Persistent Water Mold/White Tufts/White Algae? Need Help :(

[Kevin A]

Hi guys. 

I need help. Sorry for the long post but a background is needed to understand my predicament...

To be honest I'm at a lost. I have been battling these water mold/white algae/white tufts or slime mold or fungus thing like for more than 6 months.

At first I have a planted tank with few mollies and angel fish in my 37 gallon tank and after 2 months it went 90% cloudy(milky white) and all my plants develop white algae on them and water molds and slime molds of sorts completelely covered my whole substrate to the point the sands turned black and water smell like rotting sewer. 

Since then I moved all my fish to a temporary tank and first put them in salt bath/meth blue solution and I completely dismantled my 37g. All the plants were fine not dead even though completely covered in white stuff. I moved all plants into separate containers and threw all my sponge filters that are smelling bad and all the sands that turned black.

I cleaned and washed my tank and disinfected with vinegar and let it dry for 3-4 days before starting again.

I bought new sands, new sponge filters and a canister filter. 

Then I slowly returned my fish and everything was fine until one month later, water turned 90% cloudy (milky) again and even though I am performing regular maintanence 2 months later these white stuffs return. 

The filter foams are always quickly being full with brown gunks. While my ammonia is always at 0 and nitrate always at 0. This time I have no plants so I wonder why I am always at 0 nitrate and ammonia.

Now 2 weeks ago I transfered all my fish again to a temporary tank and lo and behold my 37g tank was completely overrun by this white stuffs when I removed my fish (but why?). I even turned off the lights in that tank 24/7 off for one week but to no avail. The water slightly get less cloudy but this white stuffs are growing so fast to the point every 3-5 days they will completely cover my glass walls and my substrate.

😞 I tried using purigen  and activated carbon nothing happened. I tried melafix, pimafix etc.. nothing happened. I tried adding salt - it did make the growth of the molds slow a little bit for a couple of days but after a week with no water change (salt concentration still there) the white stuffs grew rapidly again.

I tried using UV lamp - well the water would get clear but when I turned off the lamp after 2 weeks of running the water would get cloudy again in another 2 weeks and the white stuffs are not being affected by the UV. 

I have been feeding the fishes once a day for what they can consume within 5 minutes and have been vacuuming the substrate during regular maintanance. I also added lots of aeration and even water pump. Nothing changes.

Now my 37g tank has been without fish inside for 2 weeks hence no source of any organic inputs but these white stuffs keeps on growing and my water is persistently at 80-90% milkiness. 

Anyone experienced this kind of issue before? I am at a loss. I live in the middle east hence our tap water is from desalinated water from sea. 
 

[Kevin A]

Up

[JoeQ]

@Seattle_Aquarist any idea whats happening here? I would think it has to do with the desalination process.

[Kevin A]

On 4/29/2024 at 4:20 PM, JoeQ said:

@Seattle_Aquarist any idea whats happening here? I would think it has to do with the desalination process.

@JoeQ I have lots of friends and lots of other people who have tanks here as well as pet shops but they don't have this kind of problem. Their water is clear even with insufficient filtration. 

Maybe it has to do with my tank size? Hence not proper water "flow"? Tank height is 18 inch by 32 inch length. But I am already using canister filter. 

I tested my tap and tank water phosphate levels and they are at 0 ppm level sometimes 0.25 ppm level. My tap water nitrate level is 0 ppm. 

There are no more organics in my tank but they continue growing these white sheets/filaments. On my first tank they grew into branch-like thing like a slime mold. They smell VERY FISHY when I scoop them up and inspect. They are like soft gelatin/filmy kind of things. I suspect they are the ones causing bacterial bloom not my feeding.

For now 2 weeks since I removed all my fish and no feeding in the tank. No lights daily. Yet they grow fast as I remove them. 

I will observe more... hopefully anyone has any ideas specially the higher mods on this forum? 

Thanks in advance for any help 😞

[JoeQ]

Initially and without any additional information (water change schedule & full water parameters would help) I wondered to myself if you are dealing with is white bga which is a bacteria.  Its also fowl smelling and grows in sheets. A huge contributer to the problem is flow & silicates which is abundant in sand; silicates is BGA crack. New setups with sand often need large regular water changes to combat BGA untill a large colony of beneficial bacteria can grow

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi @Kevin A,

The fungus and cloudiness indicates a bacteria buildup as does the smell and build up of material in you filter media.  A blackout will have no effect on that condition.

