Help ID that crud ! What is it? How do I get rid of it?

[KittenFishMom]

I haver a 9 gallon half cylinder tank with a UGF that has started having strange stuff growing in it. This tank has a male betta, 5 neon tetras, 4 white panda cories, and I think 11 chain loach. (The loaches will move to the 55 soon.) The crud started off as a milky film that I thought the snails and UGF would clean up quickly. Now it is turning into some wirey looking dark stuff. (see photos below)

Any idea what this is, or how I keep from spreading it when I move the loaches to the bigger tank? Better yet, how do I get rid of it completely?

The plants should look like this:

but instead some look like this:

and there are stands going betweenthe fake plants that look like this:

 

 

 

[JE47]

Looks like some sort of algae maybe @JoeQ can help

[AnimalNerd98]

Looks like hair algae and the start of some other filamentous algae. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-algae
 

Here’s the coop’s article on algae. it is very difficult to completely wipe out algae because it is opportunistic. You can do your best to manually remove it and then try some treatments, but if the new tank you’re moving them to doesn’t have the “perfect” parameters, they can just grow back. Hopefully the article and some other forum members can give you some more advice. Good luck! 

[JoeQ]

IMO the best thing you can do is get them loches moved (were they recently added)? also don't be surprised if a snail or two go missing, loches love snails!!! I think a big part of the problem is that with the addition of the loaches you setup a 'mini cycle' that your UGF wasn't prepared to handle.  Until you get them loches moved there really isn't much to do other than be on high alert for water quality issues. I'd almost say you might want to consider doing large daily/every other day water changes. Hopefully after that your tank should reach a balance, but for now think improve water quality!!

Edit: But to answer your question, IMO that 'crud' is the byproduct of an immature eco system.

Edited October 12, 2023 by JoeQ
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