple of these soaking in preparation for my new big tank.

[Disneyworld]

I didn't like the "tone" of voice our friend AbelA used in his discussion, not everyone is an idiot, Abel. Yes, I did use pretreated wood, did boil it (always do) and yes, I left it for one week in a huge bowl of water to check for sediment coming off it. It didn't, the wood looked fine, yet there is still a small amount of dust coming off it into the water. Oh well, I have learned to live with the regular cleans, and the cichlids are happy.

[Caryl]

Like Warren, I gather all my driftwood off the beach. Our local beaches don't have any suitable (lots of wood but not suitable) so I make special trips to Hokitika. The rimu and rata washed down from the bush is beautiful. Such interesting shapes and wonderful colour. It would never occur to me to 'buy' driftwood. We are lucky to have such resources available here in NZ, free and safe (if you avoid the katipos) to pick up off the beach.

I have a couple of old baths in the back yard and I keep my wood under water in these. When I need to use one it gets a good scrub with an old toothbrush and nail brush then it goes into the tank. I used to boil them first but don't bother now. I figure the salt water should have killed the bugs.

Let me know if you want some Disney (give me an idea of size needed) as my husband makes regular trips to Hutt hospital so could arrange to meet you somewhere. At the moment I think the pieces are all relatively small (suit a 2ft or smaller tank).

[Ira]

Disneyworld, sounds like he might be a mystus. Is it like this?

I've got one. Very nice fish, when he's around. What I've read says they're supposed to be active...Yeah, right. But it also says they should be kept in groups, so maybe more would help.

[Disneyworld]

Thank you, Ira. Yes, it is a mystus, but I have seen them in groups in the petstores, and they still don't move. Naturally lazy, sorry folks. Mine used to be very outgoing, but lately you hardly ever see him. Perhaps he senses that I don't like his lazy nature

[Warren]

I've just be going back over these old posts.

Have you tried bristlenose? They need wood in the tank. They spend a lot of time sucking the wood. They must need it in their diet. They are great for cleaning up logs. If it is your log that is causing the brown sediment, the bristlenose may remove what is causing it given some time.

They are a nice fish and a usefull addition to most tanks (except where the fish are big enough to try to eat the bristlenose).

[Sayhi2steve]

I heard that you should not put wood in african tanks as it lowers the Ph. Have you had this problem or is it O.K. I ask this because I wanna put Bristlenose in my African Tank. Also dont those catfish that you have grow to be extremely large??????

[CID in OZ]

Hi Disneyworld

There are a few probs I see

1. African rift lake for Malawi Mbuna

The wood will lower the hardness of the water due to the release of tannic acid so if you want to keep the wood in the tank I suggest you use a Kh booster with the water changes to stabilise the ph in the 7.5-7.8 range

2. Tannin stained water

The only real way to remove the tannin colour the water has gone is to use activated carbon in the filter and change it every few weeks in conjuntion with the water changes

3. Wrong catfish

Unfortunately the LFS has sold you the wrong type of catfish for the problem you have Mystus are a preditory catfish and will do nothing to clean the tanks glass

You need something from the Loricardae family (Suckermouth cat) the Ancistrus sp. Bristlenose will do the job and not break the budget also they are easy to breed and you could recoup a few dollars by selling the babies ........ if you wanted something larger then try for a Plecostomus but these are more expensive and produce lots of waste so the filtration will need to good

Hope this helps you

Chris 8)