Tell me about your fish population (what species and how many of each).  Also how much do you feed, when do you feed, and how often do you feed.
-Roy

[Kevin A]

On 4/29/2024 at 6:36 PM, JoeQ said:

Initially and without any additional information (water change schedule & full water parameters would help) I wondered to myself if you are dealing with is white bga which is a bacteria.  Its also fowl smelling and grows in sheets. A huge contributer to the problem is flow & silicates which is abundant in sand; silicates is BGA crack. New setups with sand often need large regular water changes to combat BGA untill a large colony of beneficial bacteria can grow

In my research I also have come some hobbyists from other forums who said they are having this same problem and can be due to sand where it contains silicates.

I am using JBL Riverside coarse sand. And I am washing it thoroughly 5 times before putting in my tank. Thank you for the input I will perform daily water change!


 

 

On 4/29/2024 at 8:22 PM, Seattle_Aquarist said:

Hi @Kevin A,

The fungus and cloudiness indicates a bacteria buildup as does the smell and build up of material in you filter media.  A blackout will have no effect on that condition.

Tell me about your fish population (what species and how many of each).  Also how much do you feed, when do you feed, and how often do you feed.
-Roy

Hi @Seattle_Aquarist thank you for your response. On February 20, 2024 when I first started my tank I have the following:

2 adult angelfish
4 adult mollies
3 juvenile mollies
4 (3 months-old) angelfish juvy
6 juvenile corydoras
4 juvenile german blue rams

I have 1 medium size canister filter filled with 30ppi foam, and 2 (4-inch) sponge filters inside and 1 big airstone. I also use water pump for more water flow. 

I am only feeding once a day to a minimum where they will all finish any fish food within 5-10 minutes. I am using JBL pellets not flakes. Protein content is 47%. 

Water parameter right after 1st week of running the tank is 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate - Consistently up to today. pH at 7.2 ph, phosphate at 0-0.25ppm. 

When my water gets cloudy at the 2nd week of March, I did not change water as I watch Cory's video saying do not do any water change for bacterial bloom. 

Now I have waited for any reduction in cloudiness and it did not.

So after 2 months (April 15) with water cloudiness persistent at almost 90% intensity I decided to remove all fish and do 80% water change. This is the first time I changed water.

After water change it slightly reduced in cloudiness but after 1 day the intensity grew and these white stuffs began growing everywhere again.

When I removed my fishes 2 weeks ago these white stuffs grew even more whereas during March when my fish were there, they are eating these white filaments/water molds thing specially the livebearers. 

Now it has been 2 weeks since I removed my fish and my tank looks horrible. It's like someone threw some pasta and left it there. 

I do not want to teardown again since I already did that on 2nd week of February. 

Since April 15 I am doing weekly 20% water change, cleaning my sponge filters every 3-4 days (but not the canister filter to maintain good bacterial colony) and no food or fish inside tank.

 I started to have this issue on October last year on my first planted tank. I have lots of plants and some driftwoods (the driftwoods was initially covered by water mold but they quickly disappeared). They grew well to the point stem plants turned dark red in color. However it was overrun by these white water molds/algae thingy even though I have lots of plants and doing weekly water change and even using purigen/activated carbon at the same time - some fish died on February 2024 that's why I decided to dismantle and threw everything, disinfect with vinegar and buy new items.

However since then same thing happened to me. 

 Any insight how can I remedy this would be appreciated 😞 

[johnnyxxl]

Sand has silica in it.  That's one contribution do you have wood in the tank?

[Kevin A]

On 4/29/2024 at 9:07 PM, johnnyxxl said:

Sand has silica in it.  That's one contribution do you have wood in the tank?

I did have driftwood from October 2023 up to 2nd week February 2024. However the water mold on driftwood body only lasted less than a month. And these white water mold/algae thingy started growing on December 2023 and it completely overrun my tank on February 2024 even with weekly maintenance and running purigen/activated carbon.

Since then I dismantled everything, threw old filter medias even the air tubes and heater, disinfected my tank for a week, bought new sand (JBL), and buy a powerful? canister filter for a 37g tank.

Started running the tank on last week of February, did not put any plants/driftwoods and reduced my feeding even more and before reintroducing my fish to the 37g tank I put them on 30 minutes salt+methylene blue bath. 

However I developed the same problem with these white algae/mold/slime molds thingy. 

There is a petstore near my block and they have clear water in their displays. 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi @Kevin A,

I took one of your pictures, blew it up, enhanced it to darken and add definition, and lastly added arrows.  Can you tell me what the dark lumps are where the arrows are pointing?  They appear to be much larger than the substrate grain size.  It is possibly the food you are feeding?

You said that after you cleaned the tank everything was fine for about 2-3 weeks then the fungus started.  Were you feeding the JBL pellets as the only food (or the primary food) on both occasions that this happened? -Roy

Edited April 29 by Seattle_Aquarist

[Kevin A]

On 4/29/2024 at 9:57 PM, Seattle_Aquarist said:

Hi @Kevin A,

I took one of your pictures, blew it up, enhanced it to darken and add definition, and lastly added arrows.  Can you tell me what the dark lumps are where the arrows are pointing?  They appear to be much larger than the substrate grain size.  It is possibly the food you are feeding?

You said that after you cleaned the tank everything was fine for about 2-3 weeks then the fungus started.  Were you feeding the JBL pellets as the only food (or the primary food) on both occasions that this happened? -Roy

Those are holes in the white filaments sheets. 

On the substrate, under the white filament sheets there would be dark green/brownish layer. Sometimes they would branch out similar to a slime mold like this from google:


I took that photo yesterday night and since April 15 I have already removed all my fish and have not been putting any food in the tank. 

I have been using JBL pellets since my 2nd run of the tank (last week February 2024). From October 2023 to 2nd week February 2024 I have been feeding flakes and other bigger pellets but JBL pellets (for betta) seems to be quickly eaten by my fishes and eaten cleanly - meaning not breaking on the water column as they would just swallow the thing so I only use it now. 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

@Kevin A, I will be truthful and admit I have not see the condition in your tank before, at least not a case that extreme.  Does the fungus layer start on the substrate and 'puffs' and then progress into the slime with 'fishy smell' and bad smelling substrate? If the cause is decaying food the UV would have minimal effect - it only kills the bacteria that go through the UV and not the rest of the tank. -Roy

Edited April 29 by Seattle_Aquarist

[Kevin A]

Thanks @Seattle_Aquarist. Same here.

I have done extensive research since October but got nowhere near my exact same case.

I have a small 10g tank before and it was crystal clear water with bi-monthly maintenance. In that tank I would get nitrate readings at 10-20ppm daily.

But since October when I purchased my brand new 37g tank and moved everything there - that's when my crusade started. 

The fungus layer would start on the glass walls and on filter media. Then it would start to settle on the substrate. I noticed when I do DAILY water change and thorough vacuuming they would disappear. Of course. Lol. 

But when I stopped water changing/vacuuming for a week - they would re-emerge. Tried stoppping for 2 weeks - voila problem is worse again. 

My last line of thought would be because the tank is huge and since my substrate is sand I am not able to vacuum everything thouroughly when doing maintenance. Idk. 

I would start daily water changes/vacuuming the white filaments while running UV without any fish in my tank. After 1 month I would see what will happen. 

Note in the temporary smaller tank (which was empty previously) where I transferred my fishes on April 15 - after only 3 days the water cloudiness/milkiness is at 90% intensity. And my water readings would be always 0 ammonia and 0 nitrate. And I have been feeding few amounts every other day. 

My angelfish have been dying since probably due to difficulty of breathing. 

I am doing daily water change but water would turn too much milky after only 1 day.... 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

If it were my tank I would try a different food or foods.  Maybe alternate Tetra Min Flakes and a good frozen food like brine shrimp.  Don't feed the pellets at all and see if it re-occurs.  -Roy

[Kevin A]

On 4/30/2024 at 12:46 AM, Seattle_Aquarist said:

If it were my tank I would try a different food or foods.  Maybe alternate Tetra Min Flakes and a good frozen food like brine shrimp.  Don't feed the pellets at all and see if it re-occurs.  -Roy

I was feeding Tetra Flakes before and these would make a mess and would disintigrate into tiny little pieces unlike jbl pellets which I suspect would even cause high dissolved organics in the water as flakes would cause some oily films to form on water surface. 
 

I also tried frozen bloodworms and brine shrimps. 
 

Also weekly I am doing 1 or 2 days of fasting. 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi @Kevin A

But here is the key question....did you experience the same bacterial slime condition that is plaguing the tank now?  I believe that is the problem you are trying to resolve.  If you have juvie Corydoras in the tank as well as other juvie species they will track down those 'tiny pieces' as long as they are not being overfeed.  -Roy

Edited April 30 by Seattle_Aquarist