I have a 8 in pleco and a very small algae eater in a 10 gal tank. I know I have to get a new tank soon, which I will be. I feed my pleco zucchini about every week and a half. Recently, after a over-night feeding, my water turned cloudy. I have a under ground filter and I vacuum it twice a week since this happened with a 50% water change. I test my water chemistry and every thing looks normal. I also use a declorinator that has a additive to clear water. I have also noticed that my pleco is not eating his algae wafers anymore, he just let's them stay on the bottom. What's going on with this tank?

The zucchini leftovers and fish wastes allowed for an explosion of bacteria and perhaps microorganisms that clouded the water. The problem will be much easier to control once you have a larger tank. I've found zucchini is more apt to cause the water clouding. I use cucumber. My pleco likes it better anyway. Zucchini tends to make more of a mess. Your pleco would probably like vegetables more often than once every 1.5 weeks. The pleco may not be feeling great since the water is kind of yucky. Continue with the water changes a few times a week. Stop feeding the zucchini. Put in an algae wafer every other night. See if that helps. What is the other "algae eater" in the tank? My pleco (15") gets cucumber daily, an algae wafer every night, and a few sinking shrimp pellets each day. I replace the cucumber piece every morning with fresh so it doesn't have much time to rot. Good luck!

It was a small algae eater (I think siamese) but unfortunately, it died last night. so now I only have a common pleco in my tank which suits me just fine. I've tried cucumbers before but ,"Mr. Fish", didn't seem to care too much for it . I will try it again following your advice. How large of a piece should I be giving? I don't want to be putting too much in and making my conditions worse. Thank you so much for your help.

Cut a piece of cucumber about 2" long. Then, cut that in half. Use a grapefruit spoon to remove the seeds. Then, you're left with the skin and flesh of a small piece. Anchor that to the bottom. I have this thing that works well but they don't sell it anymore. Remove whatever is left even if it's not touched in 24 hours. Infusuria (paramecium and other microorganisms) can feed on suspended cucumber (or zucchini) particles in the water column. I feed that if removed within a day, the cucumber is still in good shape and not oozing into the water.