# pellet poop



## vrabel300 (Sep 25, 2008)

recently ive acclimated my piranhas to hikari gold pellets and they cant stop eating them! but one thing ive noticed with them is they tend to make a lot of mess. I dont know whether its poop or just the pellets but whenever i feed m p's about an hour later my substrate is littered with junk (same color as the pellets but looks like poop b/c its stringy). is there a way to make it less messy? or am i going to be cursed with ugly junk always littered on my substrate? (i vacuum it but it always comes back b/c i feed them everyday). help is appreciated









vrabel


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## cobrafox46 (Jun 2, 2008)

Are you sure it is not just extra pellets they did not eat that kinda dissolved and floted to the bottom. I used to have the same stuff and I always thought it was that.


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

yea its pellet pooo i know what you mean i feed all of mine pellets hikari gold/ bio gold. there really isnt a way around it unless you feed them a pellet that matches the substrate then it just blends in. a hour seems a little fast takes about half a day for me then its littered. the filters grab alot of it if you angle the current correctly and keep your ornaments in a place where poo wont roll its way under them. any poo left in the tank either becomes fertilizer for the plants, is taken out during gravel vac, or is suckedup by the filters.


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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

yeah i have this problem sorta as well. 
but my pleco takes care of the poop, but i find that i still have a mess of broken pellets when i either overfeed, or if I use Hikari gold large floating pellets. I had such a problem with those making debris, and the room stink, so thats why i stick with the bio-gold hikari medium ones. I think that the smaller size makes less mess because they just kinda scoop them all up wholesale from the surface. 
not sure which ones you are using though. 
when i do get a mess, i just vac it off the sand after my pleco decides he doesnt want any more.


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## oayl (Sep 3, 2005)

Nick G said:


> yeah i have this problem sorta as well.
> but my pleco takes care of the poop, but i find that i still have a mess of broken pellets when i either overfeed, or if I use Hikari gold large floating pellets. I had such a problem with those making debris, and the room stink, so thats why i stick with the bio-gold hikari medium ones. I think that the smaller size makes less mess because they just kinda scoop them all up wholesale from the surface.
> not sure which ones you are using though.
> when i do get a mess, i just vac it off the sand after my pleco decides he doesnt want any more.


dude.. i dont think that plecos eat poop.. actually, im quite sure that they don't. they just spread them all around or something.


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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

ok well, if they dont, then why dont i have the same problem as the original poster? i have three pretty big reds who eat 99% pellets and i feed them every day. 
i have a top of pleco poop that i vacuum out every few days but nothing else.


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## Demon Darko (Jan 28, 2007)

I believe that the original poster amy be over feeding, in which case, I would cut back on the feeding and observing if the problem persists or not.


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## Guerillah (Apr 11, 2004)

I noticed the same with my 10 rbp. There poop is the same color as the pellets and it gets everywhere. With earthworms and shrimp it isnt as noticeable. I'm about to take them off the pellet diet due to the amount of crap they make. I am using Cichid Gold right now, I wonder if massivore would produce less waste.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Pellet poop is bright red- the color of the pellets themselves.

I think that you're getting about the same amount of poop in your tank, it's just that it stands out more due to it's striking color.

Do you concur to this speculation?


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