Just siphon it off the top of the substrate.

 

That is what I have been doing but it always comes back. I also don't want to siphon every day.

 

You could try Seachem Pristine, I've had a little success with it

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Do you have a picture? Sounds like maybe your plants are not growing well, and are wilting and decomposing.

If you're doing regular water changes, you should not have that much fish waste. And, you shouldn't have to siphon every day.

How hig is your tank, and what kind of filtration do you have?

 

Itvis a 20 gallon high. I do 25% water changes every week and use pps pro. My plants are doing really well. My swords grow new leave often but also the leaves die often. Probably because I didn't use any root tabs. I have a tetra whisper internal filter 20.

Pics

 

Overfeeding?

 

P.S. MTS are NOT the answer, and frankly, I don't buy the argument that they aerate substrate. They take over is what they do.

 

When it comes to excess fish waste I have to ask if you're feeding high quality food. Many of the foods today have fishmeal with copious amounts of grains as filler/binder. This filler/binder goes right through fish with little nutrient absorption. Check your label(s) and make sure the ingredients lists fish products 1st.
note: Way back when I switched to high quality foods, I noticed an amazing difference in the amount of fish waste - believe it or not!
Although I think MTS are extremely beneficial, and they will cleanup uneaten food, I'm uncertain about fish waste....perhaps.
BTW, in contrast to a previous post since MTS burrow in the substrate, they do aerate and deposit plant usable nutrients.

 

The fish food I use has krill, whitefish, salmon, and spirulina. Th 2/3 of the waste come from the bristlenose pleco

 

You need to clear the dying leaves out before the deteriorate. The sword leaves and the plant behind it (aponogetom?) have brown dying leaves. Clip them and remove them. They're making the plant weaker and turning into deitrus. Some of the brown parts of the leaves are already missing and most likely resting on your substrate.

 

That tank looks fine. No unusual levels of detritus that I can see. No tank is pristine.

If you get antsy at the sight of detritus in your tank, I doubt you will like the look of a million MTS crawling in your tank. They don't keep in check like other snails. I don't care what anyone says; I've never seen a tank with MTS that wasn't infested. Ramshorn snail populations stay in check.

Good luck.

 

When speaking of the quality of fish food, I'm confused about something. I went to get food for my cories. Always seen Hikari recommended, so I picked that up. Surprised to read the ingredients list: Fish meal, wheat-germ meal, wheat flour, starch, soybean meal are the first five! How is that quality food? why do I always see it recommended when it apparently has more fillers than the Aqueon sinking wafers: Whole Fish Meal, Whole Wheat Flour, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal first three, then shrimp meal.

I'm still mostly feeding my cories shrimp pellets (Whole Shrimp, Whole Salmon, Cod, Whole Herring are the main ingredients) but would like to find something else to give them... (I soak omega one betta pellets for them too. I have tried blanched zucchini and they weren't very interested).

 

Anybody have any input on this regarding Hikari?

 

In my experience anything laying about on the substrate fish poop,mulm,detritus, and or large snail population ,is sure sign of possible/probable overfeeding.

 

I get that some fillers are needed. But I don't like seeing them listed among the first three or four ingredients. I've never seen North fin on a shelf, guess would have to look into ordering that online. What chemicals are the ones you're concerned about, in NLS? That's another brand I have always seen recommended among the best!

 

Aside from dyes they use with their flake formula, the bigger problem with with a chemical called Ethoxyquin. It is a fat stablizer that is known to cause cancer and other issues. There is a FDA report about it here: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=573.380

Like with anything, there is much debate over how much is considered safe. I'd rather not have to deal with it at all. NLS will not say if they use it or not. If they didn't, there is no reason to avoid such conversations.

I have to order NorthFin foods as I can't find them locally or on the store shelves of our LFS. I order small amounts as that's all I need. The fish in the 40 are fed every other day, the fish in the 10 gallon are fed daily. Pellets are calorie dense, so they get enough to eat and that's it.

There are excellent articles about fish food / nutrition on Oscarfish if you're interested. Fish Food Ingredients

 

I buy small containers of a variety of flake or pellet's and mix them together in tupperware tub, and keep in the fridge.
Fishes get a wider variety this way and I am not too concerned with anything but protein level's for fry when they appear.
With the exception of some of the larger cichlids I have cared for ,most of what the fishes eat, passes through the fish fairly quickly so a larger variety makes me feel better that they get much of what they need and don't tend to focus on one food and maybe refuse other's.

 

Grains, soy, ect... are used to bolster protein numbers. Companies that make other kinds of pet foods and even companies that make processed human food do the same thing. Soy has no place in a fishes diet. It serves no benefit and results in more poop with less actual protein a fishes' body can use and metabolize.

 

fishchoice, mainly your pleco will produce a lot of waste. Not overfeeding, waste will accumulate on top of the substrate no matter what. This is a never ending battle for you weekly if you want to rid of it, fluff and siphon, but they'll continue to produce this waste. I've seen with multiple types fish and used multiple type substrates.