Detritus problem

[hannarm06]

There's always brown slimy gunk floating around or settled at the bottom of her tank (the stuff between the glass and the coconut). I had some pothos in there for a while that were rotting (I didn't know the leaves weren't supposed to be submerged) and I thought that may be the issue. Removing it and replacing it with some fresh anubias and Java moss/fern helped some but there's still quite a bit of the slime. She eats whole worms and I never leave uneaten food in there. Parameters are good and she's a healthy girl but idk why there's so much gunk. Any ideas as to what it could be and how to mitigate it? It’s annoying to clean and also a layer of it builds up over the filter and I don’t want that to interfere with the filtration

 

[JM29]

One solution (easy) could be to move the coconut away from the glass to leave enough space for the animal to walk around it.
Water would also circulate better.

 

[SandroSen94]

Hi! What you're describing sounds like an issue with excess biofilm and detritus. While swapping plants helped, the root cause might be organic buildup that's not breaking down properly. Maybe try increasing water flow – a small powerhead could help? Or do more frequent substrate vacuuming?

Also, if you have a large filter, try gently cleaning just one part of it at a time so you don’t disturb the beneficial bacteria. Sometimes, biofilm on the filter is just a side effect of extra nutrients in the water. Good luck!

 

[Goldfishfan]

I would use a gravel vac to clean it. If there isn't uneated food is probably axaoltl waste. Just be careful and dont let your axie get sucked up when you're cleaning the detritus.