My pleco, Bob.

Question
Chris,
Wow! I have been reading your responses to other folks questions about their plecos. You have answered most of my questions before I've even had a chance to ask.

I inherited a 55 gal tank from a friend along with her 13 inch pleco, 2 kissing garomies, a blue and a gold garomi, and others that we have added along the way, a snake skin garomi and 6 orange tetras. Our set up date was April of '06. I'm not sure of the other stuff except that I change out the charcoal filter stuff once a month, it usually needs it.
I hate to admit we have really been bad to our tank. I wasn't aware that it had to be cleaned once a week until reading your responses to my fellow tank owners. We just add more treated water when it starts getting low, about 5 gallons at a time. The pet store fellow advised that we needed to be putting salt into the tank, we did according to the label directions, but haven't added more since the I did when he advised.
Now I see that "Bob"s scuff on his nose could be from hunting for food, He's been getting 3 algae discs, two pinches of flakes for everybody else- twice a day. I upped it when Bob started looking thin. Is this too much?
When Bob gets disturbed he hides under his bridge.(pretty hard for a fish that size!)
He and the snake skin garomi have scuffs on their sides that look a little like loose scales.  Other than that they look healthy, and have a good appetite.
We've lost most of our little fish but the bigger ones keep on growing! Our new snake skin garomi started out at 2-3" and 4 months later he's 5"!!!
So I'm going to start cleaning like crazy, Bob won't be happy. And try giving him some cucumber and other veggies like you've suggested.
So, I just want to say thanks from a tank owner who really knows nothing about fish and can still manage to keep them alive.

Thanks,
Janis

Answer
Hi Janis and "Bob";

It's so good to hear from others who come to AllExperts.com looking for help with their fish. I appreciate your kind words and your support for what we do here.

Remember not to do too much cleaning all at once. You can change 25% every day for a few days to help get things in shape without any problems. Avoid changing more than 25% in one day so it doesn't shock the fish. Vacuum only every 2nd or 3rd water change (no matter how often you change water)to avoid imbalancing the system.

Good Luck and Happy Fish Keeping!

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins