White Stuff

[Frank]

Could anyone please identify the white stuff recently appearing in my tank? Are there any known remedies?

It's currently concentrated where I feed, but it's spreading. 

I can easily remove it from the glass, but not from the substrate or rocks. It grows so quickly that I can almost watch it spread. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Parameters:

Temp: 74°F

Nitrate: 20ppm

General Hardness: 70ppm

Carbonate Hardness: 30ppm

PH: 7.2

[Cory]

Looks like some type of fungus perhaps. How often is food left sitting not eaten? Is that picture just after feeding? I'd potentially try some ich x to fight off the fungus if it is that.

[Frank]

The fish generally do a good job of picking up fallen food. Today, they weren't interested, after yesterday's live baby brine shrimp. I picked up the food during cleaning. 

The fungus, or whatever, grows on the glass just as well as on the rocks and gravel. 

[Irene]

I have this exact same problem in my 10-gallon tank! My first guess is that perhaps the fish aren't eating all the live baby brine shrimp I feed every day, so there are leftovers in the substrate and then the fungus climbs upward from there. My second guess is that I have a lot of mulm buildup in that tank from the catappa leaves I keep adding to lower the pH. I haven't been adding as many leaves recently and I also did a lot of gravel vacuuming, and I noticed the fungus growth has decreased. Soooo, yeah... excess organics in the substrate of some sort is my current theory.

[Patrick_G]

@Frank and @Irene If that was in my garden I’d definitely say fungus. I noticed that you both seem to have Eco Complete. Maybe the spoors are embedded in the pieces of substrate? I’d be inclined to remove the entire affected area and put in some new Eco Complete. 

[Frank]

On 4/7/2021 at 4:37 PM, Irene said:

I have this exact same problem in my 10-gallon tank! My first guess is that perhaps the fish aren't eating all the live baby brine shrimp I feed every day, so there are leftovers in the substrate and then the fungus climbs upward from there. My second guess is that I have a lot of mulm buildup in that tank from the catappa leaves I keep adding to lower the pH. I haven't been adding as many leaves recently and I also did a lot of gravel vacuuming, and I noticed the fungus growth has decreased. Soooo, yeah... excess organics in the substrate of some sort is my current theory.

I can't wait for the "How to Get Rid Of" video.

[Irene]

@Frank Haha, probably when I stop feeding BBS!

[Frank]

I can't think of anything that I might have done, but it looks like it's going away on its own. 

 

 

[Irene]

@Frank No way! Did you stop feeding BBS? Something must have happened. Mine is still going strong...

[Frank]

42 minutes ago, Irene said:

@Frank No way! Did you stop feeding BBS? Something must have happened. Mine is still going strong...

Now that you mention it, no I didn't stop.  But, I'm being more careful about how much the fish get. Maybe that's it!

[Adam W]

I am very curious about this also. I have a new 75g tank that I am currently cycling. I have some live plants and Eco-complete substrates. I do not have any fish and have not placed any food in the tank. The tank has been up for about a week and a half and I noticed a white substance floating in the water and on the intake tube. I watched Corey's video about heaters yesterday and moved my heater and when I did a huge cloud of white came off of the heater. I did take a filter out of my 5g tank and put it in this tank to help cycle. Is it possible that I brought this problem from one tank to another?